Sebastian Blum, a managing director at T-Venture, the most influential corporate venturing unit in the utilities and telecoms sector, has joined portfolio company Cooliris as a vice president of business development.
T-Venture, which invests on behalf of Germany’s national phone operator Deutsche Telekom, invested in Cooliris in July last year from its Connected Life and Work Fund. The investment was part of Cooliris’ $15m series B round that included venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, DAG Ventures and Westly Group.
Cooliris provides visual three-dimensional navigation of the internet. By email, US-based Blum said: "We have some amazing products lined up…..got to know the guys and became a true believer in them, the technology and product."
Blum joined T-Venture in 1999, 2 years after its formation, and moved to the US in 2006 to be responsible for its US portfolio companies, deal flow and relationships with venture capital firms.
His deals have included flotations of Fantastic Corporation and Lastminute.com, UCP Morgen (sold to Qpass, sold to Amdocs) in Europe and Ruckus Wireless, Jajah, Litescape Technologies and Axentra in the US.