Anand Kamannavar is appointed vice president and the Global Head of Applied Materials’ venture capital fund. In this role, he manages Applied’s > $400M global venture investment portfolio of 90+ companies across 18 countries. Mr. Kamannavar has led over a dozen venture investments with successful exits including Adesto (NASDAQ: IOTS), Enphase (NASDAQ: ENPH), 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 head Applied’s new business group which led to Applied’s entry into Optics, Life Sciences, Materials, and other high growth markets.

Previously 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.

Before 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 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.