CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NextWave Ventures, a venture-capital firm specializing in the commercialization of early-stage technologies, today announced the appointment of Dr. Peter Curley as Director of Technology Platforms.
Dr. Curley will serve as a technology partner scout and will focus on identifying opportunities for NextWave Ventures with universities and research institutions throughout California and the United States. He will be responsible for ensuring that NextWave Ventures portfolio companies are poised for success and positioned for growth series funding rounds. Additionally, as NextWave Ventures continues to raise their second fund, Dr. Curley will help identify key technologies that will receive capital from the company.
“I am delighted to have a seasoned individual like Peter join our growing team at NextWave Ventures,” said Jeff Slosar, Managing Partner of NextWave Ventures. “He brings impressive and extensive credentials to this position, and is a highly-experienced technology entrepreneur. He has an outstanding track record of working with teams to identify technology opportunities and ensure those technologies succeed.”
Prior to joining NextWave Ventures, Dr. Curley served as a Director and advisor for Imprimatur Capital, a UK-based venture capital firm, where he was responsible for identifying key technologies worldwide for investment in addition to providing operational support for portfolio brands. He has also served as an advisor to The Climate Group where he created new low-carbon projects and collaborative opportunities with global corporate partners. He also supervised the management of LED programs and partnership with Philips Lighting, covering the wide benefits of low carbon technologies, energy efficiency, LED lighting, connected smart cities and buildings, and the Internet of Things.
Prior to his business career, Dr. Curley held a Research Fellowship at the Ecole Polytechnique LOA (Paris) in the field of optics and photonics, and participated in the construction of the EU high intensity laser beam facility. He also served as a Royal Society Research Fellow at the Technical University of Vienna, Austria.
“I am honored to join the executive team at NextWave Ventures and help expand and grow existing and new relationships with our university and research institution partners,” said Peter Curley, Director of Technology Platforms. “The majority of my professional career has been in working with world-class brands to identify early stage investment technologies both in the US and around the globe, and I am excited to lend my experience to help bring new innovations to market under the NextWave portfolio.”
Founded in 2010, NextWave Ventures is a seed to early stage investment firm specializing in the commercialization of advanced technologies originating within universities and research institutes.
“As a public university, working with an investment firm like NextWave Ventures provides our researchers the opportunity to bring life to their innovations faster,” said Dr. Ruben Flores-Saaib, director of Innovation at the University of California, San Diego. “Our experience is that NextWave invests in early-stage technologies, helping de-risk technologies in direct partnership with our inventors while concurrently evolving the market opportunity as we learn the full potential of the research. NextWave continues to be a tremendous partner, staying laser-focused on helping the innovations succeed by lending the expertise of their team to help manage the technology commercialization process from a very early stage, closing a gap in the funding marketplace. This business approach is an invaluable resource to our teams.”
Through the partnership, NextWave and the University of California, San Diego, have launched a number of technology brands including MouthSense, Quad Geometrics and SmartFoam. NextWave continues to expand and evaluate technologies from universities in San Diego, Southern California, the broader University of California network and beyond.
About NextWave Ventures
Founded in 2010, NextWave Ventures is a seed to early stage venture capital firm focused on commercializing university research and advanced technologies. As the investors, founders and first operators, NextWave forms new companies around university-based intellectual property, developed through non-dilutive government funding. Investments span sectors from ambient computing to advanced materials, artificial intelligence to digital media, and IoT to 3D bioprinting. NextWave is focused on purpose-driven investing, actively building companies that have direct impact on social and environmental issues. For more information, visit www.nextwave.vc