VantagePoint Venture Partners Adds Two Experienced Partners to CleanTech Practice

SAN BRUNO, Calif., March 31 VantagePoint Venture Partners today announced that Brad Mattson, an accomplished CEO, engineer and entrepreneur, and Mark Platshon, an experienced CEO and CleanTech investor, have joined the Firm as Partners in its leading CleanTech practice.

“I am extremely pleased to welcome Brad and Mark to our team,” said Alan Salzman, CEO and Managing Partner of VantagePoint. “Each has a proven track record of successful entrepreneurship and the demonstrated ability to commercialize transformative technologies. They share our vision of investing in 21st century technologies to develop the leading companies of the new energy economy that can tackle our most pressing global issues.”

Brad Mattson, Partner

Brad Mattson is a renowned visionary, entrepreneur and executive in the Semiconductor Industry. He was the Founder, CEO and Chairman of both Novellus Systems (1983–1988) and Mattson Technology (1989–2002). He has served as a member of the Board of Regents at Santa Clara University and on the Board of Directors of SEMI, the Semiconductor Equipment Industry Association. Mattson currently serves as an Advisory Board Member of The Center for Science, Technology and Society at Santa Clara University. A graduate of San Jose State and Santa Clara University, Mattson has been named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from San Jose State University, as well as the Founders Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Ignatian Award, both awarded from Santa Clara University. He also holds 12 patents in various aspects of semiconductor technologies.

Mark Platshon, Partner

Mark Platshon joins VantagePoint from Trident Capital, where he focused on CleanTech investments. Previously, he served as a Venture Partner at XSeed Capital. Prior to joining the venture capital world, Mark spent 20 years as CEO of several Silicon Valley companies including Idetek, an environmental and food diagnostics company (acquired by Idexx Laboratories), ELO, the pioneer and leader in touchscreens (now a Tyco company), Zing, an online photography company (acquired by Sony), and most recently, Capnia, a specialty pharmaceutical company. Mark currently serves on the Board of Directors of Trident and VantagePoint CleanTech portfolio companies Amprius and Senergen. Platshon earned a B.S.E. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of Michigan, did graduate work in Nuclear Engineering at the Westinghouse Naval Reactor School and obtained his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. As a Navy lieutenant, Mark had a joint Navy and Department of Energy appointment to the staff of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, where he managed nuclear submarine engineering projects.

VantagePoint

VantagePoint Venture Partners is a leader in investing in 21st Century technologies and partners with entrepreneurs in the CleanTech, Healthcare and Information Technology sectors. With a large investment team of experts, a broad network of Strategic Partners and Senior Advisors, and more than $4.5 billion in committed capital, the Firm has the depth of resources to help build transformative companies that are clear leaders in their fields. The Silicon Valley Firm has investments in more than 70 companies, including notable CleanTech companies Better Place, BridgeLux, BrightSource Energy, Miasole, Premium Power, Tesla Motors and others. For more information, visit www.vpvp.com.

Source: VantagePoint Venture Partners