ePlanet team
The ePlanet Team
Asad Jamal
Founder, Chairman & CEO
Silicon Valley
Asad Jamal is the Founder and Managing Partner of ePlanet Capital (formerly known as ePlanet Ventures).
Mr. Jamal founded ePlanet Ventures in 1999 with a first-mover focus on global venture capital opportunities. Mr. Jamal created, developed, and executed ePlanet's global, innovation-driven investment philosophy of taking proven technologies into emerging markets by building a strong office and team presence in Silicon Valley, London, Beijing and Bangalore, the world's major innovation centers.
Based in Silicon Valley, Mr. Jamal is responsible for oversight of ePlanet’s investment portfolios, plus all aspects of business operations, firm strategy and management. His sector focus is TMT with a geographic focus on the U.S., Asia and Latin America, and is also responsible for deal sourcing, portfolio management, and exits.
Mr. Jamal was ranked among the “Top 20” venture capitalists worldwide by Forbes Magazine for 2007, 2008 and 2009, and received the “Pioneer of Global Venture Capital” accolade by Forbes Magazine in 2007. Red Herring Magazine published an article on Asad, titled “The Hottest VC in the World”. He has over 25 years’ venture capital, private equity advisory and investment banking experience with Gulf Pacific Partners, Peregrine Investments, and Chase Manhattan (now JP Morgan Chase) in Asia, Europe, and the U.S.
Since 1999, he has led and sponsored ePlanet’s investments in twenty technology companies and has covered multiple sectors including advertising and media, communication and wireless telecommunications, computing software, consumer internet, clean energy, enterprise software, and financial services. A number of these companies have been listed via NASDAQ IPO's, including Baidu, China’s No.1 Internet company, Kong Zhong, and Focus Media and several portfolio companies have been acquired by strategic investors, including Skype (by EBay), Cyanea (by IBM), Safeview, End2End and First Hop. Mr. Jamal is currently on the board of Friendi Group.
In 2009, he established Good Planet, a non-profit global foundation, to support social entrepreneurs using technology in educational projects and in relieving world poverty.
Prior to founding ePlanet, Mr.Jamal founded Gulf Pacific Partners based in London and Bahrain where he structured private equity transactions in the Middle East/South Asia and developed Middle East clients seeking private equity transactions in these markets. Previously, he also worked at Peregrine Investments, a Hong Kong-based Merchant Investment Bank, as Chief Representative for the Middle East where his role was to represent deals to/from Asia/Middle East and to represent all lines of Private Equity and Investment Banking business.
He graduated with a BSc (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.
Email: asad@eplanetcapital.com
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Dennis Atkinson
Managing Partner
London
Dennis Atkinson is a Managing Partner in ePlanet Capital’s London office. Mr Atkinson joined ePlanet in 2003 with primary responsibility for Europe, Turkey and India, focusing on the Internet and ecommerce sectors where he has 15 years transactional, financial analysis, due diligence, valuation negotiation, portfolio company development and investment experience.
Mr. Atkinson has been involved in over twenty ePlanet's investments, including top performers that include: 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, FRiENDi Group, Greetz, Median Technologies SA, Palringo Ltd and Vipdukkan.
Prior to joining ePlanet, Mr. Atkinson was a Principal at Softbank Europe Ventures where he specialized in Internet, software, and data-communications investments and sourced deals throughout Europe. Prior to joining Softbank, Mr. Atkinson was Global Product Manager for Reuters Business Information (now Thompson Reuters), designing and developing IP based information systems. While 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 B.S. Degree in Physics from Exeter University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Email: dennis@eplanetcapital.com
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Jerry Ilhyun Cho
Managing Partner
Beijing / Hong Kong / Shanghai
Jerry Ilhyun Cho is a Managing Partner based in the Beijing office. Mr Cho joined ePlanet in 2002 with primary responsibility for North and Southeast Asia, primarily China and Korea, with a focus on the consumer electronics sector and emphasis on deal sourcing, portfolio management, customer introductions, and developing exit strategies.
Mr. Cho has led all investments in Korea including Point-I (IPO 2006), Siliconfile (IPO 2008), Moreens (IPO 2009), Korea Bone Bank (IPO 2010), Silicon Mitus and GMEMS. He has also been involved in the China investments including Baidu, Focus Media, Longcheer, Spreadtrum and Kong Zhong.
Prior to joining ePlanet, he worked at Intervest, Seoul, (local VC, part of SK Group) as an Investment Manager and also for Samsung Electronics where he accumulated over 10 years’ experience as a leading Semiconductor designer for Samsung Electronics where he developed cutting edge designs in consumer electronics (baseband chips) and built extensive expertise in semiconductor, electronic components and modules, flat screen displays, consumer electronics, embedded software and various electronic hardware systems.
Mr. Cho holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronic Engineering from Dongguk University, Seoul.
Email: jerry@eplanetcapital.com
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Amira Atallah
Chief Financial Officer
Silicon Valley
Amira Atallah, CPA, is a Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer and a non-voting member of the Investment Committee. Ms. Atallah joined ePlanet in 2009 and is located in the Silicon Valley office. She contributes to ePlanet's global strategy and business initiatives and is responsible for worldwide financial operations, tax reporting and compliance, treasury, investment review and analysis, corporate infrastructure and administration.
Ms. Atallah’s prior experience includes seven years at Deloitte Tax LLP where she focused on private equity entities, working with firms in the buyout, venture capital and real estate segments. She began her career with eight years at Arthur Andersen in the tax advisory group, with a dual focus in corporate tax and high net worth family groups.
Ms. Atallah holds a BA in Economics from the University of California at Davis.
Email: amira@eplanetcapital.com
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Yi Lin
Executive Director, Partner
Beijing
Yi Lin is an Executive Director based in the Beijing office. Dr. Lin joined ePlanet in 2011 and is responsible for deal sourcing and transaction execution primarily in the TMT and Internet sectors, primarily in China. He led ePlanet’s investment in Rekoo and currently sits on its board.
Prior to joining ePlanet, Dr. Lin was Executive Director at Mingly Growth China, manager of both U.S. dollar and Chinese Renminbi funds investing in growth stage Chinese enterprises, where he led deal sourcing, due diligence, term negotiation and portfolio management in the healthcare sector, while also actively involved in Green Tech sector investments. Previousy, he had co-founded Eastwin Life Science, a leading Chinese company distributing life science research and clinical diagnosis equipment in mainland China and Hong Kong. In 2008, the company was selected as “one of the most promising companies in healthcare sector”. Dr. Lin also has a background in management consultancy with McKinsey & Co.
Dr. Lin holds a a PhD in Microbiology from Columbia University, an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in Biochemistry from Peking University Beijing, China.
Email: yi@eplanetcapital.com
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Martin Dieck
Director
Silicon Valley
Martin Dieck is a Director in the Silicon Valley office. Mr. Dieck joined ePlanet in 2003 and specializes in investments in the life sciences. He is closely involved with a number of ePlanet companies, including Intrapace, BodyMedia, Spinal Modulation, DirectFlow, and holds a seat on the Board of Directors of Intrapace as well as Nfocus Neuromedical, where he previously served as CEO.
Mr. Dieck is a recognized specialist in the development of therapies for the brain and was instrumental in guiding Nfocus’s efforts on the development of next generation medical implants to treat brain aneurysms. Mr. Dieck also co-founded and serves on the board of Leffect, Inc., a company developing a system used to clear blood clots from the brains of stroke patients.
Previously, Mr. Dieck co-founded, and served as 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 U.S. alone. He also served as senior executive at a medical incubator, evaluating early stage medical device opportunities and participating in the formation of four companies. Mr. Dieck was Co-Founder of Micro Interventional Systems, a manufacturer of medical devices to pathologies in small blood vessels; the company was acquired in 1996 by Medtronic. In addition to his operational and deal flow evaluation expertise, Mr. Dieck is also an inventor with over 30 issued and pending patents. He received his BA in Biological Sciences from Willamette University and MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.
Email: martin@eplanetcapital.com
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Tim Rea
Director
London
Tim Rea is a Director based in the London office. Mr. Rea joined ePlanet in 2004 and focuses on the global TMT sectors where he has a deep expertise. He is currently acting CEO of Palringo.
Prior to joining ePlanet, Mr. Rea worked as an independent consultant on strategy formulation and corporate development to a range of clients including NEC, Canon and Arqiva (formerly NTL Broadcast).
Mr. Rea has previously been involved in several start-ups, both as an entrepreneur and as a private investor. He started his career with British Telecom developing novel materials for optical devices before moving into a general technology strategy role.
Mr. Rea holds a BEng in Materials Science from the University of Sheffield, a MSc in Telecommunications from the University of London, as well as an MBA from the London Business School.
Email: tim@eplanetcapital.com
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Cynthia Zhang
Director
Beijing
Cynthia Zhang is a Director in the Beijing office. Ms. Zhang joined ePlanet in 2004, focusing on the TMT sector with a geographic emphasis on China. Her transaction experience includes media and communications, healthcare, life sciences and education. She has worked closely with about fifteen ePlanet portfolio companies and currently represents ePlanet on boards of Kaitone, iKang, Fangtek, Gmedia and Penstar.
Prior to joining ePlanet, Ms. Zhang worked at China Galaxy Securities Ltd as an Analyst focusing on IPOs, convertible bond issues, and M&A transactions; and as Business Development Manager for the Beijing office of the Netron Group, a telecommunications service provider to companies such as Nokia, Ericsson, and Vodafone; and also as 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 BA in Finance from the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Beijing).
Email: cynthia@eplanetcapital.com
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Rupam Shrivastava
Director
Silicon Valley / Bangalore
Rupam Shrivastava is a Director. Mr. Shrivastava joined ePlanet in 2006 and primarily covers sourcing, evaluation, execution and management of TMT and Internet investments in the U.S., Latin America and India. He represents ePlanet on the Board of Tribe Mobile, now Virgin Mobile Latin America, and also manages ePlanet’s relationships 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 ePlanet, he worked at Dresdner Kleinwort in New York as an investment banker, focusing on mergers and acquisitions in the automotive, aerospace, defense, and healthcare sectors; and also at Robert Bosch in Germany as a consultant for the development of energy efficient automobiles; and also at the Technical University of Munich for the development of battery efficient cell phones.
He holds a joint MBA from the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University, an MS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS 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@eplanetcapital.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 joined ePlanet in 2010 and is responsible for investor relations in Europe and the Middle East.
Previously, she worked in Investor Relations for Apax Partners Europe, and in 2007 helped raise what was then the largest European fund, at €11.2 billion; and at Morgan Stanley working on the Technology Business Development team which identified promising tech capital 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@eplanetcapital.com
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Hemant Khatwani
Vice President
Bangalore
Hemant Khatwani is a Vice President based in the Bangalore office. Mr Khatwani joined ePlanet in 2011 and is responsible for the sourcing, analysis and evaluation of investments, as well as execution and managing existing portfolio companies in India.
Previously, Mr. Khatwani worked two years for AMP Capital Investors, a global investment manager, in the private equity investment team based in Mumbai, where he was responsible for the analysis and evaluation of all aspects of private equity investments; and for three years on the Project Finance and Principal Investments team of Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) where he evaluated and managed Principal Equity and Leveraged Finance transactions in the Energy and Transport sectors.
Mr. Khatwani holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, with a Major in Finance, and a BSc in IT Engineering from B.M.S. College of Engineering, Bangalore, India.
Email: hemant@eplanetcapital.com
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Fang Liu
Vice President
Beijing
Fang Liu is a Senior Associate based in the Beijing office. Ms. Liu joined ePlanet in 2008 and is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing transactions across China/North Asia, as well as industry research and helping to manage existing portfolio companies.
Previously, 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; and a credit analyst for China Minsheng Banking, where she focused on evaluating and executing bank loans. Ms. Liu also has experience from New Century Fund Co. Ltd., where she worked as an equity research analyst.
Ms. Liu holds an International MBA from the joint degree program of China's Tsinghua University and the Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Ms. Liu is a Certified Public Accountant and a Level III CFA candidate.
Email: fang@eplanetcapital.com
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Xiaozhi Fu
Associate
Beijing
Xiaozhi Fu CFA, is an Associate based in the Beijing office and is responsible for deal sourcing, evaluation, research and execution. Ms. Fu joined in 2001, prior to that, she was an investment manager at Kailong (Beijing) Fund focusing on discovery and assessment of investment opportunities; and as a consultant for BDA China Limited where she was actively involved in consulting projects for private equity firms and hedge funds. She also has a background in market research and analysis from the Marketing Department in China Unicom Beijing.
Ms. Fu holds a BS and MSc in Administration and Management from Tsinghua University.
Email: Xiaozhi@eplanetcapital.com
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Saad Raja
Senior Advisor
London
Saad Raja was previously a Managing Director with ePlanet Capital and joined the company in 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@eplanetcapital.com
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Swallow Zhao
Finance Controller
Silicon Valley
Swallow Zhao is Global Controller based in the Silicon Valley office. Ms. Zhao joined the firm in 2001, and 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 where she gained 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, and as a staff accountant at StayWell.
Ms. Zhao holds a BS in Accounting from Golden Gate University
Email: swallow@eplanetcapital.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.
Email: nicolette@eplanetcapital.com
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Mirza Beg
Venture Partner
London
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@eplanetcapital.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@eplanetcapital.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@eplanetcapital.com
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Mir Imran
Venture Partner
Silicon Valley
Mir Imran is a Venture Partner in the Silicon Valley office, 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@eplanetcapital.com
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Jeon Yung Jin
Venture Partner
Jeon Young Jin is a venture partner with ePlanet Capital, based in Seoul. He was previously Chief Investment Officer at Tube Investments and had prior to that spent eleven years at Samsung Electronics followed by two years at Muthan Investment as team leader in TMT. He has a BSc in Industrial Engineering from Sung Kyun Kuan University and has over twelve years’ private equity experience. Jeon Young Jin joined ePlanet Capital in 2011.
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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@eplanetcapital.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@eplanetcapital.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@eplanetcapital.com
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Scott Walchek
Venture Partner
Silicon Valley
Scott Walchek is a Venture Partner with the Silicon Valley office of ePlanet, CEO/Chairman of DebtMarket, and is the Managing Director and founder of Integrity Partners in Danville, California.
Mr. Walchek is a renowned Silicon Valley technology entrepreneur whose career spans over 25 years building companies that deliver world-class innovation in software, emerging media, and commercial online marketplaces.
After leading Sun Microsystems’ product and marketing team for its Tops Division, Mr. Walchek joined newly formed Macromedia as its product and marketing lead. Over the next 5 years he delivered some of the creative industry’s most innovative software, ushering in the age of desktop multimedia communications.
Following Macromedia’s IPO in 1993, Mr. Walchek became CEO of the publicly-traded interactive media developer and publisher, Sanctuary Woods, an affiliate-label of Electronic Arts. Building four studios in North America, releasing over 50 titles, and securing licenses from NFL, MLB, the Ripley’s Believe it or Not franchise, and other Hollywood talent, the rapidly growing company helped lead the adoption of CDROM, rich-media immersive games, and educational software.
In 1996, Mr. Walchek received financing from Draper Fisher Jurvetson to pioneer a technology company for the proliferation of consumer online shopping. Providing comparison and product search capabilities for some of the most trafficked portals on the web, his C2B Technologies was acquired in 1998 by then search-giant, the publicly-traded Inktomi, where he successfully ran its e-commerce division. Acquired in 2002, his company’s technology now powers Yahoo’s consumer shopping experience.
Following the acquisition, Mr. Walchek – with some of his long-time partners – formed Integrity Partners, LLC, a boutique venture capital firm that leveraged their combined skills in emerging media, software, and marketplaces. From that venture, Scott served on several boards of directors and expanded his experience to include film and music publishing, med-tech nanotechnology, oil and gas exploration, and commercial real estate. In early 2000, Mr. Walchek co-led the seed investment in China’s dominant search engine, Baidu where he served as a director until its historic IPO in August, 2005.
Mr Walchekt’s latest venture, of which he is founder, CEO and Chairman is DebtMarket – the nation’s central marketplace for buying and selling loans. The world-wide economic crisis of 2008 highlighted the need to enable a more efficient and transparent secondary market. DebtMarket is pioneering the first online marketplace for portfolios of auto, student, commercial, and residential loans. When the company achieves its goals, it will stimulate consumer lending by providing increased access to liquidity for thousands of small and medium-size institutions in the US and abroad.
In 2006, with his wife and family, Mr. Walchek formed the W Charitable Foundation – a philanthropic enterprise with a growing focus on human trafficking, sustainable solutions for poverty and homelessness, and cultural transformation in emerging economies. Additionally, Scott is an active director and key investor in a select number of growing enterprises. Mr. Walchek performed his undergraduate studies at University of California at San Diego.
Email: scott@eplanetcapital.com
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Jun-Kyo "Jay" Yang
Venture Partner
Jung-Kyoo “Jay” Yang is a Venture Partner with the Seoul 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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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@eplanetcapital.com
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