After last week’s news of Quinn Li taking over as the global head of Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the US-based microprocessor company, the question was where would long-time head Nagraj Kashyap resurface. The answer: Microsoft.
Kashyap left Qualcomm in “an amicable departure” which has “left the rest of the Qualcomm Ventures organisation intact,” Qualcomm Ventures said. Kashyap has now confirmed he has joined software provider Microsoft as corporate vice-president to build the venture group reporting to Peggy Johnson, the executive vice-president behind more strategic transactions, such as its investment in Facebook back in 2006.
Business Insider reported that Kashyap’s group would take over the Microsoft Ventures name that covers some early-stage venture capital and entrepreneur services, including BizSpark, Microsoft Reactor, and the Bing Fund.
Both Microsoft and Qualcomm have invested in the hot startup CloudFlare, although a check of GCV Analytics indicates there has been few other such deals.
Both Kashyap and Li are speaking at our Global Corporate Venturing and Innovation Summit in Sonoma County this week.
Global Corporate Venturing has also published our Rising Stars’ profile of Li, ahead of the supplement’s printing this week, and our most recent Powerlist profile of Kashyap, shedding more light on two of the most important power players in corporate venturing of recent years.