For more than two decades Krish Panu has built successful technology businesses which have created multi-billion dollar markets, and he has lead companies through explosive revenue growth and global expansion. Currently he invests in late stage private companies, and he manages investments in Prysm, mBlox, Altierre, Dilithium Networks, Oberon Media, Teknovus (sold to Broadcom), Stratalight (sold to Opnext), ReachLocal (went public in May, 2010) and Sand Hill Finance.
Before becoming a venture capitalist, he served as Chairman, CEO and President of @Road, Inc., a worldwide leader in Mobile Resource Management solutions. Mr. Panu built the start-up company from 1998, raised more than $80 million in venture funding and brought it through a successful IPO in 2000 and a successful secondary offering in 2003. In the years to follow, Mr. Panu successfully acquired and integrated several companies into @Road, transforming the company into one of the first profitable Software As A Service companies (SaaS). @Road developed a rapidly increasing customer base in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, earning number one rankings on the Forbes Midas List and Deloitte & Touche’s Fastest Growing Silicon Valley Technology Companies list, as well as the Frost & Sullivan’s “Mobile Communications Product of the Year.” Other noteworthy honors include having been featured by NASDAQ in their “opening bell” ceremony in 2004. In February, 2007, Mr. Panu successfully negotiated and completed a merger between @Road and Trimble Navigation Ltd. for almost half a billion dollars.
Prior to @Road, Mr. Panu served as Vice President and General Manager of the Logic Products division of semiconductor manufacturer Atmel Corporation, where he directed the engineering, manufacturing, software development and marketing groups. His management of many of Atmel’s strategic and operational initiatives strongly contributed to the $1 billion revenue growth the company saw during his seven-year tenure. Mr. Panu created the flash-based microcontroller business which made the company a leader in the RISC-based microcontroller market. In addition, as a key member of the management team, Mr. Panu helped raise more than $600 million in stock and bond offerings, and initiated development of global operations centers around the world. Previous to Atmel, Mr. Panu held executive sales and marketing roles at Catalyst Semiconductor, Datapoint Corporation and Xicor.
Additionally, Mr. Panu serves as President of Panu Foundation, a nonprofit corporation which provides grants to educational institutions and supports healthcare research and other charitable activities around the world.
Mr. Panu holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, an M.S. in Computer Engineering and an M.B.A. from Wayne State University in Michigan. | 
