Team

David Cao

Partner

David Cao

7 EXITS

David Cao is the founding partner of F50 Ventures and the founder of F50. He has invested in 30 startups (three exits), managed the selection process for 400+ startups, has built the largest entrepreneur networks in Silicon Valley, and one of the largest mobile technology conferences. He had two personal successful exits (ExtendLogic and GWC US), and also participated in LightSurf (Sold in 2005) and PlayPhone (Sold in 2013).

Pavan Kumar

Partner

Pavan Kumar

20+ yrs of telecom professional with wide experience in start-ups and market creation. Worked with leading MNCs and Indian Companies to create new markets and acquire significant market share in a short span of time. Believes in creating value for customers through innovation and collaboration. Develops passionate teams, with clear objectives and career goals. Constantly looks for challenging tasks and makes them happen.

Specialties: start-ups, sales. customer services, business development, management, leading mutli-cultural teams, building new business.

John Racioppi

Partner

John Racioppi

20+ years of experience in Enterprise Software, focused on development tools, middleware, and infrastructure, and more recently, social media.
Experience building sales organizations from the ground up or managing large existing sales groups
P&L responsibility for $100M + business
General Management skills in budgeting, HR, finance, and software development management
Experience creating strategies for a variety of startup businesses

Specialties: Enterprise software sales management, P&L experience in publicly traded software companies, international business development, social selling, sales process.

Sayeed Ahmed

Venture Partner

Sayeed Ahmed

Sayeed Ahmed is an entrepreneur, mentor and advisor to multiple startups in Silicon Valley.

Over two decades of expertise in media and content strategy.
B2B expertise in product management, partnerships, M&A.
Expertise in blockchain, hyperpersonalized TV.
Experience of working in USA and MiddleEast with Global enterprises.
Tech., MBA with Fintech certifications from MIT & Harvard.

Debby Hindus

Venture Partner

Debby Hindus

Startup illusionist and full-stack marketer with deep expertise in getting early-stage technology companies to be perceived as credible by analysts, industry players, and prospective partners & customers. Highly skilled at “making something out of nothing”, conducting venture funding campaigns, planning & executing go-to-market strategies, analyzing complex industry dynamics, managing high-impact projects and forming strategic alliances.
Accomplishments:
● Garnered industry awards, recognition, 12 Gartner mentions for Series A security venture
● Designed and launched a unique entrepreneurship graduate program
● Managed strategic & outbound marketing for chip startup
● Formed key alliances with IBM, semiconductor companies
● Produced $325K chip industry event, also 3-day Stanford event
● Advised CEOs of multiple startups, Media X; raised $50M funding
● Developed and commercialized software and hardware products
● Masters degree from MIT Media Lab, BSCS from U. Michigan
● Initiated and published studies of technology in homes; 6 related U.S. patents

Prathamesh Prabhudesai

Venture Partner

Prathamesh Prabhudesai

Prathamesh Prabhudesai is a medical doctor and alumnus of Georgia Tech’s Biodesign program. He is a strong advocate of value-based design and cost-efficient solutions for today’s healthcare problems. Prathamesh is currently working as an EIR for F50 while the building partnerships for his medical device startup, safeBVM.

Canice Wu

Venture Partner

Canice Wu

Canice is a product innovation executive experienced in Digital Transformation, Advisory Services, Product Marketing, Strategy & Operation, Partnership, and Venture Investment. Mr. Wu has hands on experience in building innovative products, launching a product to market, advising customers in execution, and scaling successful businesses. Furthermore, he has experience in empowering product innovation via strategic partnership, venture investment, an incubator/accelerator programs. Passionate about solving critical customer challenges by leveraging innovative technologies, products, and business models in numerous industries, including insurance, financial services, communications, high technology, energy, and transportation.

Daisy Yu

Marketing Associate

Daisy-Yu

Daisy (Jingjie) is a business analysis & marketing analysis professional who is highly experienced with data, analysis, prediction, statistics, machine learning, visualization, testing and implementation of business intelligence. Currently working for F50 with the focus on creating and visualizing the KPI dashboard to support the business needs and to manage and improve investment performance. Performed the role of a Business Manager at Beijing Hongtai Chinese Medicine Culture Exchange Company to analyzed patients’ features and improved patient engagement. Trained in working with programming languages such as Python, SQL statements, and R, and tools such as Pandas, NumPy, Jupyter, Matlab, and SPSS. Also involved in a lot of internal activities within the organization such as providing a transparent framework for everyone in the organization to realize the company objectives and offering early warnings for potential problems, with the analytical tools to quickly diagnose the causes and take corrective action. Industry Experience – Healthcare, Venture Capital, Software, Financial Services, and Digital industries.

Krishnaprasad Bannanje

EIR

Krishnaprasad Bannanje

Krishnaprasad (KP) is an accomplished senior executive with over 15 years of significant and successful experience in management consulting, product management and technology consulting across multiple industries like a consumer, automotive, healthcare, telecom, and digital payment services, working closely with fortune 500 customers in US, EMEA & APAC. KP currently serves as AVP Strategic alliances and Partnerships at Neusoft Corp, spends time equally between the US & China. Prior to joining Neusoft, KP served as Senior Consultant and Program Manager with Infosys, created value for telecom operators in the UK on their digital strategy, technology & operational improvement. Prior to Infosys, KP leads the founding team that set up and operationalize the India development center for Cerner Corp.

KP was also involved in a consulting engagement with SamsungPay commercial launch in the US for both mobile and Gear S2/S3, working closely with card networks and issuers.

Merwan Benhabib

EIR

Merwan Benhabib

Dr. Merwan Benhabib is VP of Engineering and co-founder at OndaVia, a technology company that has built a chemical sensor for real-time quality monitoring of industrial fluids. He has over fifteen years of R&D experience in the test and measurement field, building analytical instruments with applications in chemical, biological and health monitoring. Prior to OndaVia, he worked with Jet Propulsion Laboratories (part of NASA) on a nanotechnologies-based instrument for life exploration on Mars. Dr. Benhabib holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Mechanical Eng. from the University of California, Berkeley and an engineering diploma from ParisTech, France. He is an expert in micro/nanotechnologies and has contributed to over forty peer-reviewed journals, articles, books, and patents.

Rajdeep Bhowmik

EIR

Rajdeep Bhowmik

Advise on start-up evaluation and investment in (but not limited to) AgTech/FoodTech/Sustainability domains.

Iuliia Rivera

EIR

Iuliia Rivera

Advise on venture capital investment in ML/AI as well as longevity/health-tech domain includes but not limited to start-up evaluation in the above domains

Amit Saha

EIR

Amit Saha

Dr. Amit Saha is a Research Engineer at Stanford University School of Medicine, and focuses his research on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). Dr. Saha has several years of experience in vascular bioengineering, with an emphasis on microfluidic platforms. His area of interest is HealthTech and AgTech.