Derek Idemoto, senior vice president of Cisco Investments, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.

Derek Idemoto, a 17-year veteran at Cisco Investments, the corporate venturing arm of US technology company Cisco, oversees one of the world’s largest CVC units, which has 40 employees in five countries.

The team members enjoy independence but are “tightly aligned” to ensure collaboration, says Idemoto. Each member is expected to be a thought leader and subject-matter expert in their specialisation.

“This organisational design empowers team members to manage their own domains or geographies effectively, allowing them to scale and form independent views in partnership with our business partners,” says Idemoto.

Acquiring startups is a large part of Cisco’s strategy. Over three decades, it has made 250 acquisitions and invested in hundreds of startups. The CVC team manages both investments and acquisitions, which offers a “unique vantage point as we evaluate thousands of companies annually,” he says.

Portfolio development is also a big focus for the team, which Idemoto sees as a key differentiator of the CVC unit. “We actively engage with portfolio companies to navigate the Cisco ecosystem, fostering mutually beneficial relationships. By empowering startups to collaborate with Cisco, we create a dynamic ecosystem that nurtures innovation and drives tangible business outcomes,” he says. As of 2024, nearly half of its strategic investments have commercial partnerships with Cisco. The parent company is a customer of roughly one-quarter of the CVC’s portfolio companies.

AI remains a focus investment area, as it was in 2024. This time last year, the CVC team had invested in, or acquired, a dozen startups in AI and machine learning. That number is now over 30. In June last year, it launched a $1bn fund to ramp up investments in AI-driven startups. Through that fund, it has invested in AI companies such as Scale, Mistral, Cohere, Anthropic, CoreWeave, Groq and Lightening AI.

Before joining Cisco, Idemoto led venture investments at Itochu Technology and drove acquisition strategy at Overture Services ahead of its sale to Yahoo. He earlier held investments and advisory roles at Kline Hawkes, Cowen and BancAmerica Securities.


The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry. 

These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession. 

See the full 2025 Powerlist here.