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   Sood Ventures is a leading venture capital and advisory firm, identifying innovative startups in the mobile industry. These disruptors include cloud infrastructure and cloud services & applications, as well as commercial applications of big data. The firm seeks investment opportunities in these and related industries, both directly and on behalf of clients seeking to establish a foothold in the next generation of mobile industry winners.

   Built on 25+ years of experience and segment expertise in high-tech, Rakesh has spent the past 16 years successfully growing companies as an investor, advisor, and a partner. His strengths in setting up new operations, launching new funds, and identifying innovative opportunities have resulted in unprecedented growth in his companies. Because he is actively engaged in both the high-tech and investment community as a speaker, commentator, and thought leader, Rakesh has developed an extensive professional network in Silicon Valley and beyond.
   In addition to serving as Founder and Managing Director of Sood Ventures, he is also a Venture Advisor to NTT/Docomo. He was instrumental in establishing Docomo Capital in Silicon Valley, directing over 30 investments for NTT in the mobile/wireless sector over the past 10 years, while generating a 4x return on invested capital and top-quartile performance in the venture capital industry.
   Recruited as a Partner for Reed Elsevier Ventures, Rakesh Sood previously established the Silicon Valley headquarters for the London-based media company’s strategic venture operation in the US, generating stellar returns for the fund. Prior to joining Reed Elsevier Ventures, Rakesh was a General Partner at Sprout Group in Menlo Park. Prior to his career as a VC, Rakesh was a leading senior equity analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York, and prior to that at Hambrecht & Quist in San Francisco where he did pioneering work in wireless, Internet and software sectors.
   In senior operating roles prior to becoming an analyst, Rakesh was worldwide director of marketing and business development at AT&T, and previously held sales and marketing positions at Hewlett-Packard and Intel.
   Throughout his career, Rakesh has engaged in several professional organizations, quoted extensively in business and technical publications, and an invited speaker at major industry conferences.
   Rakesh received a BSEE/CS (with Distinction) from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, India; an MSEE from the State University of New York, Stony Brook; and an MBA (Dean’s List) in finance from the Wharton School.
   Rakesh is a long time Charter member of TiE, Silicon’s premier entrepreneurial organization

   Startups seek out Rakesh’s help while he in turn scours the tech landscape for the next generation of disruptive companies. Notable companies in Rakesh’s current and past portfolio include:

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