VIENNA, VA – April 26, 2024 – Blu Venture Investors, a private venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in the cybersecurity and technology industries, is pleased to announce the formation of its Venture Partner program and the addition of five new Venture Partners to our dynamic team, marking a significant milestone in our journey towards innovation and growth.

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Blu Ventures was originally founded in 2010 by ten (10) former operators who wanted to use their experience to help founders scale their business. The company quickly expanded and now includes twenty (20) active partners with deep expertise in funding and mentoring early-stage startups. Blu has deployed $118M across cybersecurity, healthtech, and B2B SaaS companies and is an active investor in 64 portfolio companies. 

 

Blu Ventures is happy to announce the appointment of Bill Fields, Howard Horowitz, Ted Olsen, Tom Perkins and Howard Roth as new Venture Partners to our team.

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Bill Fields is a portfolio manager and head of the North Carolina market for venture debt at Bridge Bank where he provides financial solutions and strategies to venture-backed early-stage cybersecurity and enterprise SaaS companies. Prior to Bridge Bank he worked at IDEA Fund Partners, Red Cedar Ventures, and JP Morgan. Bill is an angel investor with a focus on cybersecurity companies.  Bill began his career in the White House National Economic Council and U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee as a policy aide and joined the United States Navy as a Lieutenant. While in the Navy he worked in signals intelligence and cybersecurity as an Information Warfare Officer at the National Security Agency. He deployed to Afghanistan and received the Joint Service Achievement Medal for his support to 2nd Brigade 10th Mountain Division and Special Operations Forces. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Defense and Business and as a mentor at Mach37 accelerator. Bill is passionate about supporting the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem on the east coast and co-organizes the Techstars Raleigh-Durham Startup Week.

 

Howard Horowitz joined Blu Ventures as a Core Investor in 2017 and is the managing principal of Kestrel Venture Partners where he invests in early-stage companies in digital infrastructure, real estate, data centers and emerging technology sectors. Howard is also the President of Kestrel Advisors, LLC, which provides consulting services to the global data center industry with a focus on digital infrastructure and data center real estate. His prior experience includes roles as head of global real estate at Equinix, principal at Trammell Crow Company, and President of Telecom Realty Group. Howard is also a Trustee with Baldwin Center for Preservation Development.

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Ted Olsen is a serial entrepreneur and operations executive. He is a principal at Neowise, LLC, a product development company, board member at Astek Diagnostics and partner at Next Gen Venture Partners. Previously, Ted was co-founder and CEO of Aqualith Advanced Materials Company (developing lithium-ion battery materials). Prior to Aqualith, Ted was the founder and CEO of PathSensors, Inc. a biotechnology company, where he led the sale of PathSensors to Smiths Group in 2020. His early experience in the biotechnology industry was as COO at Innovative Biosensors in Gaithersburg, MD. In the late 1990’s, he was one of the early employees at Corvis Corporation, a Columbia, MD telecommunications company which raised $1.2B via a public offering in 2000. Ted served for seven years on the State of Maryland’s Life Science Advisory board. He is an advisor and mentor to Georgetown University’s start-up accelerator program, TechStars Equitech Accelerator, The Tech Council of Maryland, The Biotechnology Institute of Maryland, and Baltimore City Community College’s biotechnology program. He is an engineering graduate of The Catholic University of America.

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Tom Perkins has served in various senior executive roles for over 20 years at many technology and IT services companies. Tom’s leadership and strong sense of teamwork and collaboration has generated over $1B+ total revenues for start-up, small, mid-tier, and large companies, including SERCO (public), CGI (public), DMI (acquired), CACI (public), ICF (IPO), PEC Solutions (acquired), and DynCorp (acquired). These companies and their early stage, innovation, emerging tech partners selected him to successfully open, acquire and grow new business lines, leveraging the latest disruptive technologies to achieve performance improvements and provide nationwide, innovative programs that deliver critical services to businesses, citizens, and communities. Leading and driving the development of emerging IT solutions for these companies, Tom’s growth success is grounded in blending the experience and training he brings from the world of high-stakes diplomacy and trade negotiation, along with a consultative selling approach that has resulted in the successful delivery of transformative technologies to key market segments. Tom is a former U.S. State Department Foreign Service Officer (representing U.S. national and business interests at American Embassies in Madrid, Santo Domingo, Caracas, and cross-regional sector assignments in Latin America, Europe and Maghreb regions), and also served at the Executive Office of the President as Senior Trade Policy Adviser and Negotiator. 

 

Howard Roth joined Blu as a Core Investor in 2021and is a retired Ernst & Young (EY) partner who led the firm’s Real Estate, Hospitality & Construction (RHC) practice from January 2008 – June 2017. He was a member of EY’s Global Practice Group and, under his leadership, RHC grew to over $2.0B of revenue, 15,000 people, and achieved #1 industry brand recognition. During this period, Roth traveled extensively, meeting major institutional clients, investors, and industry leaders worldwide. His role included developing and implementing services, solutions, and technical content in the changing assurance (GAAP, IFRS), tax, and regulatory environment. He also led RHC’s digital solutions efforts, including cybersecurity, data analytics, smart buildings, and the workplace of the future. Earlier, Roth led EY’s NY Real Estate Industry and tax practices. He was a tax partner at Kenneth Leventhal & Co prior to its merger with EY in June 1995. During his career, Roth served many of EY’s most significant global real estate, private equity and corporate clients in senior advisory, coordinating partner and tax partner capacities. His experience includes transactional analysis, entity structuring, regulatory and tax compliance, and judicial and non-judicial reorganizations.  He is a CPA, is qualified to serve as a Financial Expert under SEC and NYSE/NASDAQ listing rules.

 

"The addition of these Venture Partners to our team marks an exciting chapter for Blu Ventures,” said J. Gamble, Managing Partner of Blu Ventures. “We recognize their instrumental role in enhancing our support network for portfolio companies. Together, we're poised to unlock even greater potential and drive lasting success."

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About Blu Venture Investors

Founded in 2010, Blu Ventures has deployed over $118MM in capital to date to early-stage cyber and enterprise software firms. Blu’s partners bring operator expertise across a variety of industries and an investment perspective closely aligned with entrepreneurs. For more information, visit https://bluventureinvestors.com.

 

 

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Blu Ventures Contact:

Kathleen Lineberger

klineberger@bluventures.com

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