Bessemer Venture Partners

When Bessemer Venture Partners got ready to seed-invest in chip-design firm Berkeley Design Automation, it was on one condition: That Ravi Subramanian be installed as CEO.

Bessemer Partner Rob Chandra says he had a “fondness” for Subramanian, whom Chandra had worked with when Subramanian was running a previous Bessemer company, MorphICs Technology, a fabless semiconductor firm which made chips for 3G phones. But Chandra’s feelings represented more than a fondness: Subramanian helped dig MorphICs out of a big hole during the telecom meltdown of 2001, slashing the company’s workforce to 24 from 120 employees and re-orienting the company’s business toward emerging Asian telecom-equipment suppliers, instead of pricier European companies like Nokia and Siemens.

It was a strategy that ultimately paid off when Infineon purchased MorphICs in 2003—an impressive exit given the negative sentiment at the time around capital-intensive, semiconductor firms. “Many people said we were the last semiconductor company to make it through,” Subramanian recalls.

Bessemer’s continuing relationship with Subramanian illustrates how the firm sticks with many of its most promising entrepreneurs, and the value Bessemer provides back to their companies. Bessemer also has backed repeat CEO Jeff Smith, who ran email-security firm Tumbleweed Communications and now heads iPhone app-company Smule; Chris Risley, who has run BVP-backed firms including StreamBase, Nominum and ON Technology; and Manpreet Khaira, the CEO of fabless-semiconductor firm Avnera. Khaira previously ran wireless-systems company Mobilian, also funded by BVP. 

Bessemer’s current partnership with Subramanian at Berkeley Design Automation also has been a success. Chandra originally sourced the deal and served on the board. But now Bessemer Partner Umesh Padval has taken over that board seat and has been invaluable in helping shape the firm’s strategy and make introductions to new customers, Subramanian says.

Mainly because of Padval’s reputation and network, “we got an audience with many of the top 25 semiconductor companies who were hesitating to even take a look at a start-up, rather than one of the top three chip-design tool vendors,” Subramanian reports. With a number of those companies, Umesh “was able to make a very effective introduction that basically said, ‘Look. Give these guys a chance. If they actually do what they say they’re going to do, they could save you money and dramatically increase productivity.’ Sure enough, within six months they’re hot and heavy and already our major customers.” According to Subramanian, Berkeley Design now has 85 customers worldwide, including 16 of the top 20 chip companies globally. “Umesh has been instrumental at more than a dozen of them,” he says.
Padval says, “Ravi has been a great partner and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him.” Padval adds that he’s been able to leverage his operating background and the industry relationships he’s forged over more than 20 years—as well as his own experience as a CEO—to help Berkeley Design and his other portfolio companies with issues as diverse as strategy, operations and financing.

Subramanian says of Bessemer, “I would definitely seek them out again. As an entrepreneur, you want people who bring integrity, competence and a shared passion about what you want to do. Those are the things I see with Bessemer.”