Rob Salvagno has left his position as head of networking equipment manufacturer Cisco’s corporate venturing subsidiary, Cisco Investments, to join private equity firm KKR.
Salvagno had worked for Cisco for over two decades from late 1999, managing venture capital and mergers and acquisitions deals on its behalf, and held the role of head of corporate development alongside his leadership of Cisco Investments.
The post involved overseeing the launch of Cisco-sponsored venture capital firm Decibel in April 2019 and the acquisition of cybersecurity technology producer Sentryo two months later. Other key deals during Salvagno’s time included Cisco’s purchases of AppDynamics for $3.7bn in 2017 and Duo Security for $2.3bn the following year.
Salvagno featured on Global Corporate Venturing’s Powerlist in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and also took on the chief strategy officer position at Cisco when former CSO Hilton Romanski left the company in October 2018 for private equity firm Siris Capital.
Anuj Kapur is the incumbent Cisco CSO but Cisco Investments has yet to name a successor for Salvagno. It currently has two vice-presidents, Janey Hoe and Derek Idemoto, the latter of whom is in charge of M&A and venture investments.
KKR has hired Salvagno as a managing director and he will co-head its technology growth equity group in the Americas from its San Francisco office. The firm closed a $2.2bn vehicle, KKR Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II, last month to focus on late-stage deals in North America, Europe and Israel.
Dave Welsh, a KKR partner who is its head of tech growth equity, said: “With the addition of a tech industry veteran like Rob to our team, we are excited to continue to build for the future and position ourselves well to capture the many investment opportunities we see ahead.”
Photo of Rob Salvagno courtesy of Cisco.
