ePlanet team
The ePlanet Team
Asad Jamal
Founder, Chairman & CEO
Silicon Valley
Asad Jamal is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ePlanet Ventures.
Mr. Jamal founded ePlanet Ventures in 1999 with a first-mover focus on global venture capital opportunities. Mr. Jamal articulated, developed, and executed ePlanet's global, innovation-driven investment philosophy, while building ePlanet's office and business presence throughout the world's major innovation centers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Mr. Jamal is responsible for overseeing the firm's investment portfolio, developing exit strategies, and assisting entrepreneurs with growing their businesses.
He has been ranked amongst the ‘Top 20’ venture capitalists worldwide by FORBES for three consecutive years (2007, 2008, 2009), and has been given the accolade ‘Pioneer of Global Venture Capital’ by FORBES (2007). Red Herring Magazine featured him as the ‘Hottest VC in the World’.
Since 1999, Mr. Jamal has led and sponsored the ePlanet Venture's investments in multiple sectors covering a wide range of industries such as Advertising & Media, Communication & Wireless, Computing Software, Consumer Internet, Clean Energy, Enterprise Software, Financial, and Life Sciences. A number of these companies have been listed via NASDAQ IPO's such as Chinese companies Baidu (BIDU), Kong Zhong (KONG), Focus Media (FMCN). Others have been acquired such as Skype (EBAY), Cyanea (IBM), Safeview, End2End, and First Hop.
The ‘Top 3’ companies backed by Mr. Jamal achieved an aggregate market valuation of $30 Billion. Mr. Jamal has served on the boards of directors of numerous technology companies including Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), FRIENDi Mobile, Intrapace, IXI Mobile, and the Visto Corporation. He has over 25 years professional experience in Asia, Europe, and the United States.
He previously worked in a senior executive capacity with Peregrine Investment Holdings, a Hong Kong merchant bank. He was also the Head of Principal Investing at the Interest-rate Derivatives Trading Unit of the Chase Manhattan Bank in London.
Mr. Jamal graduated with a B.Sc. (Honors) from the London School of Economics, and is a member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. Mr. Jamal is a charter member of the entrepreneurship organizations TIE Silicon Valley and OPEN Silicon Valley, a Trustee of the Singularity University, and a member of the Clinton Global Initiative.
In 2009 Mr. Jamal set up Good Planet, the social venture investment arm of ePlanet Ventures. Good Planet’s vision is to address major social issues by identifying and empowering exceptional agents of change.
Email: asad@eplanetventures.com
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Chandrasekar Kandasamy
Managing Director
Bangalore
Chandrasekar Kandasamy is the Managing Director in the Bangalore office where he focuses on the Fund’s activities in India/South Asia and the MENA region.Mr. Kandasamy brings over 21 years of U.S and India based private equity/venture capital experience to the ePlanet team with over 15 years of investment experience in the technology and healthcare sectors.
Mr. Kandasamy has a distinguished investment track record, as more than 30 of the transactions he has led, have been successfully exited through secondary acquisitions or initial public offerings. Since he joined ePlanet in January 2006, he has been responsible for ePlanet's investments in India including Manthan Systems, Trivitron Healthcare, Sree Ramcides Chemicals, Continental Warehousing Corporation, Delex Cargo and Medfort Hospitals where he sits on the Boards of these Companies.
Previously, he worked for five years with The Carlyle Group as a Director and Vice President. In this capacity, Mr. Kandasamy was instrumental in setting up Carlyle’s India operations and responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing transactions in the technology, healthcare, education, auto ancillaries, logistics, consumer and infrastructure sectors. Mr. Kandasamy co-led investments and held board seats in a range of successful India-based growth and venture capital investments including Educomp Solutions, Financial Software and Systems, Quest , Newgen, and Learningmate.
Prior to Carlyle, Mr. Kandasamy worked for Intel Capital, where he was the Manager of Strategic Investments in India and assisted in the deployment of approximately $60 million in less than two years. Mr. Kandasamy began his career at ICICI Ventures where he worked for ten years. As an Assistant Vice President at ICICI Ventures, Mr. Kandasamy managed a team of four investment professionals and monitored 80 portfolio investments.
Mr. Kandasamy was a World Bank sponsored intern at Poly Ventures in New York, holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Anna University in Chennai, India, and an M.B.A from the Bharathidasan Institute of Management, India.
Email: chandra@eplanetventures.com
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Dennis Atkinson
Managing Director
London
Dennis Atkinson is a Managing Director in the London office focusing principally on the Fund’s EMEA investments.
Mr. Atkinson has been involved in many of ePlanet Ventures investments, including; Skype (sold to eBay), End2End (sold to Mach), First Hop (sold to Airwide Solutions), and HPL (sold to Dow). Currently, Mr. Atkinson represents ePlanet’s interest on the boards of eCommera Ltd, Venspro BV (Greetz), Palringo Ltd, BiancaMed Ltd, Median Technologies SA, and Medio Lario Technologies.
Prior to joining ePlanet, Mr. Atkinson was a Principal at Softbank Europe Ventures, where he specialized in Internet, software, and data-communications investments. Prior to joining Softbank, Mr. Atkinson was Global Product Manager for Reuters Business Information, designing and developing IP based information systems. Whilst also at Reuters, Mr. Atkinson evaluated acquisition and new-venture opportunities in the technology and telecoms sectors in Europe, working closely with Reuters research groups in London and California on next generation IP and Java based information products. Mr. Atkinson has also spent time consulting to Pond Venture Partners in London and San Jose.
He holds a First Class Honors Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics from Exeter University, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Email: dennis@eplanetventures.com
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Jerry Ilhyun Cho
Managing Director
Seoul / Beijing / Hong Kong / Shanghai
Jerry Ilhyun Cho, is a Managing Director based in the Seoul office, covering investments in North and Southeast Asia including China, Japan and Korea. Mr. Cho represents ePlanet's interests in Silicon Mitus, Korea Bone Bank, Moreens and was involved in the investments in Focus Media and Longcheer.
Mr. Cho’s main expertise is on innovative wireless services and associated hardware components/devices, semiconductor, electronic components and modules, flat screen displays, medical equipment, embedded software, and various electronic hardware.
Mr. Cho spent nine years at Samsung Electronics, where he started as a chip designer before moving on to strategic planning for various new technologies developed at Samsung. Leveraging his experience at Samsung, he started his venture capital career in Korea at Intervest, a local venture capital firm, covering the telecom service, chip design, advanced parts and components spaces.
Mr. Cho has an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronic Engineering from Dongguk University, Seoul, Korea.
Email: jerry@eplanetventures.com
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Shehzad Naqvi
Managing Director
Silicon Valley
Shehzad Naqvi is a Managing Director based out of the Silicon Valley office. Mr. Naqvi focuses on Portfolio Risk Management, Compliance, Global Operations, Business Development, and Later Stage Investments in Global Emerging Markets.
Mr. Naqvi has thirty years of experience primarily with global financial institutions operating in emerging markets, with the last eighteen years being in regional head positions or as CEO. Amongst the global financial institutions, Mr. Naqvi worked at Citibank and ABN Amro / Royal Bank of Scotland, in a variety of senior roles. At Citibank, Mr. Naqvi headed Citibank’s corporate and investment banking operations and was its country head in Singapore and Pakistan, and its regional head for the Middle East. Mr. Naqvi also headed Citibank’s initiatives seeking to establish business outsourcing capabilities in a number of emerging markets. At ABN Amro/Royal Bank of Scotland, Mr. Naqvi was the country head for Pakistan, the regional head for North and East Asia (including China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, and Vietnam), and headed the bank’s corporate and investment bank in Asia, which included India and Australia. As the CEO of a number of growth-focused, mid-sized banks in Pakistan, he was closely involved in positioning these financial institutions for organic growth, acquisitions and divestitures.
Mr. Naqvi has served on the Boards of the Singapore Stock Exchange, the Government of Singapore’s Competitiveness Commission, and Mastercard International South Asia, Middle East and Africa. He was also a member of the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Committee
Mr. Naqvi graduated with a BSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics.
Email: shehzad@eplanetventures.com
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Amira Atallah
Chief Financial Officer
Silicon Valley
Amira Atallah is the Chief Financial Officer in the Silicon Valley office, where she is responsible for worldwide financial operations, tax reporting and compliance, treasury, investment review and analysis, corporate infrastructure and administration. Ms. Atallah also contributes to ePlanet's global strategy and its global business initiatives.
Ms. Atallah began her career at Arthur Andersen in the tax advisory group, with a dual focus in corporate tax and high net worth family groups. Upon joining Deloitte Tax LLP in 2002, Ms. Atallah shifted her primary focus to private equity entities, including firms in the buyout, venture capital and real estate segments.
Ms. Atallah graduated from the University of California at Davis with a B.A. in Economics and holds a license as a Certified Public Accountant in the state of California.
Email: amira@eplanetventures.com
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Jian Cao
Executive Director, Partner
Beijing / Hong Kong
Jian Cao is an Executive Director and Partner in the Hong Kong and Beijing Office, focussing on the China / North Asia market. He has 12 years experience in investment banking and private equity.
Prior to joining ePlanet ventures, Mr. Cao was a director in Standard Chartered Bank Private Equity Limited. He led a series of high-profile deals such as Dongfeng Motor Group, Golden Dragon Copper Tube Corporation, Grentech Inc., and Shimao Property, etc. Mr. Cao played a leading role in origination, execution, portfolio management, divestment as well as team building and sector research.
Before Standard Chartered, Mr. Cao served as Vice President in Bank of China International (“BOCI”) and an Associate in China International Capital Corporation (“CICC”). His banking relationships coverered a wide range of sectors such as for example Telecommunications (China Mobile), Information Technology (Sina.com) and Infrastructure (Shenzhen Water and Shenzhen Gas).
Mr. Cao obtained a Master’s degree in Finance and a Bachelor’s degree in computer software both in Beijing University.
Email: caojian@eplanetventures.com
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Martin Dieck
Director
Silicon Valley
Martin Dieck is a Director in the Silicon Valley office. He is principally responsible for the Fund’s Life Sciences investments, and is for example involved with Intrapace, BodyMedia, Spinal Modulation, DirectFlow and holds a seat on the Board of Directors for Nfocus Neuromedical where he currently serves as their CEO.
Building off of his experience in the development of therapies for the brain, he was able to step into Nfocus and focus their efforts on the development of next generation medical implants to treat brain aneurysms. Mr. Dieck co-founded and serves on the board of Leffect, inc., a company developing a system that is used to clear blood clots from the brains of stroke patients.
Previously Mr. Dieck was Co-Founder, President and CEO of Concentric Medical, the first company to receive approval from the U.S. government to treat ischemic stroke, an affliction affecting over 750,000 people per year in the United States alone. Mr. Dieck also served as senior executive at a medical incubator where he evaluated early stage medical device opportunities and participated in the formation of four companies. Mr. Dieck was a co-founder of Micro Interventional Systems, a manufacturer of medical devices to pathologies in small blood vessels, which was acquired in 1996. In addition to his operational and deal flow evaluation expertise, Mr. Dieck is also an inventor with over 30 issued and pending patents. Mr. Dieck received his B.A. in Biological Sciences from Willamette University and M.B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Email: martin@eplanetventures.com
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Tim Rea
Director
London
Tim Rea is a Director in the London office. Mr. Rea has a broad technology background with deep expertise in the area of Telecoms and Media and the convergence between the two. Mr. Rea is primarily involved in ePlanet’s investments in the Media and Telecoms sector, and serves on the Board of Directors of Palringo.
Prior to joining ePlanet, Mr Rea worked as an independent consultant providing advice on strategy formulation and corporate development to a range of clients including NEC, Canon, Arqiva (formerly NTL Broadcast) and various network operators.
Mr. Rea has previously been involved in several start-ups, both as an entrepreneur and as a private investor. Mr. Rea started his career with British Telecom developing novel materials for optical devices before moving into a general technology strategy role.
Mr. Rea holds a B.Eng in Materials Science from the University of Sheffield, an M.Sc. in Telecommunications from the University of London, as well as an M.B.A from the London Business School.
Email: tim@eplanetventures.com
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Cynthia Zhang
Senior Vice President
Beijing
Cynthia Zhang is a Senior Vice President in the Beijing office. Since she joined ePlanet in 2004, Ms. Zhang has worked on transactions across for example the TMT, Healthcare, Life Sciences and Education sectors. More specifically, she has worked closely with the portfolio companies Kaitone and Gmedia, and she serves on the Board of Directors for Hisoft and iKang.
Prior to joining ePlanet, Ms. Zhang was an Analyst at China Galaxy Securities, Ltd., where she worked on IPOs, Convertible Bond issues, and M&A transactions. Ms. Zhang has also served as the Business Development Manager for the Beijing office of the Netron Group, a telecommunications service provider to companies such as Nokia, Ericsson, and Vodafone, and as the Business Development Assistant for the China National Computer Software & Technology Corporation.
Ms. Zhang received an MBA from the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing, as well as a B.A. in Finance from the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Beijing).
Email: cynthia@eplanetventures.com
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Rupam Shrivastava
Vice President
Silicon Valley / Bangalore
Rupam Shrivastava is a Vice President in the Silicon Valley and Bangalore offices. At ePlanet, Mr. Shrivastava is part of the investment team covering the United States, South Asia and the Middle East. He helps manage ePlanet’s interests in Friendi Mobile and Naseeb Networks. Mr. Shrivastava also manages ePlanet’s relationship with the Singularity University and the Clinton Global Initiative.
Mr. Shrivastava is one of 100 global members of the Expert Panel at The TechCast Project, a virtual think tank utilizing the collective global intelligence of its members to forecast breakthroughs in all fields of science and technology.
Prior to joining ePlanet, Mr. Shrivastava was an investment banker at Dresdner Kleinwort in New York focusing on mergers and acquisitions in the automotive, aerospace, defense, and healthcare sectors. Prior to that, Mr. Shrivastava was a consultant to Robert Bosch in Germany for the development of energy efficient automobiles. He has also worked at the Technical University of Munich for the development of battery efficient cell phones.
He is currently pursuing a double MBA program from the University of California, Berkeley and the Columbia University. He holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi where he was awarded the Director’s Silver Medal for graduating at the top of his program.
Email: rupam@eplanetventures.com
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Nisreen Malik
Vice President,
Investor Relations
London
Nisreen Malik is Vice President, Investor Relations, based in the London office. Ms. Malik was previously a member of the Investor Relations team with Apax Partners Europe, and in 2007 helped raise what was then the largest European fund to date at 11.2bn Euro.
Before that she was at Morgan Stanley in the Tech Business Development team which identified promising tech ventures and introduced opportunities to Venture Capital firms globally.
Ms. Malik speaks Arabic fluently, has a BSc in International Relations from the American University in Cairo and University of Khartoum, and a Master of Philosophy in Global Politics and Economics from the University of London.
Email: nisreen@eplanetventures.com
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Sofie Hamilton
Vice President,
Investor Relations
London
Sofie Hamilton is Vice President, Investor Relations, based in the London office. Ms. Hamilton joined ePlanet from Hamilton Lane, the US Private Equity fund-of-funds and advisory firm, where she worked in the Client Relationship Team in London.
Prior to that she was part of the Investment Team at the PE Secondaries fund-of-fund Greenpark Capital. Ms. Hamilton has also worked as a management consultant with PA Consulting Group for six years, where she focussed on strategy assignments in the Telecoms and Energy sectors in Europe and Emerging Markets.
Ms. Hamilton is a Swedish national, holds a MSc in Business and Economics from Stockholm School of Economics and also speaks French and Italian.
Email: sofie@eplanetventures.com
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Fang Liu
Senior Associate
Beijing
Fang Liu is a Senior Associate in the Beijing office. Ms. Liu is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing transactions across China/North Asia, as well as managing the existing portfolio companies in the region.
Prior to joining ePlanet in 2008, Ms. Liu was an Analyst at Unicredit China Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unicredit investment banking, where she worked on private placement and M&A transactions. Previously, Ms. Liu was a credit analyst for China Minsheng Banking, where she was evaluating and executing bank loans. Ms. Liu also has experience in New Century Fund Co., Ltd.
Ms. Liu holds an International M.B.A from the joint degree program of China's Tsinghua University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ms. Liu is a Certified Public Accountant and a Level III CFA candidate.
Email: fang@eplanetventures.com
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Seemoon Seong
Senior Associate
Seoul
Seemoon Seong is a Senior Associate based in the Seoul office. Mr. Seong is a member of the Investment Team, covering investments in Korea and North Asia.
Prior to joining ePlanet Ventures in 2009, Mr. Seong was an Investment Officer with Hyundai Venture Investment Corporation, a subsidiary of Hyundai Heavy Industries. Previously, Mr. Seong worked as a software engineer at Pantech, a telecommunication company which manufactures mobile phones.
Mr. Seong holds an M.S. and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
Email: seemoon@eplanetventures.com
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Saad Raja
Senior Advisor
London
Saad Raja has been with the group as a Managing Director since 2001.
Previously, Mr. Raja was Head of Marketing and Investor Relations management for EMEA for Diachi Life Industrial Bank of Japan Asset Management (DIAM). Investors included Central Banks, government agencies, pension funds as well as family offices. Global assets under management exceeded $10 billion.
Prior to this, Mr. Raja was Director of Alternative Investments and Financial Product Development, with the overall responsibility for identifying, analyzing, and structuring alternative investment products for a diverse institutional client base. Mr. Raja structured and launched a number of funds/portfolios including Japanese equity, ethical, global, currency, European technology and fixed income products.
Mr. Raja holds a First Class Honors Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, and a Master of Business Administration from the London Business School.
Email: saad@eplanetventures.com
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Swallow Zhao
Finance Controller
Silicon Valley
Swallow Zhao is ePlanet's Global Controller located in the Silicon Valley office. She joined the firm in 2001. Ms. Zhao is responsible for worldwide financial and administrative operations, including managerial accounting, global audits, budgeting, treasury functions and human resources.
Previously she was a Financial Analyst at Franklin Templeton. Ms. Zhao gained various fund accounting experience including calculation of daily net asset value (NAV), SEC Yield, N1-A, and Tax Provisions as well as filing NSAR documents for Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to that, Ms. Zhao was a staff accountant at StayWell.
Ms. Zhao holds a B.S. in Accounting from Golden Gate University.
Email: swallow@eplanetventures.com
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Nicolette Ford
Administration Manager
London
Nicolette Ford joined ePlanet in 2001 and is the Administration Manager in the London office. She is a member of the Investor Relations team and ensures the firm’s compliance with FSA regulations.
Ms Ford has over twenty years’ experience working within the finance industry, responsibilities including events management, compliance, information management, corporate travel and personnel management.
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Ashraf Hameedi
Venture Partner
Advisor
Silicon Valley
Ashraf Hameedi is Venture Partner and Advisor with ePlanet.
Mr. Hameedi has 18 years of banking experience, most recently with Goldman Sachs, and previously with Citibank, where he helped global companies value, structure, and finance $100bn of high value strategic investments, mainly in the emerging markets. Mr. Hameedi’s clients have spanned key sectors, including telecoms and media, power, energy, and FMCG, and included private sector companies, financial sponsors, and governments and their related enterprises.
In his role as Head of Emerging Markets Structured Finance within Goldman Sachs’ European Finance Group in London, Mr. Hameedi led a number of landmark, award winning capital market financings. In his role as Head of Emerging Markets Financing Strategies within Citigoup’s Corporate and Investment Banking team in London, Mr. Hameedi advised a number of emerging markets based, transformational growth companies to help them manage through their most challenging growth stages, including advising on the important issues of capital structuring, value optimization, and financial risk management. He has led deals and advised clients in Asia (Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia), the Middle East (Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Egypt), Russia, Poland, Turkey, and Africa (South Africa, Nigeria).
Mr. Hameedi is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Email: ashraf@eplanetventures.com
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Donald Fitzmaurice
Venture Partner
London
Donald Fitzmaurice is a Venture Partner in the London office, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the portfolio company Biancamed.
Professor Fitzmaurice is the Professor of Nanochemistry at University College Dublin. With over one hundred and fifty publications and patents to his name, he is established as a leading researcher in the field of nanochemistry. Recently, he was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy and was awarded the Boyle-Higgins medal.
He founded a number of start-ups to exploit his research including NTera, an innovative display company, and TopChem, a company developing specialized process technology to the pharmaceutical sector. Currently, Prof. Fitzmaurice is serving his third term as a member of the Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council, the body responsible for advising the Irish national government on scientific developments.
Professor Fitzmaurice graduated from University College Dublin in 1988 with a PhD in chemistry. Professor Fitzmaurice was a Research Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley from 1988 to 1990 and at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne during 1991. After returning to University College Dublin as a Lecturer in Chemistry he was appointed Professor of Nanochemistry in 1999. Professor Fitzmaurice was awarded a Newman Fellowship in 1991 and the Johnston-Stoney Medal in 2002.
Email: donald@eplanetventures.com
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Fredrik Brag
Venture Partner
London
Fredrik Brag is a Venture Partner with the London office. Mr. Brag co-founded Median Technologies in 2002.
Mr. Brag was previously an Executive Vice President of HealthCenter, Inc., where he was in charge of business development, fund raising and the company's IPO process. Prior to HealthCenter, which focuses on developing clinical applications, and providing mission critical application hosting, data and medical image archival, Mr. Brag was instrumental in co-founding several other technology and Internet companies.
He also has extensive experience working in emerging markets, primarily Russia and Eastern Europe. Mr. Brag is a graduate of the Stockholm School of Economics.
Email: london@eplanetventures.com
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Huateng "Pony" Ma
Venture Partner
Beijing
Huateng "Pony" Ma is the founder, Chairman and CEO of QQ/Tencent Holdings, China’s largest instant messaging platform. He is a successful entrepreneur with strong China market background, having been personally responsible for Tencent’s strategy planning and product development.
Prior to founding Tencent, Mr. Ma was in charge of research and development for Internet paging system development at China Motion Telecom Development Ltd, a supplier of telecommunication products and services in China.
Email: beijing@eplanetventures.com
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June Shen
Venture Partner
Shanghai
June Shen is a Venture Partner based in Shanghai. Previously, Ms. Shen was a Senior VP of ePlanet Ventures, and a Venture Capital Investment Manager of China Merchants & Fortune Assets Co., Ltd. Ms. Shen's responsibilities included deal sourcing, due diligence, investment reporting, deal negotiation, and post-deal management.
During the past 9 years, as a Venture Capitalist, Ms. Shen led the investment of 8 companies, among which 3 went public, such as Focus Media and Spreadtrum on NASDAQ, 1 were merged by international companies and others got new rounds of financing.
Ms. Shen was a Telecom Strategic Marketing Manager for Newave Technology in Shanghai and a Systems Design Engineer both for Pericom and Shanghai Posts & Telecommunications Equipment Co., Ltd.
Ms. Shen graduated from the Beijing University of Posts & Telecommunications with a degree of Electronic Engineering, and subsequently received a MBA degree from Shanghai JiaoTong University.
Email: june@eplanetventures.com
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Jun-Kyo "Jay" Yang
Venture Partner
Shanghai
Jung-Kyoo “Jay” Yang is a Venture Partner with Shanghai office. Mr. Yang is a seasoned venture capitalist in Korea with 26 years of professional investment experience. Mr. Yang is currently the CEO and President of KTAC (the Korea Technology Advancement Corporation), the largest government-backed venture capital firm in Korea.
Previously, he has served in executive and senior advisory capacities for Spansion (a joint venture of AMD and Hitachi) and for the Korean Technology Banking Corporation. Mr. Yang has been responsible for hundreds of investments in his Managing Director role at Alcatel Ventures and in his President and CEO role at Korea Technology Investment Corporation. Mr. Yang's investments in the fields of computer networking, telecommunications, computer peripherals, semiconductors, display components, and Internet businesses have resulted in ten (10) NASDAQ listings and eleven (11) M&A transactions.
Mr. Yang holds a B.B.A. in business from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, as well as an M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Yang also completed one year of study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Advanced Engineering Study, where he researched the international transfer of technology and new technology-based venture capital investing.
Email: seoul@eplanetventures.com
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Mike Lyons
Venture Partner
Silicon Valley
Mike Lyons is a Venture Partner in the Silicon Valley office. He was previously a Managing Partner and co-founder of Zilkha Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital partnership focused on seed and first round investments in technology companies.
Mr. Lyons was a founding investor, CEO, and director Informed Diagnostics. He recently founded SafeView, Inc., a spinout of Battelle/PNNL, and he currently serves as a Director of that company. Mr. Lyons serves on the boards of Selectica (SLTC), Real-Time Innovations, and PetroShear.
Concurrently, he is a Consulting Associate Professor at the Stanford University Department of Management Science and Engineering. Serving in that position since 1989, he co-developed the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and founded Technology Venture Formation, one of the most highly rated courses in the School of Engineering. From 1980 to 1991, he was a co-founder, a Vice-President, and a Director of Integrated Systems Inc., a leading implementer of high-performance real-time control systems for aircraft, automotive, and manufacturing applications.
Mr. Lyons received a Bachelors and Masters (equivalent) in Engineering Physics from Cornell University, an MSEE from Stanford in 1966, and an MBA, with Distinction, from the Pepperdine Presidential/Key Executive Program in 1988. He is a graduate of the Stanford/AEA Institute for the Management of High Technology Companies and a Price-Babson Fellow in Entrepreneurship Education.
Email: mike@eplanetventures.com
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Mir Imran
Venture Partner
Silicon Valley
Mir Imran is a Venture Partner in the Silicon Valley and New Delhi offices, where he focuses on life sciences and technology investments on a global basis.
Mr. Imran is the Founder and President of In-Cube, Inc., a Silicon Valley incubator for medical and Internet companies. Through this incubator, and prior to its establishment, Mr. Imran founded numerous medical and high technology companies. Mr. Imran currently serves as a Director for Surface Genesis, CardioVasc, Zonare, JStreetData.com and IntraPace. Mr. Imran was also a Founder and Director of Percusurge, a marketer and developer of circulatory system devices, which was eventually acquired by Medtronic in 2000, and of Cardiac Pathways, a developer of catheters that was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2001.
Mr. Imran, who contributes to numerous scientific publications, holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, an M.S. in Bioengineering from Rutgers University, as well as numerous patents.
Email: mir@eplanetventures.com
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Mirza Beg
Venture Partner
London / Bangalore
Mirza Beg is a Venture Partner with the London and Bangalore offices. Mr. Beg is a London-based entrepreneur who co-founded WTBL (WorldTel Bangladesh), a full-service Telecom company in South Asia, as well as Carron Energy, a power generation company in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Beg's industry expertise includes technology, communications, energy (electricity, gas and alternative), consumer products, and real estate. Mr. Beg was previously a Director of Structured Finance at Barclays Capital, where he was involved in corporate and project finance.
Mr. Beg graduated from University College London with a B.Sc. (Honors) in Civil Engineering, obtained a post-graduate degree in Computer Systems Analysis, Design and Development, and attended an Investment Management Program at the London Business School.
Email: mirza@eplanetventures.com
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Morten Lund
Venture Partner
London
Morten Lund is a Venture Partner with the London office. Mr. Lund is the Founder, CEO and Chairman of BullGuard, Ltd., an innovative provider of computer security software for the consumer market.
Prior to founding BullGuard, Mr. Lund was the CEO of a small Danish-focused, early-stage venture capital fund, which he co-founded after selling his Internet design bureau, Neo Ideo, to Leo Burnett in early 2000. Mr. Lund is a strong entrepreneur and an active private investor, having personally invested in Skype, where he was responsible for their early branding and communications strategy.
Email: morten@eplanetventures.com
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Nick Yang
Venture Partner
Beijing
Nick Yang is a Venture Partner with the Beijing office. Mr. Yang is a co-founder, president, Director and Chief Technology Officer of KongZhong, a successful ePlanet portfolio company.
Prior to establishing KongZhong in 2002, Mr. Yang served as Vice President of Technology and Chief Technology Officer of Sohu.com Inc., which merged with ChinaRen Inc., a company co-founded by Mr. Yang in 1999.
Mr. Yang holds a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan.
Email: beijing@eplanetventures.com
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Phil Morgan
Venture Partner
Silicon Valley
Philip Morgan is a Venture Partner in the Silicon Valley office. A senior executive with experience in all phases of the pharmaceutical industry from discovery through commercialization, Dr. Morgan was previously the co-founder of Trelion Pharmaceuticals, a start-up drug development company focused on the fast track development of new CNS (central nervous system), Oncology and anti-inflammatory drugs.
Dr. Morgan was also the Head of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology of GlaxoSmithKline and GlaxoWellcome in the United States, where he was the pre-clinical pharmacology expert for various drugs, including Nimbex, a neuromuscular blocker; Wellbutrin SR, an anti-depressant; Zyban, an anti-smoking medicine used to reduce withdrawal symptoms; and Manifaxine, a drug used to treat ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), among others. Dr. Morgan was also a Senior Scientist for Burroughs Wellcome, as well as a Fogarty Associate and Visiting Scientist and Fogarty Fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
Dr. Morgan received an M.S. in Pharmacology from Chelsea College of the University of London, a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from St. Georges Medical School of the University of London, and an MBA from Duke University. Dr. Morgan has two patents to his name, and has penned forty peer-reviewed publications and five review articles.
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Scott Walchek
Venture Partner
Silicon Valley
Scott Walchek is a Venture Partner with the Silicon Valley office of ePlanet and is the Managing Director and founder of Integrity Partners in Danville, California.
Mr. Walchek was an early stage investor in Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) and previously served as a director of the company. Previously, Mr. Walchek was a co-founder and the CEO of C2B Technologies, an e-commerce infrastructure company acquired by Inktomi Corp. in 1998. Prior to his success at C2B, Scott was a pioneer in interactive media technologies and content. He was part of the founding team at Macromedia, Inc. where he headed up its product marketing and business development efforts.
In 1993, he became CEO of Sanctuary Woods, a small, publicly traded developer and publisher of interactive entertainment and education content. He previously served as Director of Product Marketing at Sun Microsystems and was a Product Line Manager at Migent. Mr. Walchek is a partner in Palm Beach Capital, a U.S.-based hedge fund, and is president of two media companies involved in film and music production. He also serves on the boards of directors of Palm Beach Capital Management and also for Ionic Fusion, a developer of nanotechnology for surface engineering.
Mr. Walchek is also a director for several not-for-profit community and charitable organizations. Mr. Walchek performed his undergraduate studies at University of California at San Diego.
Email: scott@eplanetventures.com
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