As my colleague, Liwen-Edison Fu, reports today, Shankar Chandran and Francis Ho, co-heads and managing directors of Samsung Catalyst Fund (SCF), will leave next week to rejoin Young Sohn (pictured) and launch a deep technology-focused, early-stage venture capital firm called Walden Catalyst.
They will be joined by Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Cadence Design, and Andy Kau and Roni Hefetz, both current partners at WRVI Capital, at Walden Catalyst.
David (Dede) Goldschmidt, current head of Israel and Europe and an MD, is the new head of SCF, reporting to Sohn’s replacement, Sean Kae, acting head of Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC).
Chris Chu, Scott Levine and Nicolas Autret, all existing managing directors, will join Goldschmidt as part of the new SCF leadership team.
Sohn has also been busy developing the Extreme Tech Challenge for impact investing and hired Victoria Slivkoff from the University of California as executive director. Sohn took up a senior adviser position at Samsung in January 2021 and continues to serve as chairman of the board for Harman, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the corporate.
GCV has been tracking a series of personnel changes ahead of its next GCV Powerlist awards with another head of unit expected to join a new unit shortly. For those looking to build out their teams or expand the professional development of their leaders as well as executives, the next series of GCV Institute courses will start next month.
