GrowthCap is pleased to announce The Top 25 Software Investors of 2020. These are the individuals at the forefront of arguably the most important industry of today’s global economy. They have demonstrated, over many years, their keen ability to consistently identify exceptional software companies and play a significant role towards the rapid expansion and ultimate success of such companies. To be a top performer in software investing involves a unique combination of analytical rigor, investment judgement, and leadership acumen. This year’s awardees embody all of the key attributes above and more.
Our process began with first identifying a select pool of candidates qualified to be among the top tier of software investors. This top tier was determined based on over two decades of first-hand experience in the private capital markets, monitoring investors and investments made in the software space, and incorporating hundreds of conversations with both CEOs and fellow investors. We then opened up the process for nominations to be submitted by the candidates’ colleagues, CEOs of portfolio companies past and present, other industry executives, and limited partners. Ultimate selection for the awards was based on a close evaluation of each candidate’s track record, breadth of experience, and overall investing capabilities.
We are delighted to recognize and celebrate the achievements of The Top 25 Software Investors of 2020.
Firm: TPG
Title: Partner
Nehal Raj is a Partner at TPG based in San Francisco. He co-leads the firm’s investment activities in software and enterprise technology across its private equity platforms (TPG Capital, TPG Tech Adjacencies, TPG Growth, and The Rise Fund). Prior to joining TPG in 2006, Nehal was an investor at Francisco Partners. Previously, he worked in the Mergers, Acquisitions, and Restructurings Department of Morgan Stanley. He received an AB in Economics and MS in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University (Phi Beta Kappa) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar). Nehal currently serves on the board of the following TPG investments: C3.ai, Digital.ai, Kaseya, Noodle.ai, WellSky, and Wind River Systems. He is also closely involved with the firm’s investments in Checkmarx and Sonatype. Nehal was previously a director of a number of TPG investments prior to their successful exits, including: CCC Information Services (acquired by Advent International), IQVIA (NYSE: IQV), Intergraph (acquired by Hexagon AB), and Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS). Nehal serves on the Board of Trustees of San Francisco Day School and the Advisory Board of Breakthrough San Francisco.
“We are a team of thematic investors who focus on identifying long-term industry trends, backing market leaders that are set to benefit from those tailwinds, and partnering with them to help build their businesses for better. As COVID-19 continues to reshape the ways we work and live, the shift towards many of our core themes is rapidly accelerating – from increased reliance on the cloud, to faster digital transformation, more robust workflow automation, and the ever-growing importance of cybersecurity. Our broad mandate and deep experience in the sector have positioned us well for this moment, and we look forward to continuing to provide solutions capital to innovators and business leaders across the industry.” – Nehal Raj
Firm: TPG
Title: Partner
Tim Millikin is a Partner at TPG based in San Francisco, where he co-leads TPG’s investment activities in software and enterprise technology. He currently serves as a director or observer of Ellucian, Expanse, Infinidat, McAfee, and Renaissance Learning, and has led or been involved with many of the firm’s current and prior technology investments including Box, Domo, Guardicore, SunGard, Tanium, and Zscaler. Prior to joining TPG in 2007, Tim worked in the Technology Mergers and Acquisitions Group at Morgan Stanley in Menlo Park, CA, where he guided and executed M&A transactions across enterprise software, Internet, semiconductors, technology hardware, and technology services sectors. Tim holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and a BA Economics from Dartmouth College. Tim has previously served as Chairman of the Board at Minds Matter San Francisco.
“Our strategy is to back companies in sectors where our team has differentiated expertise and insights. We partner with visionary leaders in those spaces to build businesses that are creating new solutions and driving unique value in their markets. These unprecedented times underscore the importance of partnership, conviction, leadership, and innovation in our investments — attributes that are particularly acute in a sector like technology, where trends, behaviors, and demands are all contributing to massive shifts in business and everyday life. That creates natural challenges as well as immense opportunity for our team to build on existing partnerships and make new investments into dynamic companies across the technology landscape.” – Tim Millikin
Firm: Summit Partners
Title: Managing Director
Michael joined Summit Partners in 2005 as an Associate. Today, as a Managing Director, he focuses primarily on the technology sector. Summit Partners invests in growth equity, fixed income, and public equity opportunities in technology, healthcare, and growth products and services. Michael’s current board and investment experience includes Clarabridge, Klaviyo, MacStadium, Markforged, NetBrain Technologies, VeriShip, Vestmark, and Zenoss. His prior investments and directorships include Acacia Communications (NASDAQ: ACIA), Accedian Networks (acquired by Bridge Growth Partners), Anesthetix (acquired by TeamHealth), Diagnostic Hybrids (acquired by Quidel Corporation), Fermentas International (acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific), Hiperos (acquired by Opus Global), Logi Analytics (acquired by Marlin Equity Partners), Mi9 Retail (acquired by General Atlantic), and Telerik (acquired by Progress Software). Prior to Summit, Michael worked for Prudential Capital Group. Michael received a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and international business from Georgetown University.
Firm: JMI Equity
Title: General Partner
Peter Arrowsmith is a General Partner at JMI Equity, focusing on software businesses. Peter has more than two decades of experience with JMI helping to build leading software companies. Peter has deployed approximately $500 million across 20 deals during his tenure at JMI and has successfully exited 15 companies. He is currently a Board Director of CampusLogic, Seismic, Vena Solutions, Workfront, and Yello. His investment experience also includes prior investments in Adaptive Insights (acquired by Workday; NASDAQ: WDAY), BigMachines (acquired by Oracle; NYSE: ORCL), Lytx (acquired by GTCR, LLC), Nimsoft (acquired by CA Technologies), and NetPro Computing (acquired by Quest Software). Prior to joining JMI in 1996, Peter was an associate at AEA Investors and a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. Peter graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and literature.
“There is nothing more rewarding than partnering with entrepreneurs and executives at innovative, high-growth software companies; their passion and dedication is inspiring.” – Peter Arrowsmith
Firm: Insight Partners
Title: Managing Director
Deven Parekh is a Managing Director at Insight Partners and joined the firm in 2000. Deven manages investments in application software, data, and consumer internet businesses globally. Some notable previous companies in Deven’s portfolio have included Buddy Media (acquired by Salesforce, NASDAQ: CRM), Chegg (IPO), Media Mind (IPO and subsequent sale to DG Fast Channel), Procuri (acquired by Ariba, NASDAQ: ARBA), ECI Solution (sold to Carlyle), Tumblr (acquired by Yahoo!), Hayneedle (sale to Jet.com), Syncsort (sale to Clearlake Capital), Alibaba (IPO), Twitter (IPO), JD.com (IPO), Website Pros (IPO), Yext (IPO), Despagar (IPO), Enverus (sale to Genstar Capital), Turnitin (sale to Advance) and eVestment (sale to NASDAQ). He currently serves as Board Chair for Bullhorn, Appriss, and EveryAction, and he is a member of the Board of Directors for Fanatics, Diligent, 1stdibs, Checkout.com, Episerver, PDI, Community Brands, Vela (formerly SR Labs), and others. Prior to joining Insight, Deven worked for Berenson Minella & Company and Blackstone. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
“At Insight, capital is only one piece of our strategy. Through our software and operations-focused lens, we are mission-driven in advising our portfolio companies to position them for long-term success. At Insight, we take a team-oriented approach to investing, working together to bring our networks and value-add capabilities to bear across our portfolio. I’m grateful to work with an amazing set of partners, founders, entrepreneurs, and executives who are building game-changing companies that are transforming the way we live and work.” – Deven Parekh
Firm: Centana Growth
Title: Partner and Co-Founder
Eric Byunn co-founded Centana Growth in 2015 and is one of its Partners. Eric currently serves on the Boards of Beacon, Blueprint Systems, Ease, Jumio, One, Inc., SheerID, Sentieo, and Vena. He previously led investments in companies including Cloudmark (acquired by Proofpoint), Coremetrics (acquired by IBM), Covario (acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network), GMI (acquired by WPP), KVS (acquired by Veritas), MarketShare Partners (acquired by Neustar), PSS Systems (acquired by IBM), Sourcecode/K2, Varicent (acquired by IBM) and Vindicia (acquired by Amdocs). Before founding Centana Growth, Eric spent over 20 years in growth equity and technology. Eric spent 13 years at FTV Capital, where he was a partner, served on the management committee, and led investments in enterprise technology. Prior to FTV, Eric served as Director of Online Services at myCFO. He held several positions at Netscape/AOL and has worked at Microsoft and McKinsey & Company. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with additional focus in computer science from Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. Eric is also a CFA Charterholder.
“At Centana, we’re focused on identifying and accelerating the growth of financial services, fintech, and related enterprise software companies. As we continue to see rapid evolution and innovation in these sectors, we’re seeking out the unique ideas that add real value around financial services. We’re fortunate to collaborate with stellar entrepreneurs and management teams, and to help them navigate the ups and downs as they scale, by bringing our team’s strong experience and strategic network specifically relevant to these sectors.” – Eric Byunn
Firm: TPG
Title: Partner
Mike Zappert is a Partner at TPG Growth, where he leads all aspects of TPG’s software and enterprise technology growth investing and strategy across the TPG Growth and The Rise Fund platforms. Some of the platforms’ investments in the sector have included: Box (BOX), C3.ai, DreamBox Learning, EverFi, Expanse, GreenSky, Kaseya, Noodle.ai, Onfido, Renaissance Learning, Tanium, and Zscaler (ZS). Previously, Mike served as a Partner at Adams Street, a $2 billion growth equity fund, where he was actively involved with companies including: Couchbase, Lever, Sauce Labs, Skybox Security, Snow Software, TurnKey, Visier, Chrome River (acquired by Certify), ThreatMetrix (acquired by RELX), TeleSign (acquired by BICS), ServiceMax (acquired by GE), Five9 (FIVN), Criteo (CRTO), and RetailMeNot (SALE). Prior to that he was at 3i and Credit Suisse, serving in a variety of roles. Mike received a BA in Economics with Honors and MS in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and was a Stanford in Government Fellow.
“It’s been an unprecedented year for us in the B2B tech market across the backdrop of COVID-19 and accelerating trends in digital transformation across a wide range of areas in which we invest. Interestingly, the pandemic has also shed light on the role of enabling technologies to allow companies to operate on a 100 percent virtual basis and still meet the needs of their end-customers. At TPG Growth, we continue to focus on partnering with high-growth businesses, with strong fundamentals, that are serving as critical infrastructure to their industries.” – Mike Zappert
Firm: IVP
Title: General Partner
Eric Liaw joined IVP in 2011 and is now a General Partner. He is focused primarily on later-stage investments in high growth companies across a variety of sectors, including enterprise software, Internet, and mobile. Eric serves as a Board Director or Observer for IVP portfolio companies Aiven, App Annie, Deputy, Glossier, The Honest Company, IEX, Lulus, MasterClass, NextRoll, Supermetrics, and ZipRecruiter, and led IVP’s investments in Datadog (DDOG), GitHub (MSFT), Klarna, Robinhood, and UiPath. He previously served as a Board Director or Observer for Dropcam (GOOG), MINDBODY (MB), OnDeck (ONDK), RetailMeNot (SALE), Supercell (SFTBF), The Players’ Tribune (Minute Media), and Wikia (TPG). The New York Times and CB Insights recognized Eric as one of the top 100 venture capitalists in the world in 2019. Prior to joining IVP, Eric was with TCV where he completed minority and control investments in private and public companies across the Internet and software sectors. Earlier in his career, Eric was a member of Morgan Stanley’s Technology Investment Banking Group. Eric also held technical and marketing positions with Trend Micro and Canon Software Publishing. Eric holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and a Master of Science degree in management science and engineering, both from Stanford University.
“It’s an exciting time to invest in later-stage software companies. Companies are targeting hundreds of millions of users in ever larger global markets, allowing them to grow faster than ever and generate significant revenue within a very short timeframe. The acceleration of digital transformation drives a massive opportunity for our current and future portfolio companies. It is an honor to work with many talented entrepreneurs and partner with them to create the market leaders of the future.” – Eric Liaw
Firm: Mainsail Partners
Title: Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Gavin Turner is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Mainsail Partners. He co-founded the firm in 2003 and has been investing in growing, founder-led software companies for more than two decades. He is an experienced investor with a focus on vertical SaaS, financial technology, infrastructure software and info services technology. His six most recent software investments include SourceScrub, ResMan, Nexus Systems, SentryOne, nCourt, and PayLease. In addition to leading the investment strategy for Mainsail, Gavin has helped the firm raise five flagship funds and over $1.2 billion in committed capital since inception. Prior to founding Mainsail Partners, Gavin was a vice president at Summit Partners. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, with Honors, from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
“The most rewarding part of my job is investing in founder-led software companies that we believe have tremendous potential and striving to help them unlock the uppermost range of that potential. Mainsail was purpose-built to help bootstrapped founders succeed and seventeen years later that remains at the center of our mission and strategy.” – Gavin Turner
Firm: IVP
Title: General Partner
Tom Loverro joined IVP in 2015 and is currently a General Partner. He focuses on investing in later-stage, high-growth consumer and enterprise companies. Tom currently serves as a Board Director or Observer for Attentive, Coinbase, HashiCorp, NerdWallet, and Podium. He was actively involved in sourcing, executing, and managing investments in Amplitude, Datadog (DDOG), GitHub (MSFT), IEX, OnDeck (ONDK), and Tanium. Forbes Magazine recognized Tom as one of venture capital’s up-and-comers by his inclusion in the 2019 Midas Brink List. He began his career at Goldman Sachs & Co. in technology, media, and telecommunications investment banking. Following Goldman, he joined RRE, a leading early-stage venture firm based in New York. Tom’s involvement in RRE portfolio company Drobo led to him joining the company full-time for a period where he led Marketing. Tom holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kellogg School of Management, where he was an Austin Scholar, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University, where he graduated with distinction.
“IVP invests in the fastest-growing technology companies and software is the majority of what we do. We partner with exceptional management teams to build software companies of consequence.” – Tom Loverro
Firm: TA Associates
Title: Managing Director
Hythem El-Nazer joined TA Associates in 2004, and is a Managing Director, focusing on software and technology-enabled investments. In addition to his role as Managing Director, he is also a member of the Core Investment Committee and Management Committee and Co-Head of TA’s North America Technology Group. In his tenure with TA Associates, Hythem has participated in more than 20 investments worth over $20 billion in enterprise value. He currently serves on the board of directors for several leading technology companies, including Aptean, DigiCert, Gamma Technologies, Idera, insightsoftware, Mitratech, MRI Software, Netsmart Technologies, PDI, and Sovos. Before TA Associates, Hythem was a junior associate at McKinsey & Company and an investment banking analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia University, a general course degree from the London School of Economics, and his bachelor’s degree in economics from Brown University. Outside of TA, Hythem is on the Board of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), Brigham and Women’s Hospital Board of Overseers, the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, and the President’s Leadership Council at Brown University.
Firm: Arrowroot Capital
Title: Founder and Managing Partner
Matthew Safaii founded Arrowroot Capital in 2014 and currently serves as Managing Partner. The firm focuses exclusively on minority, majority, and buyout investments in growth-stage B2B software and internet businesses. In just six years, Arrowroot has successfully raised four funds, evidence of the firm’s ability to identify and capitalize on great investment opportunities. Matthew currently sits on the boards of MedNet Solutions, Cygilant, Zift Solutions, Hookit, Leadspace, BryterCX, and SnapLogic. He began his investing career at Platinum Equity and subsequently TA Associates in the Boston and London offices. He also served as a managing director and head of acquisitions at Actua. Matthew graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and marketing from Boston College. He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
“Arrowroot is maniacal about aligning ourselves with the management teams with which we partner. This purposeful strategy has proven to be quite successful and this accolade is testament to the success. Arrowroot’s experience and talents compliments our portfolio companies as we navigate the enterprise mega trend of digital transformation and data utility.” – Matthew Safaii
Firm: Vista Equity Partners
Title: Principal and Fund Co-Head
Alan Cline is a Principal and Fund Co-Head at Vista Equity Partners, a leading software, data, and technology-enabled investment-focused firm. A former entrepreneur, Alan first joined Vista Equity Partners in 2001. In his tenure with the firm, Alan has assumed many leadership roles, including serving as Co-Head of the Vista Foundation Fund for the past 10 years and Co-Head of the Vista Endeavor Fund. He has been actively involved with many of the firm’s key investments, including Accruent, Autotask, Kibo, MicroEdge, Mitratech, SRC Software, Upserve, BigMachines, Bullhorn, and Relias Learning. Alan was formerly general partner at Accretive, an innovative venture capital firm with a focus on high growth technology-enabled service companies. Prior to joining Vista Equity, Alan co-founded and served as general manager of internet-based movie ticketing business Fandango. He started his career at Goldman Sachs in their mergers & acquisitions and high technology groups. Alan received his Bachelor of Science degree in system engineering with distinction from the University of Virginia and a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University.
Firm: KKR
Title: Partner & Head of TMT Growth Equity
Dave Welsh is a Partner and Head of TMT Growth Equity at KKR, the iconic private equity firm that has evolved into a multi-asset manager with $206 billion under management. KKR favors long-term partnerships over quick exits and leverages its global footprint and deep operating expertise across geographies to help drive sustainable growth for its portfolio companies. A corporate strategist turned investor, Dave joined KKR’s private equity platform in 2014 and is currently on the board of directors for Five9, ForgeRock, MATRIXX Software, Atlantis Computing, BrightRoll, Damballa, and others. Dave came to KKR from Adams Street Partners, where he was a partner with a focus on growth equity investments. Earlier in his career, Dave was an executive vice president for corporate strategy and business development at McAfee, a general partner at Partech International, and a vice president in corporate development for Portal Software. Dave received his Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations from UCLA and a Juris Doctor from UC Berkeley and Harvard Law Schools.
Firm: Genstar Capital
Title: Managing Director
Eli Weiss is a Managing Director at Genstar Capital and is a software-focused investor. He has been with the middle market-focused private equity firm since 2008, when he joined the team as senior associate. Since then, Eli has been promoted to Managing Director and is currently responsible for leading the firm’s software practice. His current investments include Bullhorn, Community Brands, ConnectiveRX, Enverus, insightsoftware, OEConnection, PDI, Prometheus Group, Stack Sports, and Telestream. His prior investments also include Accruent, ConstructConnect, Evolution1, Innovative Aftermarket Systems, and Insurity. Prior to joining Genstar, Eli served as an associate at private equity investment firm Hellman & Friedman as well as an analyst in the mergers & acquisitions, restructuring and principal investing groups at investment bank Greenhill & Co. Eli received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Firm: Sutter Hill Ventures
Title: Managing Director
Mike Speiser is the Managing Director at Sutter Hill Ventures, where he has led investments in technology-based start-up companies. Founded in 1964, Sutter Hill is one of the oldest venture capital firms still in operation. Mike currently serves as the Lead Independent Director at Snowflake Computing (SNOW), where he served as Founding CEO and Founding Investor. Mike was also the co-chairman of Pure Storage (PSTG) before and after its 2015 IPO and served as Pure’s founding CEO and founding investor. He is currently a Board Director at Clumio, Ghost Locomotion, Lacework, Observe, Sigma Computing, Sila Nano, and Transposit. He has also led the firm’s investments in Sumo Logic (SUMO), Instart Logic, Rigetti, and others. Prior to Sutter Hill Ventures, Mike was the vice president of community products at Yahoo!, vice president and technical advisor at Symantec, and a consultant at McKinsey & Company. He also co-founded Epinions.com. Mike received a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona.
Firm: Long Ridge Equity Partners
Title: Partner
Angad Singh joined Long Ridge in 2012 and serves as a Partner and a member of the Firm’s Investment Committee. Long Ridge is a growth equity firm with $900 million under management. At Long Ridge, Angad focuses on new investments in financial and business technology. His areas of interest include payments, vertical software, CFO-suite software, and real estate technology. Angad’s portfolio companies include Ametros, Bluetarp, Broadway Technology, Browz, Carson Group, Eqis, Neighborhoods.com, Portware, and TradAir. Prior to joining Long Ridge, Angad was an Associate at Alinda Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on infrastructure investments. Angad started his career as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company, where he worked in the Corporate Finance Group. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Haverford College.
Firm: Sequoia Capital
Title: Partner
Matthew Miller is a Partner at Sequoia Capital and focuses on partnering with enterprise-facing technology companies. Sequoia focuses on the technology industry and has backed companies that now control $1.4 trillion of combined stock market value. Matthew is considered an expert on microservices, and he has invested in many leading companies in the space. He has most recently invested in Confluent, Docker, Graphcore, and HireVue. Also in Matthew’s portfolio is n8n, Tecton, Tessian, Barracuda Networks, Carbon Black, Nimble Storage, Okta, SimpliSafe, and Skyhigh Networks. Matthew has been with Sequoia for five years and has been interested in software from a very young age, even starting his own business in college. Before Sequoia, he worked at Goldman Sachs in the Technology, Media & Telecom Group in the Investment Banking Division, leading the banking practice focused on cloud computing. Matthew graduated from Brigham Young University.
Firm: ICONIQ
Title: Founding Partner
Will Griffith is a Founding Partner at ICONIQ, focusing on investments in internet, wireless, and infrastructure. ICONIQ is a privately held investment firm dedicated to improving the world by channeling capital, talent, and ideas to initiatives that advance society. Will has led or co-led investments in HighRadius, 2Wire, Continuous Computing, InPhonic (public: INPC), Lynk Systems (acquired by Royal Bank of Scotland), Paciolan, Fandango, Techwell, Egenera, INFOnxx, Liquidnet, Motricity, Nextag, Riskmetrics, WhitePages.com, Oak Pacific, and Adknowledge. He also currently serves on the boards of WhitePages.com, 2Wire, CCPU, Adknowledge, MoneyExpert, Orbitz (NYSE: OWW), Tiny Prints, and Travelport. Will started his career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley. He then became an associate at The Beacon Group, which was acquired by JP Morgan Chase in 1999, before becoming a principal and then general partner at TCV. Will earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Engineering and History from Dartmouth College, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Firm: Thoma Bravo
Title: Partner
A.J. Rohde is a Partner at Thoma Bravo, and is responsible for the firm’s Discover funds, which focus on investing in mid-sized and smaller software and technology companies. Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity firm with a 40 plus year history, including more than $50 billion in capital commitments, and a focus on investing in software and technology companies. A.J. currently sits on the boards of Infovista, Flexera, Empirix, Embarcadero Technologies, Vision Solutions, Tripwire, and LANDESK Software. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Marin General Hospital Foundation. A.J. was previously a principal at Thoma Bravo. He came to Thoma Bravo from a role in investment banking at Saban Capital Group and Jefferies & Company and previously worked for Ford Motor Company. A.J. received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Villanova University.
Firm: Coatue Management
Title: Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director
Thomas Laffont is the Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director at Coatue Management, where he leads the company’s Private Investments team and oversees enterprise investments across private and public markets. Coatue invests in both the public and private markets with a focus on technology, media, and telecommunications, as well as the consumer and healthcare sectors. Thomas has made partner investments in companies such as Kustomer, AppZen, Mason, ScaleFactor, UiPath, Airtable, and Lime. Last year he helped launch a $300 million fund to invest in high-growth, pre-IPO startups like Box and Snapchat, in which he led the $50 million investment. He also invested $45 million in HotelTonight, an app for last-minute hotel reservations. He serves as a board member at Snap Inc., Tipping Point Community, Cerebras Systems, Domino Data Lab, ScaleFactor, and AppZen. Before his role at Coatue, Thomas was an agent in the Motion Picture Talent Department at Creative Artists Agency. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and economics from Yale University.
Firm: Salesforce Ventures
Title: Managing Partner
Matt Garratt is a Managing Partner at Salesforce Ventures and has led more than 50 investments and acquisitions in leading enterprise SaaS companies. Salesforce Ventures has formed partnerships and helped accelerate the growth of over 400 technology startups. Matt specializes in venture capital, growth equity, M&A, start-ups, corporate strategy, and business development. He has led investments in companies such as Snowflake, Anaplan, Docusign, Gainsight, Mulesoft, nCino, Twilio, and Zoom. Matt is also a Board Member for Highspot, Simpplr, PropelPLM, Automation Anywhere, and Runa HR. Matt was previously at Battery Ventures, where he served as vice president and led investments in the areas of SW, data analytics, greenIT, and consumer internet. His investments with Battery Ventures include Chute and FirstFuel. Matt earned a Bachelor of Science degree in materials science and engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Business Administration in finance and entrepreneurship from the University of Michigan.
Firm: Bain Capital
Title: Partner
Enrique Salem is a partner at Bain Capital, where he focuses on infrastructure software and services, with a specialization in cybersecurity. Enrique currently serves on the boards of several Bain Capital Venture portfolio companies, including DocuSign, and serves independently on the boards of FireEye (FEYE), Atlassian (TEAM), and ForeScout (FSCT). He also serves on the boards of several privately held startups such as Cloudgenix, Attivo Networks, ShieldX, Leapyear, Awake Security, ShiftLeft, Red Balloon Security, BetterCloud, and Rubrik. Prior to Bain Capital, Enrique spent a decade as the CEO of software giant Symantec. In his time at Symantec, also served as the executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing and president of consumer products. Before Symantec, Enrique was president and CEO of Brightmail, the leading anti-spam software company acquired by Symantec in 2004. In March 2011, Enrique was appointed to President Barack Obama’s Management Advisory Board. He was also named 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, and 2007 Corporate Executive of the Year by Hispanic Net. Enrique has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Dartmouth College.
Firm: Dragoneer Investment Group
Title: Founder and Managing Partner
Marc Stad is the Founder and Managing Partner at Dragoneer Investment Group. He focuses on public securities, and his firm has a reputation for partnering with companies characterized by sustainable differentiation and superior economic models. He has led investments in Slack, Klarna, TruMid, Farfetch, and UiPath. Marc and Dragoneer COO and President Pat Robinson also recently organized Dragoneer Growth Opportunities, a blank check company focusing on software, internet, media, consumer/retail, healthcare IT, and financial services/fintech opportunities. Marc also made Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list in 2018. Before founding Dragoneer, Marc was a Portfolio Manager at the Investment Group of Santa Barbara, where he led the company’s Hong Kong office. He was also previously an investment professional at TPG Capital in the North American Buyouts Group, and before that was at McKinsey & Company. Marc has a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Firm: Index Ventures
Title: Partner
Jan Hammer is a Partner at Index Ventures focusing on fintech investments, particularly in financial services disruption and information services. Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm that invests in technology-enabled companies with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming, infrastructure, AI, and security. His portfolio companies have a combined valuation of $35 billion, and include Adyen, Futurelytics, Just Eat, Novus, Robinhood, Socialbakers, TransferWise, Zendesk, and Zuora. He is also currently a board member at Alan, SafetyCulture Pty Ltd, Robinhood, and Collibra SA. Jan also works with The Prince’s Trust as a business mentor to young startup entrepreneurs and is on the Forbes Midas List for Top Tech Investors for 2020. Prior to joining Index in 2010, Jan worked at General Atlantic, where he was involved with investments with Kaspersky Lab, Northgate Information Solutions, and Torex Retail. Before that, he was at Morgan Stanley in the M&A, TMT, and Capital Markets divisions. Jan earned a Master of Arts degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University and a Master of Business Administration degree from INSEAD.
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