Battery Ventures, a venture capital and private equity firm focused on investing in innovation worldwide, today announced four promotions on its investment team:
Jesse Feldman – Feldman has been promoted to Principal, and focuses on growth equity and buyout investing. His investments include: Consona Software (Onyx acquisition), Healthvision, HighJump Software and Rogue Wave Software.
Ramneek Gupta – Gupta has been promoted to Partner, and is moving to open the firm’s Bombay, India office later this year. He is responsible for the firm’s Indian investments in Tech Process, Tejas Networks, Travelguru and Highmark.
Brian Lieber – Lieber has been promoted to Principal and oversees investments related to the firm’s Entrepreneur in Residence program. His investments include: A Place for Mom, Angie’s List and Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR). Lieber will be relocating to the firm’s Silicon Valley office later this month.
Brian O’Malley– O’Malley has been promoted to Principal, and concentrates on the Enterprise Software, Consumer Internet and Specialty Retail markets. His investments include: Bazaarvoice, Coupa Software, Meez, Insitu (acquisition by Boeing announced 7/22/08), Next Investments, TradeKing, and World Golf Tour.
The four newly promoted individuals are part of Battery’s global investment team of more than 40 professionals. The firm is currently investing BV VIII, a $750M multi-stage fund. Battery has also continued its geographic extension with the recent expansion of its Israel team and a commitment to open an office in Bombay, India in Q4 this year. In the past few months, Battery has also added 3 Senior Associates (clean tech, communications services, private equity) and 3 Associates (software, private equity) to its investment team.
“Our philosophy is to promote from within, and these four have worked very hard to earn their new positions,” said Tom Crotty, General Partner, Battery Ventures. “They’ve been an integral part of our team for many years, and have been dedicated to finding interesting investments, executing thorough due diligence and supporting portfolio companies. They represent a good diversity of experience across geographies, industry sectors, and investment stage, and I’m confident they will contribute to the firm’s growth and diversification for years to come.”
About the Team Members:
Jesse Feldman
Jesse joined Battery in 2005 and focuses on private equity investments, including growth equity, buyouts, rollups, PIPES and take-privates. He is on the board of Healthvision, HighJump Software and Rogue Wave Software, and worked on Consona Software’s acquisition of Onyx. Prior to Battery, he spent a number of years with Ionian Management and was a founding member of the firm’s VC fund, a specialized fund dedicated to early-stage transportation and logistics technology companies. At Ionian, he also worked on a range of private equity transactions, collaborating closely with portfolio management teams to design and implement turnaround and restructuring strategies.
In addition, Jesse has held positions with GE Commercial Finance, working in the GE Capital Aviation Services as well as the Global Transportation Finance business units. He received a BA in Science in Society from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Ramneek Gupta
Ramneek joined Battery in 2006 and focuses on investments related to India in the Technology, Financial Services, Media, Education and Specialty Retail sectors. He currently works with TechProcess, Tejas Networks, Travelguru and Highmark. Prior to Battery, Ramneek spent over three years as a Principal at ITU Ventures. At ITU, he was responsible for investment activities in the communications and semiconductor sectors, and worked closely with Hier Design (acquired by Xilinx) and PowerSiCel (acquired by Advanced Power).
Earlier, Ramneek was a Design Engineer at TiVo Inc., where he worked on the design team for the Series 2 DVR. Before TiVo, he was with PMC Sierra and worked on system design as part of the carrier switching division. Ramneek holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, where he graduated at the top of his class, and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.
Brian Lieber
Brian joined Battery in 2004 and oversees investments related to the firm’s Entrepreneur in Residence program. His investments include: A Place for Mom, Angie’s List, Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR), and Bangalore-based Tejas Networks. Prior to joining Battery, Brian spent five years as a senior associate with The Bowdoin Group, an executive search firm focused in the software and Internet sectors.
Earlier in his career, he held regional sales executive positions with Santa Cruz-based UNIX operating system developer SCO, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOX) and Baltimore-based Allegis Group, a $3B technology outsourcing firm. Brian is an active member of the North Carolina Council for Entrepreneurial Development. He graduated from Wittenberg University with a BA in Political Science.
Brian O’Malley
Brian joined Battery in 2004 and focuses on investments in Enterprise Software, Consumer Internet and Specialty Retail. He is on the board of Meez and TradeKing, and is actively involved with Bazaarvoice, Coupa, Insitu (acquisition by Boeing announced 7/22/08) and World Golf Tour. Prior to Battery, Brian was an Associate with Pequot Ventures, where he invested in software and services, including applications, middleware and vertical solutions.
Earlier in his career, Brian spent several years at Bowstreet, Inc. (acquired by NYSE: IBM), as Director of West Coast Technical Sales and the Business Development team's Technical Evangelist. Earlier in his career, Brian assisted founding teams at Matrics, Inc. (acquired by NYSE: SBL) and Compoze Software (acquired by NASD: BEAS) with go-to-market strategy and initial fundraising activities. He also worked for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's Center for Business Innovation and was a web developer for Motorola Computer Group. Brian mentors students in UC Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship Studies, and is a judge in Wharton's and Stanford’s Business Plan Competitions. He graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics.
About Battery Ventures
Since 1983, Battery has been investing in technology and innovation worldwide. The firm partners with entrepreneurs and management teams across technology sectors, geographies and stages of a company’s life, from start-up and expansion financing, to growth equity and buyouts.
Battery has supported many breakthrough companies around the world, including: Airespace (acquired by Cisco), Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), BladeLogic (acquired by BMC Software), Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY), LIFFE (acquired by Euronext), Neoteris (acquired by Netscreen), and Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR). Its current portfolio includes emerging firms such as Angie’s List, Bazaarvoice, Netezza (NYSE Arca: NZ), Spot Runner, Tejas Networks, TradeKing, and World Golf Tour, as well as more established companies such as Consona Software, High Jump Software and MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS).
From offices in Boston, Silicon Valley and Israel, Battery manages more than $3B in committed capital. For more information, visit www.battery.com.