In March 2005, the face and mindset of corporate venturing changed forever. That was the year that Arvind Sodhani, the former treasurer of Intel, became president of Intel Capital, the strategic investment arm of the semiconductor chip and microprocessor manufacturer. Today, Sodhani oversees
all venturing investments for Intel Capital, as well as all mergers and acquisitions activity for Intel Corporation. Not everyone has the stomach to sign off on billion-dollar deals, but Sodhani clearly does.
Category: People
Microsoft’s Sood outlines accelerator plan
Rahul Sood, general manager of Microsoft Ventures, spoke to Global Corporate Venturing about Microsoft’s accelerator programme and the development of regional venture ecosystems, in advance of his keynote speech at the Global Corporate Venturing Symposium next week.
Plehn sailing as he joins GE Capital
Robert Plehn has left financial services firm Lloyds to head up General Electric subsidiary GE Capital’s capital markets team.
Muth to advise on corporate venturing at PwC
Mark Muth, previously at Unilever and GE, has moved to PriceWaterhouseCoopers to assist European corporates on their venture investment strategies.
Fund in the News: Amadeus Capital Partners
The firm recently made the first investment from a fund backed by mobile service provider MTN, which is targeting the middle class in emerging nations.
Melas-Kyriazi finds his Spark
Venture capital firm Spark Capital has appointed John Melas-Kyriazi, most recently the CFO of StartX, as one of its investors.
Colby pressed for development post at Emotient
Edward Colby, formerly a partner at venture firms Quadrille and Viventures, has taken up a position at Intel-backed Emotient.
PMV adds Biogen Idec’s Holtzman to board
The biopharmaceutical startup is developing treatments for cancer and infectious diseases.
Aviso on cloud nine with $8m series A
Aviso has launched with an $8m funding round supported by backers including Bloomberg Beta.
Vorstack captures $5.2m to develop cybersecurity platform
Vorstack Corp. have secured venture capital to progress automation and control for its cyber-security platform to allow early intervention of threats.
Fund in the News: SBT Venture Capital
Global Corporate Venturing spoke to Matteo Rizzi, a general partner at Sberbank-backed SBT Venture Capital, about the emergence of fintech funds and the potential for banks to take a greater funding role.
KPMG goes for Moore with venture capital practice
The audit and advisory firm has promoted Conor Moore from within to co-lead its venture capital activities.
Ricardo Forcano to head up BBVA’s digital banking strategy
Forcano will oversee strategy for BBVA’s digital banking activities and will also target investments in fintech startups through its corporate venturing unit.
Au’s move to Khosla shows how design can be golden
Irene Au has moved to venture capital firm Vinod Khosla as a design partner, indicating how design plays an increasing role in the venture capital process.