Gareth Keane, an investment manager at Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of US-based chipmaker Qualcomm, has left to join venture capital firm Promus Ventures.
Keane had been at Qualcomm Ventures for nearly six years having joined in 2012 after Texas Instruments’ acquisition of National Semiconductor the year before. He is leaving following a shake-up of Qualcomm Ventures’ Americas teams.
Keane’s deals during his time at Qualcomm Ventures (QCV) included investments in Pelican Imaging, August Home, Dover Microsystems, Skycatch, LifX, EyeSee360, 3D Robotics, Airmap, Silk Labs, Doctor on Demand, AliveCor, Common Sensing and, as a self-proclaimed space nut, nanosatellite operator Spire Global.
Mike Collett, founder and managing partner at Promus, had also backed Spire, in 2014, and the firm invested in New Zealand-based commercial rocket launch services provider Rocket Lab in March 2017.
Keane said: “I have known him [Mike] for years through us both being an investor in Spire. Promus is also in Swift Navigation and couple of other deals alongside QCV.”
Keane’s move followed a separate change in the unit’s Americas teams. At the start of the year, Qualcomm Ventures transferred Carlos Kokron from head of Latin America to head of North America following the sale of two of his portfolio companies, agricultural technology developer Strider and ride hailing service 99.
99’s sale to China-based Didi Chuxing was Brazil’s largest for a VC-backed company, though Qualcomm is anticipating another big exit with the planned flotation of China-based Xiaomi at a valuation of up to $100bn – set to be the largest venture-backed initial public offering since 2014 – later this year.
Qualcomm Ventures also hired Alexandre Villela from fellow corporate venturing unit Intel Capital, where he was an investment director, in February as its managing director for LatAm.
Villela was responsible for global equity investments in networking and communications from unit Intel Capital’s California office, but had previously worked for Stratus Investimentos, a middle-market focused private equity firm based in Brazil.
In an in-house interview last month, Kokron (known as CK) said: “Savvy entrepreneurs in both the US and LatAm are striving to build big businesses which would translate to significant value creation, and with a lot of sweat and some luck this yields to great exits for all involved. If you look at the Qualcomm Ventures experience, we have a strong track record of seven $1bn-plus exits in the last eight years.
“In general, things are more fluid in the US and things also tend to move faster. The US market is larger, has much more capital and a more mature entrepreneurial and VC ecosystem. In Latin America you have a few dozen funds in the region while in the US you have hundreds of funds, the implication being that in the US you tend to see more companies in the same space. Notwithstanding the market in the US is still more competitive from a funding standpoint and thus it is important to develop relationships early….
“I would love to see us continue to increase our ability to add value to both our portfolio companies and to Qualcomm Incorporated so that we increase impact to both. This would translate to identifying and backing opportunities that should have a stronger tie to our industry as they grow.
“By doing this we will be even more complementary to co-investors as we can bring things to bear that a typical financial investor is not equipped to. I am looking forward to working with our teams to step up on this front.”