Lak Ananth has been chief executive and managing partner of Next47, the US-based corporate venturing arm of Germany-headquartered industrial conglomerate Siemens, since the unit was formed in October 2016.
He has spent much of his career focused on identifying industry-changing disruptions and acting on them as an investor or acquirer. At Next47, Ananth’s investment focus is on applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as robotics, mobility and other emerging areas of deep tech.
Next47 has backed more than 40 companies developing deep technologies including augmented and virtual reality, cybersecurity, autonomous transportation, the internet of things, advanced manufacturing and automation. The unit has positioned itself as more independent of Siemens’s business units and an evergreen fund able to reinvest profits from its $1.2bn fund.
Over the past 12 months, the unit has provided funding for Wandelbots, a robotics technology specialist, logistics-as-a-service platform Alaiko, and remote working service Blink.
Prior to joining Next47, Ananth founded and built Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, the corporate venturing arm of computing technology producer Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), bringing together venture investing and revenue-generating business development for portfolio companies from HPE customers.
He also previously worked in strategy at networking equipment supplier Cisco Systems, where he led the acquisitions of cloud service Meraki and IT and networking products maker Starent Networks, and invested in automation provider Control4.
Ananth holds an MBA from INSEAD, an MS from Kansas State University, and a BE from Guindy Engineering College, India.
