Venture Capital News

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Goes Global

Representatives of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) announced it has officially opened operations in China with offices in Beijing and Shanghai. Joe Zhou, formerly with Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund (SAIF), and TDF Capital partners Tina Ju, David Su and Forrest Zhong are leading the KPCB China team, supported by additional former TDF professionals.
The KPCB China team plans to invest its new U.S. $360 million China Fund to assist Chinese entrepreneurs and to promote innovation in high-growth industries, including technology, Internet, media and wireless communications. The Fund will also invest in new consumer areas, healthcare and greentech.

TDF Capital's core assets – the strength of its team and its corporate culture – were the deciding factor for KPCB add the group to the partnership. KPCB identified Zhou and Ju as the ideal leaders for KPCB China based on their shared philosophy that venture capital is a services business in which networks of relationships matter most, a particularly relevant dynamic in the rapidly growing Chinese market.

Ju brings 19 years of experience in venture capital, investment banking and operations to the KPCB partnership. Ju was the founding and managing partner of TDF Capital and managing partner of Venture TDF China. She was named one of China's top venture capitalists in 2005 and 2006, and has backed successful ventures such as Alibaba, Baidu, Cgen, China Netcom, Focus Media and Hurray. Prior to joining the venture industry in 1999, she worked in investment banking at Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. She was head of Asia technology and transport for Deutsche Bank and head of Asia technology and corporate finance execution team for Merrill Lynch Hong Kong. Ju has an undergraduate degree in engineering from University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Zhou is a well-respected venture investor and technologist who focuses on identifying market opportunities in telecommunications, media and technology, and the healthcare and consumer sectors. Zhou started his venture capital career in 1999 and has worked with Softbank China Venture Capital and with SAIF since 2001. He is well-known for his significant involvement in many of SAIF's investments, such as Shanda, Acorn, ATA, Alchip, Unionpay Merchant and Yasi. Zhou was named VC of the Year in 2005 by TopCapital and a top ten venture capitalist by CVCF in 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2006. He also has 15 years of operations and technology experience, serving as a VP at UTStarcom (China) and as an engineer at AT&T Bell Labs and Lepton Inc. Zhou also taught engineering for five years at Beijing University of Technology.
Su joined Venture TDF in 2000 as a director and became a venture partner in 2002. He was a co-founding partner of TDF Capital in 2005. Su's successful ventures include AAC Acoustic, Baidu and P-Cube (acquired by Cisco Systems). Prior to venture capital, Su was a managing director of China operations at Lotus Development, IBM. Su also held software development and management roles with Port of Singapore Authority. He graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Zhong was a co-founding partner at TDF Capital. Prior to TDF, Zhong was a director with JAFCO Venture. He has backed several successful companies, including China Wireless, China GrenTech and Fiberxon, and was named one of the top 20 venture capitalists in 2006. Prior to starting his venture capital career in late 1999, Zhong spent more than eight years in top management and operations positions with leading technology companies, such as China Aerospace International and Nortel. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering from Huazhong University of Science & Technology, a Ph. D. in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence from the Napier University Edinburgh, and an MBA from Ivey School of Business, the University of Western Ontario.

KPCB China also includes principal Ian Goh and CFO Nancy Sun, with plans to increase the number of team members in the next 12 months.

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Ironshield Capital Management Formed to Invest in European Special Situations

Ironshield Capital Management LLP, a London-based investment partnership focused on investing in European stressed and distressed debt and equity special situations, has been formed. Ironshield Capital Management is led by David Nazar, most recently a Principal at Bank of America in London. At Bank of America, he served as head of the European special situations trading desk, where he was responsible for European operations, including the bank's proprietary investment book.

Nazar and the Ironshield Capital Management team employ an intensive, research-driven investment process. In implementing its strategy, Ironshield Capital Management will pursue a combination of high-return, low-correlation opportunities, as well as lower-risk, more-liquid situations. Investments will be made in exchange and over-the-counter markets, private and public debt such as bank loans, new money lending, bonds, trade claims, trade insurance, consumer and commercial receivables, lease claims, loans backed by real estate, listed and unlisted common stock, preferred and convertible stock.

Ironshield Capital Management has received a strategic investment from SkyBridge Capital, LLC, which provides strategic capital to talented managers who are developing new hedge funds. SkyBridge Capital will invest from its SkyBridge Capital Partners, L.P. and SkyBridge Capital (Cayman) Ltd. Funds, as well as devote a team of professionals to provide Ironshield Capital Management with business-building support.

Ironshield Capital Management LLP will launch its Ironshield Special Situations Fund in mid-2007.

Prior to Bank of America, Nazar was a Vice President at Deutsche Bank in London, serving as a sell-side trading desk distressed debt analyst. He previously worked in the communications and media groups of the investment banking divisions of Goldman Sachs and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. Mr. Nazar is a graduate of Cambridge University.

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Dr. Ganesh M. Kishore Joins Burrill & Company

Representatives of Burrill & Company announced that Dr. Ganesh M. Kishore, PhD has joined the firm as Managing Director. Dr. Kishore joins the company to focus on Burrill's activities in Malaysia, India, and the AgBio, health and wellness, industrial biotech and biofuels sectors, in addition to Burrill & Company's general life science focus.

Prior to joining Burrill, Kishore served as Vice President, Science & Technology and Chief Biotechnology Officer of DuPont. Prior to this he was the Vice President, Technology, for DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition. He joined DuPont in June of 2003 and has been focusing on R&D efforts related to biotechnology within the company. Dr. Kishore previously served as Co-President, Nutrition & Consumer Sector and Assistant Chief Scientist/Chief Biotechnologist for Monsanto Company, which he joined in 1980.

His contributions include the discovery, development and commercialization of ag-bio products, manufacturing processes for Nutrasweet® and the transformation of a chemical giant into a leading food and nutrition company. Kishore received a B.S.c in Physics and Chemistry, an M.S.c in Biochemistry from the University of Mysore and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the Indian Institute of Science and undertook Postdoctoral Training at the University of Texas at Austin.

Kishore is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society of Plant Physiologists, and the Institute of Food Technology. He is a founder of the plant biotech/informatics company, Metahelix Life Sciences. Kishore also serves as the chairperson for the St. Louis RCGA's Bioenergy group. He serves on the boards of numerous "for profit" and "not-for-profit" institutions including: the School of Nutrition and Policy, Tufts' University, St.Louis RCGA, National Research Advisory Board of the Washington University at St. Louis. He has also served as an advisor to National Science Committees in many Asian countries and venture capital groups.

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Benchmark Capital Names Dave Goldberg Entrepreneur in Residence

Benchmark Capital, a leading early-stage high-technology venture capital firm, today announced that Dave Goldberg, former vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Music, and co-founder and former chief executive officer of LAUNCH Media Inc., has joined the firm as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR).

Mr. Goldberg co-founded LAUNCH in 1994 and led the company until it was acquired by Yahoo! in 2001. LAUNCH was dedicated to delivering music and music-related content online. Under his leadership, it became the largest online destination for music videos, exclusive artist features and music news covering all genres of music.

While at Yahoo!, Mr. Goldberg led the company's global music operations and was responsible for building Yahoo! Music into the Internet's number one music destination During his tenure, traffic increased from two million to 25 million unique users per month, and 4 billion music videos were streamed in 2006 alone. In addition, LAUNCHcast Radio became the number one Internet radio service, and Mr. Goldberg was named one of Billboard Magazine's top power players in digital music.
"Dave is an accomplished entrepreneur, an influential music industry executive, and a driving force in the online music industry," said Bruce Dunlevie, general partner at Benchmark Capital. "As a pioneer in digital media, he experienced first hand the opportunities and challenges faced by consumers, advertisers, artists, and media companies as the music industry moved online. The lessons learned will prove invaluable to us as we work to identify the technologies, trends, and companies that hold the greatest promise for tomorrow."

As an EIR at Benchmark Capital, Mr. Goldberg will be evaluating investment opportunities in consumer media markets, including music, video, and digital content, and he will assist Benchmark companies across the portfolio.
"I am excited to return to my entrepreneurial roots and begin exploring new developments in the digital media space," said Mr. Goldberg. "Although music represents the first traditional media business to be transformed by technology, there are dramatic changes underway across a variety of other entertainment fronts as well. With Benchmark's impressive track record in consumer services, a strong presence in key markets around the globe, and some of the most talented investors and entrepreneurs in the industry, I feel confident that the firm can shape many of the leading companies going forward, and I'm thrilled to be a member of the team."

Prior to co-founding LAUNCH, Mr. Goldberg was director of marketing strategy and new business development at Capitol Records in Los Angeles. In that role, he was responsible for the development of new multimedia distribution methods and the creation of alternative channels through which music and new artists could be effectively marketed to consumers.
Mr. Goldberg graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and government. He is a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.