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Houman Haghighi

Partner, Business & Corporate Development
Houman Haghighi full body shot

As Business Development Partner and a member of Menlo’s Fuel team, Houman’s priority is to accelerate growth for the firm’s portfolio companies. He works closely with the management teams of Menlo portfolio companies to identify mutually beneficial customer engagements, strategic partnerships, and to help catalyze additional rounds of financing. Houman brings his extensive network and experience helping accelerate companies’ growth. He fosters an ecosystem of industry-leading companies and individuals committed to partnering with Menlo portfolio companies.

Before joining Menlo Ventures, Houman spent 15 years at Qualcomm where he held positions in engineering, project management, and product development. One of his memorable product development efforts was creating and launching Whispernet, which was the magic behind book delivery for the Amazon Kindle. During the last seven years, he ran business development for the Qualcomm Ventures division, where he worked closely with companies including, AttackIQ, Clarifai, Cohesity, Fitbit, Ring, RetailNext, Thundersoft, and Zoom. Houman was a founding member of Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator, which he ran in partnership with TechStars, and invested in ten early-stage AI and robotics companies in the nascent days of robotics investments. Houman is also an inventor and has been granted two U.S. Patents in the field of radio frequency modulation in mobile phones.

Houman has always been fascinated by the function of the human brain, computers, and—at times—the marriage of the two. He found the perfect harmony of the two fields in his undergraduate studies at UC San Diego, where he majored in computational cognitive science. Houman is a Stanford Certified Project Manager and has completed additional coursework at Harvard Business School’s Executive Program with a focus on venture capital and private equity.

Supported by: Natalia Luporini, [email protected]

As Business Development Partner and a member of Menlo’s Fuel team, Houman’s priority is to accelerate growth for the firm’s portfolio companies. He works closely with the management teams of Menlo portfolio companies to identify mutually beneficial customer engagements, strategic partnerships, and to help catalyze additional rounds of financing. Houman brings his extensive network and experience helping accelerate companies’ growth. He fosters an ecosystem of industry-leading companies and individuals committed to partnering with Menlo portfolio companies.

Before joining Menlo Ventures, Houman spent 15 years at Qualcomm where he held positions in engineering, project management, and product development. One of his memorable product development efforts was creating and launching Whispernet, which was the magic behind book delivery for the Amazon Kindle. During the last seven years, he ran business development for the Qualcomm Ventures division, where he worked closely with companies including, AttackIQ, Clarifai, Cohesity, Fitbit, Ring, RetailNext, Thundersoft, and Zoom. Houman was a founding member of Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator, which he ran in partnership with TechStars, and invested in ten early-stage AI and robotics companies in the nascent days of robotics investments. Houman is also an inventor and has been granted two U.S. Patents in the field of radio frequency modulation in mobile phones.

Houman has always been fascinated by the function of the human brain, computers, and—at times—the marriage of the two. He found the perfect harmony of the two fields in his undergraduate studies at UC San Diego, where he majored in computational cognitive science. Houman is a Stanford Certified Project Manager and has completed additional coursework at Harvard Business School’s Executive Program with a focus on venture capital and private equity.

Supported by: Natalia Luporini, [email protected]