Neal Dempsey is the Managing General Partner of Bay Partners—one of the longest-running venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. Founded in 1975 by the legendary John Friedenrich, Bay Partners has invested in early tech leaders such as Brocade, Informatica, Eloqua, Guidewire, Xactly, and Mulesoft. Bay Partner’s 2006 vintage fund is one of the industry’s top-performing funds, ranked #2 by PitchBook.
Neal had 3 IPOs in 2012 with Eloqua (which was acquired in 2012 by Oracle for $871 million), Enphase Energy ($242 million) and Guidewire Software (market cap: $2.09 billion). He also invested in Tealeaf, which was acquired by IBM, Buddy Media which was acquired by Salesforce.com for $745 million, and Zenprise, which was acquired by Citrix. His other investments include Apigee, BoardVantage, Ensenda, Interact911, Xactly and Code Green.
Innovation happens in unexpected places. Some of the best ideas for solving real-world problems happen outside of Silicon Valley, and founders in these places deserve mentorship and funding as much as anyone anywhere. Neal has invested in founders and companies from Saskatoon, Helsinki, Groningen, Barcelona, Berlin, and many more.
Neal looks for early-stage companies and founders that show passion, perseverance, and personality. Passion brings the life and energy required to drive innovation. Perseverance keeps the company going against all obstacles. Personality provides the special spark that makes a company and its founders different. With this philosophy, Neal has discovered innovative founders across the world, and created millions in returns.
