PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Sep 4, 2015) - Sean Cunningham, a director of venture investments at Intel Capital for 15 years and a successful cybersecurity investor, is joining Trident Capital Cybersecurity (TCC) as a managing director on September 21, 2015.
Cunningham will team with TCC Managing Directors Alberto Yépez and Don Dixon to spearhead Trident's focus on cybersecurity investments. Cunningham brings technology marketing and sales expertise as well as investment prowess to the team.
Cunningham has been cited as one of the top cybersecurity investors by market analyst firm CB Insights and is listed in their "Board of Directors: Who's Who in Cybersecurity." In addition, Cunningham's venture unit at Intel Capital was identified by CB Insights as the most active cybersecurity investor during the past five years. While at Intel Capital, Cunningham invested in 22 companies and led 13 successful startups to exit.
"Trident Capital has known Sean Cunningham for more than a decade," Yépez said. "We have worked closely together since 2005 as co-investors in TriCipher (acquired by VMware); Solera Networks (acquired by BlueCoat); AlienVault and HyTrust. Sean is well respected by entrepreneurs, co-investors, board members and go-to-market partners."
In addition to the four companies in which he co-invested with Trident, Cunningham invested in 18 companies unaffiliated with Trident. Among those that exited successfully were Accertify (acquired by American Express), Crossbeam Systems (acquired by Blue Coat Systems), Signacert (acquired by Harris Corp), Cloakware (acquired by Irdeto), Zone Labs (acquired by Checkpoint Software) and Perspecsys (acquired by Blue Coat Systems).
Cunningham said he is joining TCC to focus on working with early stage cybersecurity entrepreneurs. He also wanted to team with Yépez and Dixon. "They are the premier cybersecurity investors in the venture industry," Cunningham stated.
"Cunningham's long-term ties to Trident Capital, his company building skills and his established network are important to TCC," Dixon said. "We're very excited to bring him onboard to build the premier cybersecurity venture capital franchise."
CUNNINGHAM BACKGROUND
Sean Cunningham has spent more than 25 years in the high tech industry. He joined Intel in 1994 and worked in multiple management roles in Marketing and Sales. He had been making equity investments with Intel Capital since 2000, and was Director of Strategic Investments where he was responsible for enterprise and Internet security technology investments.
Sean Cunningham served as the Intel Capital Board of Director Observer on Agiliance, AlienVault, Bromium, Hytrust, SS8 Networks, Prelert and as an investor in Mocana and Skyport. He previously was the Investment Director and BoD Observer for Zone Labs (acquired by Checkpoint Software), Musicmatch (acquired by Yahoo), Trymedia (acquired by Macrovision), Cloakware (acquired by Irdeto), Lockdown Networks (acquired by McAfee), Signacert (acquired by Harris Corp), Tricipher (acquired by VMware), Accertify (acquired by American Express), Workshare (acquired by Skydox), Crossbeam (acquired by Blue Coat Systems), Credant (acquired by Dell), Solera Networks (acquired by Blue Coat Systems), and Perspecsys (acquired by Blue Coat Systems).
Previously, as a member of the Intel New Business Initiative, Cunningham managed the product and channel marketing group responsible for Intel AnswerExpress marketing programs, sales and product definition.
Cunningham holds a bachelor's degree and an MBA from Gonzaga University.
About Trident Capital Cybersecurity
Trident Capital Cybersecurity (TCC) is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies leveraging emerging technologies in cybersecurity. Trident Capital Cybersecurity is a spinout of Trident Capital, which was among the pioneers in cybersecurity venture capital investing, starting in 1998. Managing Directors Alberto Yépez, Don Dixon and Sean Cunningham co-lead the cybersecurity investment team and are on the Boards of Airtight Networks, AlienVault, Blue Cat, Hytrust, IronNet Cybersecurity, Mocana, and Qualys. Renowned as the best-connected venture capital firm in cybersecurity, TCC has an impressive Cybersecurity Advisory Council, including industry CEOs, customers and former top-level government leaders. The three Managing Directors have invested in 36 cybersecurity companies of which 23 have been exited. The exits include: Qualys, a public company; Solera Networks, acquired by Blue Coat Systems; Sygate Technology, acquired by Symantec; Thor Technologies, acquired by Oracle; Accertify, acquired by American Express, and PerspecSys, acquired by Blue Coat Systems. For more information, visit www.tridentcybersecurity.com.
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