Dan Freedman joins iNovia Capital as U.S.-based venture partner

Canadian venture capital firm iNovia Capital has hired Dan Freedman as a venture partner. Freedman, a former vice president, security, at McAfee Inc, has worked as an entrepreneur, founding and leading Calgary-based Jasomi Networks, an Internet telephony equipment provider, and as an investor. Most recently, he was a lead mentor at Hawaii-based accelerator Blue Startups. Located in Newport Beach, California, Freedman will be a member of iNovia’s U.S.-based investment team, which covers the firm’s activity in California and New York.

PRESS RELEASE

Industry Veteran Dan Freedman Joins iNovia Capital’s Investment Team

February 18, 2016

iNovia is pleased to announce that Dan Freedman, former VP of Security Products at McAfee, has joined the firm’s investment team. Dan’s extensive operating and investing background is already being put to use helping our early-stage teams develop and grow. Now more than ever, we find that creating a category-dominating company requires making many critical operating decisions, and we are pleased to be able to offer Dan’s experience and judgment to our portfolio companies.

Dan joins the iNovia investment team after serving for several years on the firm’s Investment Committee, which reviews every deal prior to disbursement. His introduction to iNovia was as a Limited Partner, investing in Fund 2007, re-committing for Fund 2011, and once again for our recently-closed $175m Fund 2015.

Prior to iNovia, Dan Freedman was Lead Mentor at Blue Startups, the Hawaii-based accelerator behind the Startup Paradise brand. He also founded, grew, and sold Calgary-based Jasomi Networks, an Internet Telephony equipment provider, and was a co-founder of Launchworks, a keiretsu-style startup incubator that produced Guest-Tek, 180 Connect, and Control-F1. In the 1990’s Dan’s main focus was with Internet security, where his role as VP of Security Products at McAfee resulted from the acquisition of another of his startups, FSA Corporation. Dan was also an investor in HighPoint, Stores Online, Differential, and Wedge Networks.

Says Dan: “I am tremendously excited to join the iNovia team, a band of individuals who have collectively developed one of the strongest and most interesting portfolios at any fund. But what is more important is the huge respect and kudos toward iNovia by the people running those startups. For me, a large part of the attraction was working with a team that could generate so much goodwill.”

As Venture Partner, Dan will round out iNovia’s California team, and is based in Newport Beach. He is iNovia’s third US-based team member, which now covers both Northern and Southern California, as well as New York. Other iNovia offices are in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Waterloo, with headquarters in Montréal.

By Shawn Abbott, iNovia Capital

Photo courtesy of Blue Startups