Palo Alto, Calif., September 23, 2008: Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), a leading global technology venture capital firm, today announced that Dror Nahumi has joined NVP as a Partner in Israel. Nahumi brings to NVP more than 20 years of extensive operational, technology and entrepreneurial experience, having worked extensively in both the U.S. and in Israel in various senior positions at leading organizations such as ECI, I-Link and AT&T Bell Labs. NVP focuses on technology investments in the semiconductor and components, software, systems, services, Internet, media and consumer sectors.
With today’s announcement NVP expands its global strategy and strengthens its focus on Israel. NVP has more than 47 years of success funding new technologies with significant long-term growth opportunities. The firm has invested in more than 450 companies since inception, including several investments in Israeli companies during the past five years. Qumranet, one of NVP’s Israeli portfolio companies, was recently sold to Red Hat. The firm has also made investments in such Israeli companies as ConteXtream, DoubleFusion, Veraz Networks, Unisfair and Timebridge, which has dedicated operations in Israel. The firm plans to invest even more heavily in Israeli technology companies in the years ahead, and will co-invest with local venture capital firms in Israel, as it has already done so with several of its existing portfolio companies.
"We are thrilled to welcome Dror to the NVP investment team. Dror has the perfect combination of global operating experience having worked in the US for the last 16 years in senior executive management roles, and prior to that, in Israel. I've worked closely with Dror over the past several years serving on the board of Veraz Networks with him. I know firsthand how Dror operates and I am confident that he will bring tremendous value to Israeli entrepreneurs and extend the culture of NVP globally," said Promod Haque, managing partner, NVP.
NVP is a global fund dedicated to both domestic and international investments. NVP believes that raising one global fund is a distinct advantage for the firm’s portfolio companies. NVP partners are committed to each investment in the portfolio, regardless of their location, and they all have a vested interest in making each NVP company successful. This philosophy is extended to the firm’s global offices. NVP focuses on early, mid and late stage direct and “cross-border” investments in the U.S., India and Israel. Existing partners at NVP who have already made investments in Israeli companies include Promod Haque, Vab Goel, Matthew Howard and Jim Lussier.
"I am honored to join a global VC firm with such a strong brand and collaborative, entrepreneur-friendly culture. NVP has already established a track record in Israel through its multiple investments and exits to date," said Nahumi. "I strongly believe in the unique ability of Israeli entrepreneurs to innovate and efficiently manage the growth of their start-up companies. I also have great respect for my new partners at NVP—all of whom have demonstrated a proven ability to build successful companies. I look forward to working closely with the NVP team to fund the next generation of leading companies.”
Nahumi most recently served as executive vice president and Chief Strategy Officer of ECI, which he joined in 2004. In this role, he was responsible for ECI’s strategy, mergers and acquisitions, business development and strategic marketing. He has also served as a board member of Veraz Networks since 2004. Nahumi has years of experience in business development and telecommunications technology leadership in both the U.S. and Israel. Before joining ECI, Nahumi was CEO of Axonlink, an optical components start-up company. Prior to that, he was President of I-Link, a US-based VoIP service provider which acquired MiBridge, the VoIP software company he founded. He was also a senior research engineer in AT&T Bell Labs where he developed voice and video compression technologies, including the speech coder that is now the standard for CDMA cellular in North America. Nahumi holds a BSc in electrical engineering from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa.
NVP’s seasoned team of investment professionals is actively evaluating disruptive, “game changing” opportunities in the information technology sector. Over the last five years, Forbes has named two of NVP’s managing and general partners (Promod Haque and Matthew Howard) to the annual Forbes Midas List as top dealmakers; Promod Haque topped the list in 2004. The firm focuses on the following investment areas: semiconductor and components, enterprise and communication systems, software, services, consumer Internet and media.
About Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a global, multi-stage investment firm that manages more than $2.5 billion USD in capital. It has offices in Palo Alto, California, Mumbai and Bangalore, India and Herzelia, Israel. NVP makes early to late stage venture and growth equity investments across a wide range of sectors including: technology, financial services, infrastructure, consumer, agriculture, manufacturing, telecommunications, retail and healthcare. NVP has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 48 years and has funded over 450 companies since inception.
Notable investments include Actel Corporation, Airespace (acquired by Cisco Systems), Cerent (acquired by Cisco Systems), Corio (acquired by IBM), Cray Research, Documentum, Extreme Networks , Forte Software (acquired by Sun Microsystems), National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), OnMobile (NSE: OnMobile), Open-Silicon (acquired by Unicorn Investment Bank), PeopleSoft, Qumranet (acquired by Red Hat), Rackspace (NYSE:RAX), Siara Systems (acquired by Redback Networks), SideStep (acquired by Kayak), Spinnaker Networks (acquired by Network Appliance), Tivoli Systems (acquired by IBM), Transaction Systems Architects (Nasdaq: ACIW), Verio (acquired by NTT), Winphoria Networks (acquired by Motorola) and Yipes (acquired by Reliance/Flag Telecom). For more information, please visit www.nvp.com.
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Media Contacts:
Regi Philip
Norwest Venture Partners
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Email: regi.philip@nvp.com
Katie Belding
Norwest Venture Partners
Phone: 650.321.8000
Email: kbelding@nvp.com