San Francisco, California (PRWEB) October 05, 2017 -- Hardware Club, the first community-based venture firm for hardware startups, welcomes on board Aymerik Renard as its newest General Partner, focusing on investments in North America.
An advisor to the team since 2016, Aymerik brings a wealth of experience in investment, tech and telecoms spanning over two decades. Sharing his excitement for his new role, Aymerik Renard said:
“I’ve gotten to know the Hardware Club team over several years and I’ve been really impressed with the speed and scope of their accomplishments. In just three years, their unique vision has attracted an amazing community of world class hardware startups and partners seeking added strategic value in a world of under-differentiated capital. I am thrilled to be joining them to lead their North American investments”.
Hardware Club has been actively investing since its $28m first close of Hardware Club Fund I this summer, adding 9 exciting companies to its portfolio, including Biscuit Labs, Play Impossible, Grow and Noke. The final closing of the fund is expected in the coming months.
“We’re excited to welcome Aymerik to the Hardware Club family. I cannot think of a better addition to our partnership as his experience of the hardware ecosystem will help us better support our portfolio companies.” stated Alexis Houssou, co-founder and president of Hardware Club.
Aymerik came to Western Digital via its acquisition of SanDisk, where he led their US venture activity. Quickly promoted and given a global mandate, he was instrumental in integrating the management of their combined portfolio into the newly formed Western Digital Capital, as well as leading its communications and venture ecosystem outreach.
Well known in the hardware ecosystem, Aymerik joined PCH International in 2011 where he was the Vice President responsible for startup business development, aiding consumer electronics, medtech and IoT companies with funding, design, manufacturing, fulfillment, and distribution aspects. Capitalizing on his on-the-ground experience of the Hong Kong and Shenzhen manufacturing ecosystems, he later co-founded the Highway1 accelerator for hardware startups. Since then, he has remained active as a mentor in accelerators such as Qualcomm Robotics, R/GA Connected Devices, Impact USA, Alchemist Accelerator, and Startup Bootcamp, among others.
Earlier in his career, he headed North American investments for Orange for twelve years. Under his watch, several of his hardware, software and services portfolio companies IPO’ed on the Nasdaq and New York stock exchange with others being acquired by Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, SAP, Yahoo, Sun Microsystems, Cox Automotive, Keynote, Ericsson, and Cable & Wireless.
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Information & Decision Systems, Aymerik has been involved in the computing industry since his student days, when he taught a third-year lab course in software engineering methodology and also worked as a Campus Representative for Apple Computer.
The entire team welcomes the expertise and insight that Aymerik brings to the community and its investments.
About Hardware Club
Based in San Francisco, Paris and Tokyo, we help hardware founders build amazing companies. Hardware Club is a stage, geography and sector agnostic community of highly curated hardware startups and corporate partners. We help member startups scale globally through access to strategic partnerships and resources aimed at overcoming critical challenges common to hardware, like manufacturing and distribution. With Hardware Club Fund I, we invest in the most promising early stage startups among our roster of 300+ members. For more information, please visit: hardwareclub.co.
Contact: press(at)hardwareclub(dot)co
Alexis Houssou, Hardware Club, https://hardwareclub.co/, +1 415 949 8677, [email protected]
SOURCE Hardware Club
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