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GCV Emerging Leaders Awards 2020: Robert McIntyre
Bjorn Sunde, January 29, 2020

The rest of the 50 (in alphabetical order): Robert McIntyre, investment director, LG Technology Ventures

 

Robert McIntyre has been an investment director at LG Technology Ventures (LGTV) since 2018, the same year five affiliates of South Korea-based consumer electronics company LG founded the $425m fund as limited investors.

Dong-Su Kim, senior vice-president and chief executive of LGTV, said McIntyre “brings a wealth of experience as both a venture capitalist and a serial entrepreneur” and demonstrates leadership mentoring team members and sharing investment expertise with LG business units.

McIntyre led LGTV’s participation in an expanded series B round for US-based mobility services company Ridecell in November 2018 that raised funds in excess of $60m after the $28m initial series B round in May 2018.

McIntyre said: “From a strategic perspective, while Ridecell was almost unknown to LG at the time of investment, we have subsequently signed an MOU [memorandum of understanding] between the two companies while working on a definitive partnership agreement and uncovered multiple other partnership opportunities being entertained by additional business units.

“Continuing to drive these types of strategic partnerships is incredibly valuable to our limited investors and helps build our young firm’s reputation of value-add in the marketplace. I am using this same approach with my investments in Lygos and Arcellx, where I have been able to catalyse strategic opportunities for both companies within LG.”

LGTV invested $5m in US-based biotech Lygos and participated in an $85m series B round for US-based therapeutic developer Arcellx respectively in early and late 2019.

McIntyre was an investor at venture capital firms HIG Capital and CMEA Ventures, the latter of which is now known as Presidio Partners, and had operational roles at three startups with two exits before joining LGTV:

- US-based wireless local-area network vendor Airwave Wireless merged with wireless networking company Aruba Networks in 2008, which became a subsidiary of information technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise in 2015.

- US-based life sciences software company NextBio was sold to genomic sequencing company Illumina in late 2013.

McIntyre has also played water polo and coached as an assistant on a national championship team at UC Berkley. Perhaps his stints in competitive sport and coaching contribute to his success at corporate venturing.

- Originally published at www.globalcorporateventuring.com Jan 29, 2020.