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Geodesic Capital Launches a $335 Million Fund for Growth Stage Venture Capital to Bridge Silicon Valley, Japan, and Asia
Founders include John V. Roos, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Ashvin Bachireddy, former partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and Mitsubishi Corporation
Tokyo and Silicon Valley, May 17, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - Geodesic Capital, an independent growth stage venture capital firm investing in U.S. based consumer and enterprise technology companies, today announced the close of its first fund, Geodesic Capital Fund I, totaling $335 million.
Geodesic Capital was founded by former U.S. Ambassador to Japan John V. Roos who was previously CEO of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the leading law firm in the United States in the representation of technology, life sciences, and emerging growth companies; Ashvin Bachireddy, previously a growth stage partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a leading U.S. venture capital firm, where he was actively involved in the firm's investments in Facebook, Twitter, Box, Airbnb and Github; together with Japanese trading and investment company Mitsubishi Corporation, which is also the anchor investor.
John V. Roos, Founding Partner of Geodesic Capital commented, "During my time as Ambassador, I traveled all over Japan talking about the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship to Japan's economy. After returning to Silicon Valley, I found this to be the most deeply disruptive and innovative period in technology I have seen in my career and came to believe that Japan needed a much greater presence here. At the same time I saw a surging interest in Japan among the very best technology companies in the U.S. By launching Geodesic Capital, we aim to establish a bridge between Silicon Valley and Japan that will help the world's most transformative technology companies enter the Japanese market and also help Japan's most iconic companies establish a window into Silicon Valley innovation."
"Disruptive technologies are changing everything about the way we live and the way we do business. Geodesic Capital was founded to be the preferred funding partner for growth stage technology companies," added Ashvin Bachireddy, Founding Partner at Geodesic Capital. "The best entrepreneurs are focused on building a global business. The network and experience of our team will help our portfolio companies access Japan and Asia, the world's largest and fastest growing market," he continued.
Geodesic Capital announced the opening of Geodesic Japan GK, led by Marcus Otsuji, who was most recently a senior executive at Apple Japan and previously was Country Manager at Omniture Japan. Geodesic Japan GK will provide Japan market entry and growth support for Geodesic Capital portfolio companies in Japan. In addition, Mitsubishi Corporation will assist Geodesic Japan GK in supporting portfolio companies entering the Japanese market.
Geodesic Capital also announced that James Kondo, who previously served as Chairman of Twitter Japan, Managing Director of East Asia at Twitter, and Special Advisor in the Cabinet Office of the Japanese Government, has joined the fund as a Senior Advisor.
Finally, Geodesic Capital announced that growth stage investor Nate Mitchell, formerly of Vulcan Capital and Index Ventures, has joined the firm as a Partner. Mitchell has been closely involved in many leading technology investments such as Uber, Alibaba, RPX, Magic Leap, Zuora, Mimecast, Etsy and Flipkart.
Geodesic Capital Fund I has already made a number of investments, including:
-- Tanium, a software product that gives the world's largest enterprises and government organizations the unique power to secure, control and manage millions of endpoints across enterprises within seconds;
-- Snapchat, a mobile application that is the fastest way to share a moment with friends;
-- Instart Logic, a content delivery network (CDN) platform which makes application delivery (i.e. websites) fast, secure, and easy;
-- 21 Inc., 21 sells the 21 Bitcoin Computer, the first computer with native hardware and software support for the Bitcoin protocol.
In addition to Mitsubishi Corporation, other investors in Geodesic Capital Fund I include Limited Partners Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc, Nikon Corporation, Development Bank of Japan Inc and The Toho Bank Ltd.
For further information please contact:
US
Spark PR
Tim Turpin
TEL: +1-415-244-9699
E-Mail: tim.turpin@sparkpr.com
Japan
Edelman Japan
Mariko Yasu / Ayako Okamoto
TEL: +81-3-4360-9000
E-Mail: mariko.yasu@edelman.com / ayako.okamoto@edelman.com
About Geodesic Capital
Geodesic Capital supports U.S.-based entrepreneurs building transformative growth stage technology companies. It was founded by former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and former CEO of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, John V. Roos and Ashvin Bachireddy, previously a growth stage partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Geodesic Capital helps its portfolio companies expand globally into key markets in Asia, starting with Japan, by assisting them in finding employees, customers, partners and developing go-to-market strategies. For more information, please visit www.geodesiccap.com.
Geodesic Capital Founding Partner Biographies
- John V. Roos, Founding Partner, Geodesic Capital
John V. Roos was the United States Ambassador to Japan from August 2009 - August 2013, a pivotal period in U.S.-Japan relations. On Aug. 6, 2010 he became the first sitting U.S. Ambassador ever to attend the commemoration ceremony of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. On Aug. 9, 2012 he also became the first U.S. Ambassador to attend the commemoration ceremony of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki.
Roos' service in Tokyo coincided with the devastating 9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis on March 11, 2011. Following this tragedy, Roos led the American effort on the ground in support of Japan's response to the multi-dimensional and unprecedented disaster. In October 2011, citing his tireless and effective leadership during and after the disasters, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton awarded Roos the prestigious Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service. On September 22, 2014, Roos was awarded the Distinguished Public Service Award by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus citing his "relentless efforts to forge a deeper bilateral security relationship between Japan and the United States," and his "dynamic and steadfast leadership during Operation Tomodachi," the U.S. military's humanitarian response mission.
Roos also led the creation of the TOMODACHI Initiative that followed U.S. disaster relief efforts. TOMODACHI is a public-private partnership between the United States Government and the U.S.-Japan Council, a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization. It is designed to invest in Japan's next generation of leaders and connect them to the United States.
During his four years in Japan, Roos built relationships and established a rich and active dialogue with government leaders, businesspeople, media, and students over the course of his travels through all 47 of Japan's prefectures. In addition to addressing the security, economic, and global challenges that Japan and the United States faced, Roos put specific focus on innovation and entrepreneurship as well as trade issues.
Since his return to California, Roos remains committed to strengthening business connections between Japan and the United States as Managing Partner at Geodesic Capital, a growth stage venture capital fund focused on investing in enterprise and consumer technology companies. He is a Senior Advisor at Centerview Partners, a leading global, independent investment banking firm. Roos is a member of the Board of Directors at Salesforce.com and at Sony Corporation and a member of the Global Advisory Board of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Previously, Roos served as Chief Executive Officer and Senior Partner at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, & Rosati. There he helped lead his firm through multiple waves of innovation in Silicon Valley, from the growth of software and communications, to the Internet Age, to the emergence of biotechnology, clean technology and renewable energy, to the social media revolution.
Roos is a graduate with honors and distinction from Stanford University and from Stanford Law School where he was Order of the Coif.
- Ashvin Bachireddy, Founding Partner, Geodesic Capital
Ashvin Bachireddy has over 14 years of venture capital and technology experience.
Prior to Geodesic Capital, Mr. Bachireddy was the Head of Growth Stage Investing at Andreessen Horowitz. He was actively involved with Andreessen Horowitz's investments in Facebook, Twitter, Box, Airbnb, and Github.
Prior to Andreessen Horowitz, Mr. Bachireddy was a venture capital investor at Lightspeed Venture Partners, 3i Group and JMI Equity where he was involved with investments at all stages spanning broadly across technology.
Mr. Bachireddy has also performed corporate strategy, operational and business development work as Chief of Staff to the CEO at Coremetrics, a leading web analytics provider. Earlier in his career he was in the investment banking division at Montgomery & Co. and Salomon Smith Barney.
Mr. Bachireddy received a B.S. in Management Science from the University of California at San Diego.
Mitsubishi Corporation, Founding Partner
Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is a global integrated business enterprise that develops and operates businesses across virtually every industry including industrial finance, energy, metals, machinery, chemicals, foods, and environmental business. MC's current activities are expanding far beyond its traditional trading operations as its diverse business ranges from natural resources development to investment in retail business, infrastructure, financial products and manufacturing of industrial goods.
With over 200 Offices & Subsidiaries in approximately 90 countries worldwide and a network of over 600 group companies, MC employs a multinational workforce of over 65,000 people.
Source: Geodesic Capital
Sectors: PE, VC & Alternatives
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