Jon Sakoda is founder and managing partner at Catalyst Labs Fund I, a $500m venture capital fund backed chiefly by networking equipment producer Cisco, according to a regulatory filing.
Even though the fund has been set up by Cisco, it runs independently, making early-stage investments in technology companies. This initiative is set to expand the corporate’s startup investment strategy, which has so far been focused on later-stage deals.
Before launching this fund, Sakoda was a venture capitalist for more than a decade at private equity and VC firm New Enterprise Associates, which invests in debt financing and venture growth equity at all stages.
As a general partner, he mainly led investments in early-stage startups in sectors such as consumer internet and enterprise software, whose portfolio companies included cloud-based video conferencing service BlueJeans Network, consumer product manufacturer Brandless, messaging platform Snapchat and ride-hailing service Uber.
Before joining New Enterprise Associates, Sakoda was also an entrepreneur, co-founding enterprise software provider IMlogic where he was chief technology officer and managed its product, marketing and business development, plus recruiting the executive team. The company was later acquired by cybersecurity technology provider Symantec and was backed by VC firms Venrock Associates, General Catalyst, Kodiak Venture Partners, Crosslink Capital and investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Sakoda started his career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, where he spent two years, after completing his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University.
