Abhishek Shukla, who recently left Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, is moving to lead the enterprise and deep-tech investments at Prosperity7 Ventures, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabia-based petroleum and natural gas conglomerate, Saudi Aramco.
Shukla announced his departure from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)’s corporate venture capital arm, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, earlier this month.
HPE hired Shukla in 2018 as senior managing director of global venture investments. He replaced Ray Schuder, who is now leading electronics producer LG’s corporate venturing practice.
Shukla’s deals at Pathfinder included rounds for BigID, the data protection software provider valued at $1.3bn in 2021, and augmented intelligence technology developer DataRobot, which secured a $6.3bn valuation the same year.
DataRobot and BigID are two of the 13 companies at which Shukla had board observer roles on behalf of Pathfinder, and he was a board member at two other portfolio companies – IonQ and Agile Stacks – prior to the unit exiting. It has been quiet of late, disclosing just one deal in the past two years.
Shukla said in a LinkedIn post: “It has truly been an honour to work with the team and help build Pathfinder into one of the top enterprise-focused CVCs on the planet!
“Thanks to the founders, CEOs and fellow investors in placing your trust in us and to Hewlett Packard Enterprise and my colleagues across business units in providing the partnerships, platforms and opening doors for the portfolio globally.”
Prior to joining HPE, Shukla had spent nearly three years at GE Ventures, a subsidiary of power, industrial equipment and consumer appliance maker General Electric, where he was a managing director specialising in software investments. He said he would be embarking on an as-yet-undisclosed new opportunity.
Prosperity7 Ventures is a $1bn diversified venture capital fund that invests globally in early and growth stage start-ups. The unit has been involved in 21 financial, energy-based and technological investments, including StreamNative, a US-based could-native messaging platform that raised $23.7m in its series A funding last year.
Saudi Aramco is a $110m company and is the world’s second-largest proven crude oil reserves whilst also having the largest daily oil production figures in the industry. Founded in 1933, the company recently announced its plan to increase the amount it invests in energy production.
Photo of Abhishek Shukla courtesy of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.