

Venky Ganesan
PartnerCybersecurity, Cloud Infrastructure, Consumer
Venky is a partner at Menlo Ventures focused on investments in both the consumer and enterprise sectors. He currently serves on the boards of Abnormal Security, Aisera, Appdome, BitSight, Breather, Dedrone, MealPal, Rover, Sonrai Security, StackRox, and Unravel Data. Prior to joining Menlo, he was a managing partner at Globespan Capital Partners, where he was part of the investment team since the firm’s inception. At Globespan, Venky led numerous successful investments including Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Upwork (UPWK), Redfin (RDFN), Amobee (acquired by SingTel for $321M), Jajah (acquired by Telefonica for $207M), Virident (acquired by Western Digital for $685M), and Trigo (acquired by IBM). He has also led investments or served on the boards of private companies such as Rev and SMSGupshup. Venky was recognized on the Forbes Midas List from 2013–2015.
Prior to Globespan, Venky was one of the founders of Trigo Technologies and played a critical part in building Trigo into the market leader in the product information management space. IBM acquired the company resulting in a substantial return for all investors. Venky also previously worked at McKinsey & Co., in the firm’s Los Angeles and Johannesburg offices, and at Microsoft where he started his career as a program manager.
Venky holds a bachelor of arts in mathematics–economics from Reed College and a bachelor of science in engineering and applied science, with honors, from the California Institute of Technology. Venky believes strongly in giving back to the community. He was the chair of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), a Trustee of Keys School, a Trustee of Castilleja School, and President of the Indian Community Center in Milpitas.
Supported by: Lauren Centoni, lauren@menlovc.com
Venky is a partner at Menlo Ventures focused on investments in both the consumer and enterprise sectors. He currently serves on the boards of Abnormal Security, Aisera, Appdome, BitSight, Breather, Dedrone, MealPal, Rover, Sonrai Security, StackRox, and Unravel Data. Prior to joining Menlo, he was a managing partner at Globespan Capital Partners, where he was part of the investment team since the firm’s inception. At Globespan, Venky led numerous successful investments including Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Upwork (UPWK), Redfin (RDFN), Amobee (acquired by SingTel for $321M), Jajah (acquired by Telefonica for $207M), Virident (acquired by Western Digital for $685M), and Trigo (acquired by IBM). He has also led investments or served on the boards of private companies such as Rev and SMSGupshup. Venky was recognized on the Forbes Midas List from 2013–2015.
Prior to Globespan, Venky was one of the founders of Trigo Technologies and played a critical part in building Trigo into the market leader in the product information management space. IBM acquired the company resulting in a substantial return for all investors. Venky also previously worked at McKinsey & Co., in the firm’s Los Angeles and Johannesburg offices, and at Microsoft where he started his career as a program manager.
Venky holds a bachelor of arts in mathematics–economics from Reed College and a bachelor of science in engineering and applied science, with honors, from the California Institute of Technology. Venky believes strongly in giving back to the community. He was the chair of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), a Trustee of Keys School, a Trustee of Castilleja School, and President of the Indian Community Center in Milpitas.
Supported by: Lauren Centoni, lauren@menlovc.com
Investments
Our Portfolio

Abnormal Security is an integrated email security solution for the cloud office, detecting the whole spectrum of email attacks, from vendor compromise and spear-phishing to unwanted spam and graymail.
Milestones
- 2018 → Founded
- 2020 → Partnered, Series B
Partner

AVI Networks offers a software solution that maximizes application delivery of enterprise and cloud-based applications.
Milestones
- 2012 → Founded
- 2014 → Partnered, Series B
- 2019 → Acquired by VMware
Partner



BitSight Technologies is transforming how companies manage information security risk with objective, evidence-based security ratings.
Milestones
- 2011 → Founded
- 2013 → Partnered, Series A
Partner



Poshmark is a social commerce marketplace where people can buy and sell new or used clothing, shoes, accessories, and home goods.
Milestones
- 2011 → Founded
- 2012 → Partnered, Series B
- 2021 → IPO; NASDAQ: POSH
- 2022 → Acquired by Naver
Partner



Palo Alto Networks is a multinational cybersecurity company. Its core products are a platform that includes advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to cover other aspects of security.
Milestones
- 2005 → Founded
- 2007 → Partnered (at Globespan)
- 2012 → IPO
Partner



Redfin is a real estate brokerage founded with the hopes of upending the traditional brokerage model.
Milestones
- 2002 → Founded
- 2011 → Partnered (at Globespan)
- 2017 → IPO
Partner



Rover connects dog and cat parents with loving pet sitters and dog walkers in neighborhoods across the US, Canada, UK, and Europe.
Milestones
- 2011 → Founded
- 2014 → Partnered, Series C
- 2021 → SPAC; NASDAQ: ROVR
Partner



Unravel Data automates and simplifies Big Data operations (DataOps) with a full-stack performance intelligence platform that accelerates application performance, optimizes multi-tenant resource usage, and provides operations intelligence—all from a single location.
Milestones
- 2013 → Founded
- 2015 → Partnered, Series A
Partner

Abnormal Security is an integrated email security solution for the cloud office, detecting the whole spectrum of email attacks, from vendor compromise and spear-phishing to unwanted spam and graymail.
Milestones
- 2018 → Founded
- 2020 → Partnered, Series B
Partner


Aisera transforms the service, support, and operations experience for enterprises with its generative AI and automation platform.
Milestones
- 2017 → Founded
- 2018 → Partnered, Series A
Partner


AVI Networks offers a software solution that maximizes application delivery of enterprise and cloud-based applications.
Milestones
- 2012 → Founded
- 2014 → Partnered, Series B
- 2019 → Acquired by VMware
Partner

BitSight Technologies is transforming how companies manage information security risk with objective, evidence-based security ratings.
Milestones
- 2011 → Founded
- 2013 → Partnered, Series A
Partner


Cequence is an API security platform that unifies API visibility and risk assessment with native, enterprise-grade attack and vulnerability protection.
Milestones
- 2014 → Founded
- 2021 → Partnered, Series C
Partner


ConverzAI is the leading innovator in AI-driven recruitment solutions. Having pioneered Voice AI for the staffing sector, ConverzAI is now accelerating industry transformation with its AI-powered virtual recruiters.
Milestones
- 2019 → Founded
- 2024 → Partnered, Series A
Partner


Dedrone is the international market and technology leader in the field of drone detection.
Milestones
- 2014 → Founded
- 2016 → Partnered, Series A
- 2024 → Acquired by Axon
Partner


Exeros operated as a data relationship discovery and management company offering data migration solutions for enterprises.
Milestones
- 2009 → Acquired by IBM
Partner
Immersive Labs is empowering organizations to measure and improve cybersecurity skills across technical and non-technical teams with its Cyber Workforce Optimization platform.
Milestones
- 2017 → Founded
- 2021 → Partnered, Series C
Partner


Machine Zone develops mobile games in various genres that include fantasy, RPG, and MMO.
Milestones
- 2008 → Founded
- 2012 → Partnered, Series B
- 2020 → Acquired by AppLovin
Partner


MealPal offers a subscription service that makes lunch pickup from restaurants convenient and affordable.
Milestones
- 2016 → Founded
- 2017 → Partnered, Series B
Partner

Obsidian aggregates, normalizes, and enriches user activity, access, and privilege data across SaaS applications to help organizations identify potential account compromise, data leakage, or insider threats.
Milestones
- 2017 → Founded
- 2022 → Partnered, Series C
Partner

Palo Alto Networks is a multinational cybersecurity company. Its core products are a platform that includes advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to cover other aspects of security.
Milestones
- 2005 → Founded
- 2007 → Partnered (at Globespan)
- 2012 → IPO
Partner


Poshmark is a social commerce marketplace where people can buy and sell new or used clothing, shoes, accessories, and home goods.
Milestones
- 2011 → Founded
- 2012 → Partnered, Series B
- 2021 → IPO; NASDAQ: POSH
- 2022 → Acquired by Naver
Partner


Prodigal gives lenders and collections agencies insights from customer interactions using advanced conversational AI.
Milestones
- 2018 → Founded
- 2021 → Partnered, Series A
Partner


Redfin is a real estate brokerage founded with the hopes of upending the traditional brokerage model.
Milestones
- 2002 → Founded
- 2011 → Partnered (at Globespan)
- 2017 → IPO
Partner


Rover connects dog and cat parents with loving pet sitters and dog walkers in neighborhoods across the US, Canada, UK, and Europe.
Milestones
- 2011 → Founded
- 2014 → Partnered, Series C
- 2021 → SPAC; NASDAQ: ROVR
Partner


Sonrai Security delivers an enterprise identity and data governance platform for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Kubernetes.
Milestones
- 2017 → Founded
- 2020 → Partnered, Series B
Partner


StackRox is a Kubernetes-native security platform for cloud-native applications, containers, serverless, and Kubernetes
Milestones
- 2014 → Founded
- 2020 → Partnered, Series B
- 2021 → Acquired by Red Hat
Partner

Strata is pioneering distributed identity orchestration, enabling enterprises to seamlessly unify on-premises and cloud-based authentication and access systems for consistent identity management in multi-cloud environments.
Milestones
- 2019 → Founded
- 2020 → Partnered, Series A
Partner


Unravel Data automates and simplifies Big Data operations (DataOps) with a full-stack performance intelligence platform that accelerates application performance, optimizes multi-tenant resource usage, and provides operations intelligence—all from a single location.
Milestones
- 2013 → Founded
- 2015 → Partnered, Series A
Partner


Upwork is a global freelancing platform where businesses or individuals connect to conduct business.
Milestones
- 2018 → IPO
Partner
