Rob Soni leaves Bessemer Venture Partners

Friday, 24 January 2003, 20:30 IST
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Rob Soni, managing general partner at the leading Massachusetts-based Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), has left the company because of disagreements on policy.

NEW YORK: Soni, a graduate of Harvard College who joined BVP in 1994, told Mass High Tech news it was a cordial parting due to differences over strategy. He was at the company's Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, office. "A partnership is a marriage and, in a marriage, it's important to be on the same page. We have reasonable differences about strategic decisions. I know it's unusual for the managing partner to leave, but it's a mutual decision," he said. But he did not detail the strategic differences with the six other partners. Others in the firm also refused comment on Soni's departure though he is credited with bringing several companies to market. Soni worked on some 60 investments and focused on semiconductor and communications start-ups. BVP has offices in Larchmont, New York; Menlo Park, California; and Wellesley Hills. Among his successes are Castle Networks, acquired for $300 million by Siemens; Sirocco Systems, acquired by Gururaj Deshpande's Sycamore Networks for $2.9 billion; Aptis Communications, which sold for $286 million to Nortel Networks; Ocular Networks, absorbed by Tellabs for $355 million; and Pirus Networks, acquired by Sun Microsystems for $160 million. Among some of his losses are Gotham Networks, which closed doors last year, and Crescent Networks that recently shut down. Before joining Bessemer, Soni worked for The Boston Consulting Group as an associate 1992-94. Soni's portfolio investments included Allegro Networks, Altiga Networks, Ellacoya Networks, Azanda Network Devices, BroaDSLateNetworks and BroadSoft Inc.
Source: IANS