Rokk3r Fuel Names Noted Technologist Salim Ismail as General Partner
MIAMI, Sept. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Rokk3r Fuel, a global venture capital firm based in Miami, announced today that Salim Ismail, distinguished technologist and leading thinker on exponential organizations (ExO), has joined the firm as a general partner. With the addition to Mr. Ismail as General Partner, Rokk3r Fuel also announced that it is naming its flagship fund Rokk3r Fuel ExO.
"We are excited to welcome Salim to Rokk3r Fuel," said Jeff Ransdell, Founding Partner at Rokk3r Fuel. "For the last decade, Salim has been a visionary and has defined how we as an industry think about exponential organizations. We view his decision to join Rokk3r Fuel as a strong validation of both our commitment to identifying and investing in exponential technology, and our proprietary approach with our limited partners to optimize the way that venture is working to meet their investment objectives."
Mr. Ismail noted, "Today there are eight billion Internet-connected devices in the world. By 2020, there will be 50 billion. Will computer-driven cars be a reality in three years? Will we see a dramatically lengthened lifespan and delayed retirements in a matter of one to two decades? What does this mean for investment, growth, and contraction in key industries? As the world becomes more digital, advancements in technology are skyrocketing. Rokk3r Fuel ExO is tracking the trajectory of fascinating projects and investing in the ones that are sure to change our lives and challenge societal norms as we know them. Our insight on how to invest and where to deploy capital is driven around our exponential outlook on the world as we know it today."
Mr. Ismail is Chairman of the Fastrack Institute in Miami, as well as Chairman of ExO Works, which he founded. A sought-after speaker, he also authored Exponential Organizations that reached No. 1 on Amazon's "Best-Sellers in Business Management" and was named Frost & Sullivan's "Growth, Innovation, and Leadership Book of the Year." He is the Founding Executive Director of Singularity University, based at NASA's Ames Research Center, whose goal is to "educate, inspire, and empower a new generation of leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity's grand challenges."
Prior to Singularity University, Mr. Ismail was Vice President at Yahoo, where he built and ran Brickhouse, the company's internal incubator. His last company, Ångströ, a news aggregation startup, was sold to Google in 2010. He co-founded and operated seven early-stage companies including PubSub Concepts, which laid some of the foundation for the real-time web, and the New York Grant Company, which in its first year attracted over 400 clients and delivered over $12 million of federal grants to the local economy. Mr. Ismail frequently advises heads of state and Fortune 500 CEOs and boards on technology, innovation and growth and in March 2017 was named to the board of the XPRIZE Foundation.
Mr. Ismail earned his B.Sc. with Honors in Physics from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
Rokk3r Fuel was launched as a venture capital firm in March 2017 with the goal of investing in exponential technologies at a global level, working with founders through a tested co-building strategy. The team draws on its extensive experience in wealth management to work with its limited partners to incorporate venture intelligently into their investment portfolios.
"The addition of Salim Ismail as General Partner advances Rokk3r Fuel's goal of globally sourcing and funding the best entrepreneurs who are building companies at the intersection of exponential technologies," said Nabyl Charania, General Partner at Rokk3r Fuel. "Salim's accomplishments and innovative breakthroughs have earned him a global network of today's and tomorrow's brightest minds and top decision makers. I look forward to Rokk3r Fuel ExO being the funding catalyst of the leading entrepreneurs and ideas from Salim's network as we continue to set a global benchmark for investment in exponential technology companies."
About Rokk3r Fuel
Rokk3r Fuel is a global venture capital firm committed to both early stage and later stage investing. We use a tested methodology of risk mitigated early stage investing by working with Rokk3r Labs and our global network of professional company builders, to help the next generation of innovators access the resources needed to grow. Rokk3r Fuel is headquartered in the Miami's Wynwood District. For more information, please visit http://www.rokk3rfuel.com. Please follow us on Twitter at @rokk3rfuel.
SOURCE Rokk3r Fuel
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