Verizon Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of US-headquartered telecommunications firm Verizon, has hired Alex Kaufman as a principal.
Kaufman has been a founding general partner of APA Venture Partners, a venture capital firm which has so far invested in eight companies including air taxi developer Joby Aviation and fraud protection software provider Shape Security, both of which it has exited, since 2020.
Prior to helping to form the firm, Kaufman had spent three years as a principal at air carrier JetBlue’s strategic investment arm, JetBlue Technology Ventures.
Verizon Ventures concentrates on investments in early-stage developers of technology related to various Verizon divisions, in areas such as network and 5G, software-as-a-service, artificial intelligence, immersive entertainment and consumer technologies.
The unit’s current portfolio includes Wiliot, the connected tagging technology developer that secured $200m in July 2021, and transport management software provider Optibus, which last raised money at a reported valuation of up to $500m.
