Bessemer Venture Partners

In the fall of 2001, Mellanox Technologies CEO Eyal Waldman was going through the often-excruciating process of venture-capital due diligence. Bessemer Venture Partners was sussing out the firm, which makes semiconductor-based interconnect products for servers and storage devices, for a possible investment.

Then, 9/11 hit.

Throughout the market, “everybody stopped investing,” Waldman recalls. Some companies reflexively made decisions to cut staff and new-product development as the global economy reeled.
 

But Bessemer and its partner Rob Chandra  persevered. “Rob continued with the process and eventually led the round,” Waldman recalls. “Even with the atmosphere in the market that was very, very negative, Rob continued to do what he believed in. We actually closed the round a month after Sept. 11.” Mellanox raised $56 million, its third fundraising round, from Bessemer and existing investors, including Sequoia Capital, U.S. Venture Partners and several strategic investors. Subsequently, Mellanox began generating revenues—around $84 million in 2007, and that year, the company went public.

Waldman, a well-known, chip-industry figure and former Intel employee who previously co-founded Galileo Technology, says Bessemer and Chandra added value to Mellanox throughout their relationship. One big selling point, he says, was Bessemer’s global outlook, including the firm’s large presence in Israel and India. Waldman also appreciated Chandra’s tactical skills in helping the company with marketing and sales strategy, market intelligence and even advice on compensating salespeople.
 

“Rob was a sales guy at IBM, so there’s a lot of relevant experience there,” Waldman says. “I think one of the reasons we’ve been so successful is because of Rob’s leadership guidance.” Last year the company posted revenue of $116 million and gross profit of $87 million.
As for Bessemer more broadly, “I think they’re a great group and a great firm to work with,” Waldman concludes.