Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV), a Silicon Valley-based venture capital (VC) firm, announced the appointment of Sai Sood, the former lead Controller at Sapphire Ventures, as Chief Financial Officer. Patrick Nicolet, the former CTO and Executive Board Member of Capgemini, joined its investment team as an Operating Partner.
At $110M, and 60% larger than its predecessor fund, BGV IV marks a new chapter for the global firm, which focuses on the intersection of Enterprise 4.0 and cross-border innovation. With its growth, the firm is expanding its footprint in Europe. Given Patrick Nicolet’s extensive experience establishing CapGemini’s presence outside of France, he brings strong leadership credentials and operational expertise, as well as a deep specialization in distributed computing, digital transformation and decentralized architectures, the statement said.
“BGV’s technical focus and cross-border philosophy align with my outlook on the innovation landscape,” explains Nicolet. “My experience as CTO of CapGemini, and then as an entrepreneur with Linebreak Capital, leads me to believe that Europe – and France in particular – is a land of excellence in terms of innovation. I am joining BGV, alongside Sarah Benhamou and Romain Lenoir, to work on sourcing and supporting companies which, tomorrow, will deploy their activities across the Atlantic to become global leaders.”
Nicolet joins an investment team made up of six French experts, including new Associate Romain Lenoir, who recently graduated with an MBA from Ecole Superieur, and BGV Principal Sarah Benhamou, who has been spearheading BGV’s investment efforts in France.
Sai Sood, Sapphire Ventures’ former finance executive, brings proven experience in scaling a global venture capital firm. He will lead BGV’s operations, finance, and investor relations teams and is based in Silicon Valley. With the ability to execute consistently, Sai brings a wealth of knowledge in valuations, accounting, tax, and venture capital operations, the company said in its statement.
“The recent additions to BGV’s core team reflect the expansion of our platform in several dimensions,” explains Éric Benhamou, Founder and President of BGV. “With Patrick joining our investment team in Europe, we are materially expanding our ability to grow our portfolio companies born in Europe and ready to cross the Atlantic to become a true global leader in their category. We are also expanding our ability to engage European Limited Partners on the ground and attract them to our platform. With Sai joining as our CFO in Silicon Valley, we bring an experienced executive with a proven ability to scale cross-border venture funds and meet the expectations of demanding LPs around the globe. We are delighted to be able to attract talent of this caliber and welcome these new additions to our team.”
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