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Venky Ganesan

Partner

Cybersecurity, Cloud Infrastructure, Consumer

venky_ganesan-BIO

Venky is a partner at Menlo Ventures focused on investments in both the consumer and enterprise sectors. He currently serves on the boards of Abnormal Security, Aisera, Appdome, BitSight, Breather, Dedrone, MealPal, Rover, Sonrai Security, StackRox, and Unravel Data. Prior to joining Menlo, he was a managing partner at Globespan Capital Partners, where he was part of the investment team since the firm’s inception. At Globespan, Venky led numerous successful investments including Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Upwork (UPWK), Redfin (RDFN), Amobee (acquired by SingTel for $321M), Jajah (acquired by Telefonica for $207M), Virident (acquired by Western Digital for $685M), and Trigo (acquired by IBM). He has also led investments or served on the boards of private companies such as Rev and SMSGupshup. Venky was recognized on the Forbes Midas List from 2013–2015.

Prior to Globespan, Venky was one of the founders of Trigo Technologies and played a critical part in building Trigo into the market leader in the product information management space. IBM acquired the company resulting in a substantial return for all investors. Venky also previously worked at McKinsey & Co., in the firm’s Los Angeles and Johannesburg offices, and at Microsoft where he started his career as a program manager.

Venky holds a bachelor of arts in mathematics–economics from Reed College and a bachelor of science in engineering and applied science, with honors, from the California Institute of Technology. Venky believes strongly in giving back to the community. He was the chair of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), a Trustee of Keys School, and President of the Indian Community Center in Milpitas. He is currently a Trustee of Castilleja School.

Venky is a partner at Menlo Ventures focused on investments in both the consumer and enterprise sectors. He currently serves on the boards of Abnormal Security, Aisera, Appdome, BitSight, Breather, Dedrone, MealPal, Rover, Sonrai Security, StackRox, and Unravel Data. Prior to joining Menlo, he was a managing partner at Globespan Capital Partners, where he was part of the investment team since the firm’s inception. At Globespan, Venky led numerous successful investments including Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Upwork (UPWK), Redfin (RDFN), Amobee (acquired by SingTel for $321M), Jajah (acquired by Telefonica for $207M), Virident (acquired by Western Digital for $685M), and Trigo (acquired by IBM). He has also led investments or served on the boards of private companies such as Rev and SMSGupshup. Venky was recognized on the Forbes Midas List from 2013–2015.

Prior to Globespan, Venky was one of the founders of Trigo Technologies and played a critical part in building Trigo into the market leader in the product information management space. IBM acquired the company resulting in a substantial return for all investors. Venky also previously worked at McKinsey & Co., in the firm’s Los Angeles and Johannesburg offices, and at Microsoft where he started his career as a program manager.

Venky holds a bachelor of arts in mathematics–economics from Reed College and a bachelor of science in engineering and applied science, with honors, from the California Institute of Technology. Venky believes strongly in giving back to the community. He was the chair of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), a Trustee of Keys School, and President of the Indian Community Center in Milpitas. He is currently a Trustee of Castilleja School.

AI for Security: Eight Areas of Opportunity
February, 8 2024
Security for AI: The New Wave of Startups Racing to Secure the AI Stack
February, 6 2024
Securing the Modern Software Supply Chain
November, 9 2022
Our Investment in Cequence Security: Bringing Visibility to API Security
December, 15 2021
Our Investment in oak9
June, 2 2021
Announcing Menlo XV
October, 15 2020
Our Investment in StackRox: A Simple Idea
September, 10 2020
Menlo Ventures Launches the Menlo Inflection Fund
February, 20 2019
How Can America Win the Cyber War?
March, 23 2017
Brexit’s Impact on Silicon Valley
June, 25 2016
Who Moved My Goalposts?
March, 1 2016
10 Laws of Successful Marketplaces
October, 16 2015
Bloomberg Brief Q&A With Venky Ganesan
June, 17 2015
The Sun Rises on the ADC Cloud
December, 10 2014
Ahoy Matey! All Clear on the Data Lake
October, 18 2014
Coachella for VCs: VentureScape 2014
April, 29 2014
Love for Rover
March, 12 2014
Q&A With Venky Ganesan
January, 10 2014
Secure Your Network from Modern Hazards
November, 18 2013
AI for Security: Eight Areas of Opportunity
February, 8 2024,
Security for AI: The New Wave of Startups Racing to Secure the AI Stack
February, 6 2024,
Securing the Modern Software Supply Chain
November, 9 2022,
Who Moved My Goalposts?
March, 1 2016,
10 Laws of Successful Marketplaces
October, 16 2015,
The Sun Rises on the ADC Cloud
December, 10 2014,
Ahoy Matey! All Clear on the Data Lake
October, 18 2014,
Coachella for VCs: VentureScape 2014
April, 29 2014,
Love for Rover
March, 12 2014,
Q&A With Venky Ganesan
January, 10 2014,
Secure Your Network from Modern Hazards
November, 18 2013,

Investments

Our Portfolio
abnormal_security
abnormal_security

Abnormal Security is an integrated email security solution for the cloud office, detecting the whole spectrum of email attacks, from vendor compromise and spear-phishing to unwanted spam and graymail.

Milestones
  • 2018 Founded
  • 2020 Partnered, Series B
abnormal_security_graphic
avi_networks_logoAcquired by VMware
avi_networks_logo

AVI Networks offers a software solution that maximizes application delivery of enterprise and cloud-based applications.

Milestones
  • 2012 Founded
  • 2014 Partnered, Series B
  • 2019 Acquired by VMware
avi_networks_graphic
BitSight logo
BitSight logo

BitSight Technologies is transforming how companies manage information security risk with objective, evidence-based security ratings.

Milestones
  • 2011 Founded
  • 2013 Partnered, Series A
bitsight_graphic
poshmarkNASDAQ: POSH; later acquired by Naver
poshmark

Poshmark is a social commerce marketplace where people can buy and sell new or used clothing, shoes, accessories, and home goods.

Milestones
  • 2011 Founded
  • 2012 Partnered, Series B
  • 2021 IPO; NASDAQ: POSH
  • 2022 Acquired by Naver
poshmark_graphic
NYSE: PANW

Palo Alto Networks is a multinational cybersecurity company. Its core products are a platform that includes advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to cover other aspects of security.

Milestones
  • 2005 Founded
  • 2007 Partnered (at Globespan)
  • 2012 IPO
Palo Alto Networks graphic
NASDAQ: RDFN

Redfin is a real estate brokerage founded with the hopes of upending the traditional brokerage model.

Milestones
  • 2002 Founded
  • 2011 Partnered (at Globespan)
  • 2017 IPO
Redfin graphic
rover NASDAQ: ROVR
rover

Rover connects dog and cat parents with loving pet sitters and dog walkers in neighborhoods across the US, Canada, UK, and Europe.

Milestones
  • 2011 Founded
  • 2014 Partnered, Series C
  • 2021 SPAC; NASDAQ: ROVR
rover_graphic
unravel
unravel

Unravel Data automates and simplifies Big Data operations (DataOps) with a full-stack performance intelligence platform that accelerates application performance, optimizes multi-tenant resource usage, and provides operations intelligence—all from a single location.

Milestones
  • 2013 Founded
  • 2015 Partnered, Series A
unravel_graphic

Aisera transforms the service, support, and operations experience for enterprises with its generative AI and automation platform.

Milestones
  • 2017 Founded
  • 2018 Partnered, Series A
aisera_graphic
Aisera
Aisera transforms the service, support, and operations experience for enterprises with its generative AI and automation platform.
Aisera logo

Cequence is an API security platform that unifies API visibility and risk assessment with native, enterprise-grade attack and vulnerability protection.

Milestones
  • 2014 Founded
  • 2021 Partnered, Series C
cequence_security_graphic
Cequence Security
Cequence is an API security platform that unifies API visibility and risk assessment with native, enterprise-grade attack and vulnerability protection.
cequence

Dedrone is the international market and technology leader in the field of drone detection.

Milestones
  • 2014 Founded
  • 2016 Partnered, Series A
dedrone_graphic
Dedrone
Dedrone is the international market and technology leader in the field of drone detection.
Dedrone logo

Exeros operated as a data relationship discovery and management company offering data migration solutions for enterprises.

Milestones
  • 2009 Acquired by IBM
Exeros
Exeros operated as a data relationship discovery and management company offering data migration solutions for enterprises.
Acquired by IBM

Immersive Labs is empowering organizations to measure and improve cybersecurity skills across technical and non-technical teams with its Cyber Workforce Optimization platform.

Milestones
  • 2017 Founded
  • 2021 Partnered, Series C
immersive_labs_graphic
Immersive Labs
Immersive Labs is empowering organizations to measure and improve cybersecurity skills across technical and non-technical teams with its Cyber Workforce Optimization platform.
immersive_labs

Machine Zone develops mobile games in various genres that include fantasy, RPG, and MMO.

Milestones
  • 2008 Founded
  • 2012 Partnered, Series B
  • 2020 Acquired by AppLovin
machine_zone_graphic
Machine Zone
Machine Zone develops mobile games in various genres that include fantasy, RPG, and MMO.
Acquired by AppLovin
machine_zone-stacked

MealPal offers a subscription service that makes lunch pickup from restaurants convenient and affordable.

Milestones
  • 2016 Founded
  • 2017 Partnered, Series B
mealpal_graphic
MealPal
MealPal offers a subscription service that makes lunch pickup from restaurants convenient and affordable.

Obsidian aggregates, normalizes, and enriches user activity, access, and privilege data across SaaS applications to help organizations identify potential account compromise, data leakage, or insider threats.

Milestones
  • 2017 Founded
  • 2022 Partnered, Series C
obsidian_security_graphic
Obsidian Security
Obsidian aggregates, normalizes, and enriches user activity, access, and privilege data across SaaS applications to help organizations identify potential account compromise, data leakage, or insider threats.

Prodigal gives lenders and collections agencies insights from customer interactions using advanced conversational AI.

Milestones
  • 2018 Founded
  • 2021 Partnered, Series A
prodigal_graphic
Prodigal
Prodigal gives lenders and collections agencies insights from customer interactions using advanced conversational AI.
prodigal

Sonrai Security delivers an enterprise identity and data governance platform for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Kubernetes.

Milestones
  • 2017 Founded
  • 2020 Partnered, Series B
sonrai_security_graphic
Sonrai Security
Sonrai Security delivers an enterprise identity and data governance platform for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Kubernetes.
sonrai

StackRox is a Kubernetes-native security platform for cloud-native applications, containers, serverless, and Kubernetes

Milestones
  • 2014 Founded
  • 2020 Partnered, Series B
  • 2021 Acquired by Red Hat
stackrox_graphic
StackRox
StackRox is a Kubernetes-native security platform for cloud-native applications, containers, serverless, and Kubernetes
Acquired by Red Hat
stackrox_logo

Strata is pioneering distributed identity orchestration, enabling enterprises to seamlessly unify on-premises and cloud-based authentication and access systems for consistent identity management in multi-cloud environments.

Milestones
  • 2019 Founded
  • 2020 Partnered, Series A
strata_identity_graphic
Strata Identity
Strata is pioneering distributed identity orchestration, enabling enterprises to seamlessly unify on-premises and cloud-based authentication and access systems for consistent identity management in multi-cloud environments.

Upwork is a global freelancing platform where businesses or individuals connect to conduct business.

Milestones
  • 2018 IPO
Upwork
Upwork is a global freelancing platform where businesses or individuals connect to conduct business.
NASDAQ: UPWK