PALO ALTO, California, April 27, 2020 — Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV) today announced that IBM veteran Venkat Raghavan has officially joined the leadership team as an Operating Partner in the firm’s investment practice. Raghavan boasts over 25 years experience in senior operational roles at IBM, Blue Coat Systems, DASCOM and Freddie Mac, and he bolsters BGV’s already strong executive leadership credentials.
“BGV’s domain focus on Enterprise 4.0 dovetails naturally with my areas of specialization and I’m excited to join the team as an Operating Partner,” said Raghavan. “I’ve been working with the Partners as a technology advisor since late 2019, and we’ve established an organic cultural fit. I share the firm’s vision when it comes to identifying opportunities in today’s business landscape, and given the shift’s we’re seeing due to COVID-19 I believe these trends are actually accelerating. In many ways, BGV is well ahead of the game.”
BGV is championing an investment thesis framed around a new era of digital transformation called Enterprise 4.0. According to the theory, as Machine Learning and AI become mainstream, a new breed of startups will leverage novel data sets to extract meaningful business insights that disrupt vertical markets by offering full stack solutions that are embedded into customer workflows. This category cuts across a wide range of industries and represents the fourth cycle of enterprise technology innovation, which builds upon the three prior waves, dating back to the 1970s with the birth of Silicon Valley.
“We are particularly excited to bring on Venkat for his unparalleled expertise in cybersecurity, AI and enterprise software domains,” said BGV General Partner Anik Bose. ““Venkat is a seasoned operator and an exceptional talent, and he’s already had a major impact on shaping our outlook. In fact, I’ll be interviewing him in a webinar tomorrow to elaborate on these very ideas.”
BGV is launching a webinar series focused on Enterprise 4.0 that showcases thought leadership from a wide range of perspectives. “It’s important we get a 360 view on this emerging arena,” Bose said, “so we’re making a special effort to incorporate seasoned investors, practitioners at the corporate level, and entrepreneurs building innovative companies.” The first webinar is titled Re-Imagining Business Processes for a Post COVID-19 world and will feature a dialogue between Bose and Raghavan (click here to register).
