Facebook Veteran Bubba Murarka Joins DFJ as General Partner
MENLO PARK, Calif., May 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), a Silicon Valley venture capital firm founded 1985, today announced Facebook veteran Bubba Murarka has joined DFJ as General Partner and Managing Director.
Since 2008, Murarka has held positions as business development lead and most recently head of product for Facebook for Android where he started the Facebook Home project. Murarka will identify new investment opportunities and will bring his more than 10 years of product development and business to experience DFJ's existing portfolio companies.
"Bubba has deep experience with building teams and delivering a product vision, which is important perspective for emerging tech companies. He has expertise in scaling teams, working through complex partnership negotiations and designing creative experiences," said Andreas Stavropoulos, DFJ Managing Director. "Bubba's ability to forge relationships with founders makes him a great asset for DFJ and our portfolio companies."
Murarka helped scale Facebook's Android product team to more than 50 members and pivot the mobile development strategy toward native applications. During his tenure, Murarka oversaw business strategy for search, photos, places and negotiating strategic deals with key Facebook partners including Microsoft, Netflix and Yahoo. His business development efforts generated more than $300M revenue for the company and drove early user growth in Japan and Brazil.
Prior to Facebook, Murarka spent seven years in technical and product roles at Microsoft. While there, he acted as group program manager for Bing's Bay Area development team, which delivered components of Windows, MSN Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search and the earliest versions of Bing Social. He started his career at Microsoft in Seattle as part of the original threedegrees team.
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to join a storied partnership that takes big risks by backing disruptive companies, " said Murarka. "I'm excited to support the fearless entrepreneurs who think big and want to change the world."
Murarka has served an adviser and an angel investor to more than 10 companies in the consumer mobile and online education sectors since 2008. At DFJ, Murarka will focus primarily on early-stage consumer Internet and mobile companies. He will also assist companies across the portfolio with their growth and product strategies.
About DFJ
DFJ is a venture capital firm that partners with extraordinary entrepreneurs who set out to change the world. Since 1985, DFJ and the DFJ Global Network have had $7B committed to their funds and have managed more than 400 portfolio investments, including AdMob, Baidu, Box, Skype, Hotmail, SpaceX, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, Twitter, Tumblr and Yammer. DFJ works with companies at seed, early and growth stages, with the goal of creating iconic and lasting businesses. DFJ pioneers investing in emerging markets including consumer and enterprise information technology, digital media, and disruptive technologies. The DFJ Global Network is a federation of 16 independent venture funds operating on four continents that cooperate on investment diligence and co-investing. Learn more at dfj.com.
Contact:
Shari Foldes
DFJ
[email protected]
Ph: 650.233.9000
SOURCE Draper Fisher Jurvetson
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