A quartet of renowned industry leaders joins Jolt Capital
Eager to reinforce its team of investing partners and operating partners, Jolt Capital welcomes 4 additional operating partners. These very seasoned industry leaders have demonstrated exceptional capacities at the helm of their companies. They bring to the table a wealth of functional expertise, very complementary business know-hows and an invaluable acumen about global markets.
Jolt Capital IV, closed at an oversubscribed €271m at the end of 2021, has invested at this stage in 3 high-growth European deeptech scaleups: Virta (software platform for smart EV charging stations), Kebony (sustainable transformation of soft woods into hard materials for cladding and decking), UnitySC (inspection and metrology equipment for specialized semiconductor manufacturing). These first investments have now joined an aggregated portfolio of a dozen companies.
The group of newly appointed operating partners have decided to join part time Jolt Capital’s journey, to actively contribute to a mission that matches their own ambition for Europe: not just growing local seedlings that will end up being transplanted elsewhere but scaling them to maturity in Europe and turn them into global deeptech champions. Jolt Capital IV first 3 scale-ups and the ones that will soon follow will benefit from a wide network of contacts and a deep and complementary expertise in business development from each of these seasoned operating partners.
Yves Maître (former CEO of HTC), François Barbier (former COO of Flex), Jens Due Olsen (Chairman of NKT Holding) and Henri Richard (former WW EVP of NetApp) will join the 2 other operating partners already active with Jolt Capital, Dan Newman (Managing Partner at Cross Atlantic Advisory, based in Cambridge, Massachussetts) and Jean-Marc Daillance (former CEO of Zodiac Marine, an operating partner and senior advisor at Jolt Capital since 2012).
“Having ultra-experienced industry executives like Yves, Henri, Jens and François join Jolt part-time will definitely boost our trajectory. We have synched their onboarding with the appointment of a series of new general partners that was announced recently. We are building up the team to live up to our high expectations, whether for the rolling out of our current growth fund or for the design and launching of upcoming new vehicles.” says Jean Schmitt, President et Managing Partner de Jolt Capital.
Yves Maître was the CEO of HTC in Taiwan from 2019 to 2020, after a decade spent with Orange, first as SVP Mobile Multimedia (2008-2013) then as Executive VP Consumer Electronics & Partnerships (2013-2019). He has also restructured and managed 2 industrial companies in the fields of telecommunications and ceramics between 1991 and 1999. During his career, he’s been an executive in Europe (France, Germany, UK), in Asia (Singapore, Taiwan) and in the US. Yves Maître currently sits on the boards of Cabasse (Euronext Growth) and Sequans (Nasdaq). He will share with Jolt Capital’s portfolio companies his expertise in product management and strategic partnerships, most notably in the domain of consumer electronics, as well as his vast knowledge of doing business in Asia.
“I’m honored to join Jolt Capital as operating partner but even more to get the opportunity to support European startups and scaleups. Rewarding investors has always been part of my focus during my years at managing companies across the world, and I will continue to do so while supporting the entire Jolt team and organization.” says Yves Maître.
François Barbier has left his position as Group President of Global Operations at Flex in the spring of 2022. In that prominent role, he oversaw over 170000 people located in more than 30 countries and distributed across a hundred manufacturing sites, generating a global revenue exceeding $26 billion. François was in charge of all procurement, supply chain and operations for the Flex Group, reporting directly to the CEO. Before joining Flex in 2001, he had also spent 20 years in another large company (Alcatel), with a last posting as VP Mobile Phones Operations, managing 4000 employees in Europe, China and Mexico, and overseeing the global production. François will provide Jolt Capital’s portfolio companies with his unique experience of complex supply chains and global manufacturing issues. He will also be instrumental in supporting the industrial expansion of these European scale-ups in the US.
“A resilient and competitive end to end supply chain is a must for hardware businesses. I’m delighted to support Jolt Capital’s portfolio companies in this endeavor.” says François Barbier.
Jens Due Olsen has devoted the last 15 years to chairing boards of industrial technology companies (NKT Holding, Nilfisk Holding, KMD, NIL Technology) and to working with private equity and VC players (EQT, Nordic Capital, Advent Nokia Growth Partners). During that period, he also sat on the boards of over a dozen private or listed companies like Auriga, Danske Bank, Bladt Industries, Cryptomathic, Heptagon (successful exit from Jolt Capital’s initial portfolio), Kompan and Sivantos. Between 2001 and 2008, Jens was CFO then Deputy CEO of GN Great Nordic, the largest provider of headsets in the world and the fourth worldwide in hearing instruments. He started his career in APMoller-Maersk and have lived and worked in Japan, Singapore, London, and the US. Jolt Capital portfolio companies will greatly benefit from a renowned expert in domains ranging from IPO readiness, governance, operating experience, and financial risk management to acquisitions and divestments strategies.
“For many years, I’ve really enjoyed helping companies grow and have appreciated the technology space more and more. I came to know Jolt Capital in my work with Heptagon and subsequently as a chair of NILT’s board. I think the fit between Jolt’s tech savviness and entrepreneurial approach and my personal experience is a great one.” says Jens Due Olsen.
Henri Richard has run the global sales and marketing activities of 4 iconic data storage and microelectronics companies: WW EVP Customers Operations of NetApp (2016-2020), WW SVP Sales & Support of SanDisk (2013-2016), SVP Sales & Marketing of Freescale (2007-2013) and EVP Sales & Marketing of AMD (2002-2007). In each case, the company’s stock price quadrupled during Henri’s tenure. At the beginning of his career, he was VP Worldwide Sales & Marketing of IBM, VP EMEA of Seagate Technology and Vice-President Systems & Networks at Metrologie International. Since 2020, Henri has been VP Executive Partner at Gartner Inc, helping customers navigate their post pandemic Go To Market transformation. He currently sits on the boards of Kalray and Data Dynamics Inc. He plans to help Jolt Capital’s portfolio companies with their sales & marketing global issues and will open to them his wide network in the domains of storage, cloud computing and semiconductors.
“At this very important period for Europe’s sovereignty, I am particularly excited to be joining the Jolt team. The world needs the innovation and creativity of European startups and scaleups, and the particular focus on responsible technologies especially motivates me as we are facing an unprecedented set of challenges for the planet and our society. I look forward to helping our portfolio companies with their Go To Market efforts and specifically to help them penetrate the US market. I started my career as an entrepreneur and after three decades spent in the corporate world, it will be rewarding and exciting to get back to the world of smaller and nimbler companies.” says Henri Richard.