Rob Chandra

Rob Chandra is a Partner in Bessemer's Menlo Park office. Since entering the venture capital industry in 1996, Rob has been involved with 23 early-stage investments that have gone public or been acquired by public companies. Between 2007 and 2010, six of Rob’s portfolio companies went public: Mellanox Technologies, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, IPC – The Hospitalist Company, Shriram EPC, OnMobile, and IL&FS Transportation Networks.

Rob is the founding partner of the firm's investment practice in India, where he recruited an experienced local team, established the office, and developed the investment strategy. In India, Rob has led Bessemer's investments in Applied Solar Technologies, Anant Raj Industries, IL&FS Transportation Networks, Motilal Oswal, OnMobile, Orient Green Power, Shriram City Union Finance and Shriram EPC.

During his career, Rob has invested in and helped build companies in a variety of industries. His semiconductor investments include PA Semi (acquired by Apple Computer), Envoy (acquired by TI), LightLogic (acquired by Intel), Mellanox (IPO), Mobilian (acquired by Intel), and Morphics (acquired by Infineon). His active semiconductor investments are Avnera, Berkeley Design, Kovio, Summit Microelectronics, and Tilera.  His communications industry investments include Altiga (acquired by Cisco), Catena (acquired by Ciena), NBX (acquired by 3Com), and Wavesmith Networks (acquired by Ciena). Previously, he invested in internet start-ups such as BuyerZone.com (acquired by Reed Elsevier), Direct Hit (acquired by Ask Jeeves), SmarterKids.com (IPO), MotherNature.com (IPO) and Centra (IPO). He has been involved with health care services investments such as American Hearing Centers (acquired by HearUSA) and IPC – The Hospitalists Company, which went public in January 2008 and was the best performing IPO of that year. Rob led Bessemer's first clean tech investments in Miasole and Exclara.

Prior to joining Bessemer, Rob was a general partner with Commonwealth Capital Ventures. Before he became a venture capitalist, Rob worked in consulting, most recently as an engagement manager with McKinsey & Company and previously at Accenture’s offices in both the U.S. and London. Rob began his career with IBM.

Rob holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from University of California at Berkeley. He was recognized by Forbes Magazine on its Midas List as a top dealmaker in both 2007 and 2008. For a podcast of Rob's comments on venture capital trends, click here and for one on his thoughts about globalization of VC, click here.



 

  
Altiga was a pioneer of Virtual Private Network communications equipment. BVP invested in all three of its rounds, starting in 1998. In 2000, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) acquired the company.
Applied Solar Technologies provides distributed solar energy technology and installation management services to enterprise customers throughout India.
Avalanche is a Silicon Valley-based fabless semiconductor company that is developing Spin Programmable Memory (SPMEM), a non-volatile ultra low power high speed magnetic memory technology.
Avnera is a start-up in the semiconductor space.
AXSUN Technologies is developing a universal, hybrid-integration packaging platform to enable the creation of a new class of products. It was acquired by Volcano Corp. in 2008.
Berkeley Design Automation creates simulation and verification tools for analog, RF, and mixed signal chip design.
BuyerZone.com provides an on-line marketplace for small to mid-sized businesses to purchase products ranging from phone systems to  payroll services services. It was purchased by Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, in 2006.
Catena developed the industry's first standardized subscriber interface to enable voice and data convergence. BVP invested in the company's later rounds, and Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN) bought the firm in 2004.
Envoy Networks develops broadband wireless infrastructure, aiming to allow users to read email, view video, and access the web wirelessly. The company was acquired by Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) in 2002.
Exclara is a fabless semiconductor company focusing on high-performance LED integrated circuits.
ITNL is developing and building a pan-India surface transport business by leveraging investment opportunities and also acquiring and managing projects. It listed on the public markets in March of 2010.
Ind-Barath Power Infra Private Ltd. is an infrastructure development company focused on establishing power projects that use a wide variety of fuels and serve a host of different customers across India.
IPC provides physician services, management, and IT solutions for the emerging specialty of inpatient (hospitalist) care. In January 2008, it went public (NASDAQ: IPCM).
BVP first invested in LightLogic, a developer of WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) laser-based  components and subsystems for high speed communications equipment in 1999. Two years later, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) acquired the company.
Maker Communications developed high-performance programmable communications processors (and related software) for ATM and Internet Protocol data, voice, and video networks. BVP led the Series A round. The company went public in 1999 (NASDAQ:MAKR), and was acquired by Conexant Systems (NASDAQ:CNXT) in 2000.
Mellanox, a fabless semiconductor company, is the leader in InfiniBand- and Ethernet-based interconnects. Rob Chandra led the company's financing in late 2001, and served on the board until it  went public in 2007 (NASDAQ:MLNX).
Miasolé is revolutionizing the production of solar photovoltaic cells.
Mobilian developed a low-cost, low-power two-radio system that reduced interference between wireless spectra. It was purchased by Intel in 2003.
A financial services and brokerage company, Motilal Oswal Financial Services fills the needs of both institutional and retail investors in India. In September 2007, the company went public on India's NSE and BSE markets.
In 1997, BVP's Rob Chandra invested in the later stages of this company that designed technology for carrying voice and data on a single network. Two years later, it was acquired by 3Com (NASDAQ: COMS).
NetAmbit provides outsourced sales services across India in a number of business sectors.
New Vernon Capital makes investments in India.
BVP invested in this maker of chemical mechanical polishing equipment for the semiconductor manufacturing industry in 1998. Obsidian's dry process reduced overall system and processing costs relative to  the competing "wet slurry" approach. Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) acquired the company in 1999.
OnMobile is the largest provider of mobile value-added services in India. It went public in 2008 on India's major exchanges.
Orient Green Power develops and operates clean energy (wind, hydro, and biomass-fueled) power plants in India.
P.A. Semi's objective is to be the premier supplier of microprocessor-based silicon system solutions. In 2008, it was acquired by Apple Computer (NASDAQ:AAPL).
QED manufactures high-performance MIPS-based micro-processors for applications in the communications industry. Rob Chandra led BVP's investment in the company's later rounds. In 2000, QED went public (NASDQ:QEDI) and was acquired by PMC-Sierra (NASDAQ: PMCS) that same year.
One of the leading players in the hospitality industry in India, Sarovar manages a diverse portfolio that includes hotels, resorts, restaurants, and corporate hospitality.
Shriram City Union Finance provides retail lending services to individuals and small businesses in India from a network of 633 outlets. 
Shriram EPC is a specialized engineering services company addressing the Indian infrastructure sector. It went public in 2008.
Summit Microelectronics designs and manufactures flexible, highly integrated power management solutions combining precision power regulation with sophisticated digital control in a single chip. Its devices are found in a variety of consumer, communications, and computing applications.
Tilera is a fabless semiconductor company producing multicore processors for the networking, wireless, and multimedia markets.