Andrew Byrnes is director of venture capital at Micron Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of US-headquartered computer memory and data storage developer Micron Technology, where he has been for two-and-a-half years.
Drawn to the opportunity to build Micron’s first structured fund from scratch and work with top-flight engineers to develop better investment propositions, Byrnes and his team have invested in companies such as artificial intelligence (AI) developer Mythic, market intelligence platform Atlas AI, automation developer Ready Robotics, AI computing company SambaNova Systems and electric air taxi company Volocopter, the latter two achieving unicorn status.
Regarding the greatest successes of the unit, Byrnes said: “Getting hard stuff done and building innovative mindset with the Micron team members. One of the interesting challenges faced by all corporate entities is the tendency to sit back on our laurels, that is, stay focused on proven business models and intellectual property, rather than explore new concepts.
“Through our work on the fund, and with management support, I am seeing in real time a transition in the mindset of Micron engineers to wanting to collaborate with startups – it is exciting to see.”
Prior to his tenure at Micron Ventures, he led the investment team at Comet Labs, a venture capital firm focusing on early-stage AI companies, since 2018, having joined the company in 2017. That followed five years as founder and president of distributed energy systems company Stower, where he worked from 2012 to 2017.
