Granite Global Ventures Expands Team in U.S. and China
June 22, 2005 – Menlo Park, CA – Granite Global Ventures, an expansion-stage venture firm, announced today that it has added three key members to its team. Lee Kheng Nam has joined the firm as a Venture Partner, Jenny Lee is the Director of its operations in China, and Stephen Hyndman will serve as the firm’s new Chief Financial Officer. In addition to these new team members, Helen Wong has moved to China to strengthen the firm’s operations in her capacity as Vice President China. The expansion of the team follows the firm’s recent announcement that it closed its $225 million Granite Global Ventures II fund.
Lee Kheng Nam was the President of Vertex Management, a global venture capital firm, for 20 years. He is a director of several private and public corporations, including Creative Technology and United Test Assembly and Centre, and has served as a Director of several other public corporations in the technology and telecommunication sectors, including Centillium Communications, Chartered Semiconductor, GRIC Communications, Gemplus International, ActivCard and SMIC. Mr. Lee is based in Singapore and will assist Granite Global Ventures in China and with the firm’s investments in the semiconductor sector.
Jenny Lee brings more than 12 years of experience in operations, investment banking, and venture capital investing. Prior to joining the firm, she was Vice President at JAFCO Asia and led investments in technology companies in China and Hong Kong. Ms. Lee previously covered the Chinese technology and telecom sector at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, and she held various engineering and operating positions at Singapore Technologies. Ms. Lee is responsible for Granite Global Ventures’ new office in Shanghai as well as making direct investments in China.
Stephen Hyndman has 25 years of financial, venture capital, and operational experience in Silicon Valley-based technology enterprises. He was previously CFO of Prospero Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on early-stage technology companies, and CFO of the U.S. investment subsidiary of ASCII Corporation, a Tokyo-based technology and media company. Mr. Hyndman also served as CFO of a publicly-traded software company, and held various financial and operating positions. He is based at Granite Global Ventures’ headquarters in Menlo Park, CA.
Helen Wong joined Granite Global Ventures as part of the founding team. She was selected as a Kauffman Fellow, a fellowship sponsored by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. She has five years of venture capital experience in Silicon Valley and five years of investment banking experience in Asia. Ms. Wong has relocated to Granite Global Ventures’ new office in Shanghai to expand its China investments and work with its portfolio companies locally.
“Since our inception, Granite Global Ventures’ core focus has been funding global innovation, with a particular emphasis on the growing Chinese market. By bolstering the strength of our Asian team, and with the close of our second fund, we are positioning the firm for further growth both in the U.S. and abroad,” said Scott Bonham, managing director of Granite Global Ventures. “We are welcoming three professionals who have extensive business experience, vast technological knowledge and a complete understanding of the U.S. and Pacific Rim markets. Now that Kheng Nam, Jenny and Steve are on board, and with Helen working full-time from our Shanghai office, we have the team in place to address additional investment opportunities in China and to support the Asian expansion efforts of our U.S. portfolio.”
About Granite Global Ventures
Granite Global Ventures is an expansion-stage venture capital firm focused on information technology and healthcare companies. The firm was founded in 2000 by its four managing directors: Scott Bonham, Joel Kellman, Hany Nada, and Thomas Ng. Granite Global Ventures brings a depth of experience in investments, cross-border business development activities, mergers and acquisitions, and IPO transactions. With $390 million under management, its investments include 2Wire, Alibaba, Athena Health, Endeca, Hurray Solutions (NASDAQ: HRAY), Intarcia, NetScaler (pending acquisition by Citrix), Qpass, Vocera, and XenoPort (NASDAQ: XNPT). Past investments include Kintana (acquired by Mercury Interactive), Oculex (acquired by Allergan, Inc.) and P-Cube (acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc.).
Granite Global Ventures (www.ggvc.com) has offices in Menlo Park, CA, Shanghai, and Singapore.
CONTACT:
LEWIS PR for Granite Global Ventures
Casey Lewis
415-277-5466
caseyl@lewispr.com
Granite Global Ventures
Scott Bonham
650-475-2150