Anand Kamannavar is general manager and global head of Applied Materials’ venture capital fund. In this role, he oversees Applied’s > $300M global venture investment portfolio of 85+ companies across 15 countries. Anand has led over a dozen venture investments with successful exits in Adesto (NASDAQ: IOTS), Enphase (NASDAQ: ENPH), Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) and Voltaix (acquired by Air Liquide).
Mr. Kamannavar has over two decades of experience in the technology and venture capital industry and new business development. He first joined Applied Ventures in 2006, with a focus on identifying and leading investments in the area of Semiconductor, Energy, Materials, and India. He then went on to lead new business development and growth programs for Applied Materials to lead Applied’s entry into Optics, Life Sciences, Materials, and other high growth markets.
Prior to this, Mr. Kamannavar worked at Atlas Ventures and Arch Development Partners looking at startups in the broader Alternative energy, Internet, Web 2.0, Media, Software and Medical sectors.
Prior to his career in venture capital, Mr. Kamannavar held various engineering and business development roles with Hewlett-Packard's server group in Richardson, TX where he was awarded key U.S. patents. He also co-founded Precision Information Systems which provides financial data and tools to leading financial institutions like Ameritrade, New York Life, and Intuit.
Mr. Kamannavar is a frequent panelist and judge at industry conferences and business plan competitions and received an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.