Deepak Sharma
CEO
dsharma@anjayventurepartners.com
650.796.9889

Deepak has over two decades of well-rounded experience in corporate development, management consulting, mergers and acquisitions, fund creation, managing multi-million dollar private-equity investments, intellectual property, licensing and business development both at national and international level with World’s leading Fortune 100 companies and Private Equity funds. Mr. Sharma focuses on early-stage Technology and Hi-Tech investments, New Venture Creation, Corporate Strategy, Business, Technology, IP and Management Consulting. As a CEO of Anjay Venture Partners, he currently advises and serves on the board of several Silicon Valley Start-ups, Accelerators and Incubators.

Before founding Anjay Venture Partners in 2017, Mr. Sharma’s prior positions include:

• Vice-President Strategic Acquisitions and Private Equity Transactions Group at Intellectual Ventures, (a Microsoft Founders Nathan Myhrvold (Ex-CTO) and Edward Jung (Ex-COO) co-founded leading PE (> $5B) Investment Fund), where he led investments in Networking and Communications, Consumer Electronics, Semiconductors, Media/Content Management, Display, Cloud, Big Data, IOT, Automotive, Security, E-Commerce and Software sectors. Mr. Sharma successfully led several JVs, Strategic Partnerships and Syndicate Transactions with combined deployed capital of more than $1.5B. He was instrumental in putting together complex Special Purpose Vehicles, Fund of Funds worth more than $500M with both public, corporate venture groups, and private sector participation for his complex PE transactions.
• Vice-President Kudelski Group and Vice-President Wilan Technologies.
• Mr. Sharma began his career with Deloitte and Touche IP Management Consulting in Chicago and then worked for Delphi Corporation, Michigan at their World HQs in their M&A, New Venture Creation group where he successfully incubated New Ventures using Delphi’s Disruptive Technologies. There after he worked as a Senior Executive with Technicolor (Ex-Thomson) where he successfully led acquisitions, investments in several key strategic growth initiatives in hi-tech, licensing and display technology sectors.

Mr. Sharma belongs to the World’s Elite Top 300 IP Strategists (per IAM Magazine, UK) for their 2017, 2016 and 2015 editions and is a regular speaker at major industry events, conferences and technology investment panels and he is a world-renowned IP Valuation expert. Mr. Sharma received an MBA with honors from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Masters in Engineering from National University of Singapore and Bachelors in Engineering with honors from Panjab University, India.

Daniel (Danny) Castellano
Managing Director Venture Strategy and Investments
dcastellano@anjayventurepartners.com
408.390.2803

Mr. Castellano has over two decades of well-rounded experience in corporate and business development, management consulting, product marketing, project management, licensing, engineering and operations with World’s leading Fortune 100 companies and several VC backed Start-ups in the Silicon Valley.

Mr. Castellano specializes in IoT, Cloud, Smart Home, Digital Security, Big Data, Consumer Electronics, Semiconductors, Telecommunications, Wireless and other Hi-Tech Sectors. As Managing Director Venture Strategy and Investments, Mr. Castellano focuses on early-stage Technology and Hi-Tech investments and Fund raising, New Venture Creation, Corporate Strategy, Business, Technology, IP and Management Consulting.

Prior to joining Anjay Venture Partners, he has worked as a Senior C-Suite Executive (CTO), Executive/Senior VP and VP for several Silicon Valley Start-Ups and leading Fortune 100 companies. He currently advises and serves on the board of several Silicon Valley Start-ups, Accelerators and Incubators. Corporate Strategy, New Venture Creation, Fund Raising, Achieving Operational Excellence, Product Development, Go-to-Market Strategy and creating New Revenue Streams for technology companies is his passion.

Mr. Castellano holds an MSEE from Santa Clara University, BSEE from San Jose State University and is Scrum certified. He holds 10 patents to his name and is a seasoned Senior Silicon Valley Executive who has nurtured several high-tech start-ups from an incubation to a successful exit stage.

Kerry Smith
Director, Strategy and Business Development
ksmith@anjayventurepartners.com
425.941.8410

 Ms. Smith has over three decades of experience creating and leading investment and new opportunities, with banking institutions, financial networks, and IP investment firms. Her areas of expertise include corporate and business development; financial analysis and investments; strategic partnership and alliance formation; IP monetization, patent transactions; and complex deal structuring, negotiation, and legal team collaboration.

As Vice President at Wells Fargo and First Interstate Banks, Ms. Smith developed and managed large complex portfolios of corporate relationships with Fortune 500 companies and SMEs. In this role, she was responsible for the evaluation of financial performance, market risks, credit risks and deal terms over a wide variety of industries.

Ms. Smith has directed business development, strategic alliances, and product development for national financial networks including Coinstar/Outerwall and Green Dot Financial Network, partnering with MasterCard, Starbucks, Amazon and others to deliver new revenue-producing programs from initial concept through successful national launch. To accomplish this, she led large cross-functional teams consisting of both internal and external stakeholders: executives in engineering, finance, manufacturing, legal and risk management.

Before joining Anjay Venture Partners, Ms. Smith held a leadership role with Intellectual Ventures, where she focused on driving investment opportunities across a broad spectrum of technologies including mobile technology, cloud computing, ecommerce, and financial services. During her tenure, Ms. Smith was directly responsible for over 200 closed transactions with a combined aggregate value of $200 million. In this role, she developed deep expertise in IP issues, patent portfolio analysis and valuation, licensing agreements, due diligence, and negotiations.

Ms. Smith has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business, University of California-Berkeley and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has earned Series 7 and Series 66 securities representative and investment advisor certifications, and has advanced training in contracts management and mediation.