Scott Darling, president of Dell Technologies Capital, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
Scott Darling has led Dell Technologies Capital (DTC), the corporate development and CVC arm of Dell Technologies for nearly a decade.
He started his career as a software engineer, before moving into product marketing for high-performance systems at Apple and then at Intel. After about a decade of leading teams on the product side at Intel, he stepped in to head the Intel Capital team, where he managed more than 40 investors and a team focused on business development for the enterprise business unit.
He then worked at early-stage VC firm Frazier Technology Ventures for 12 years until he was recruited to start a venture practice at EMC, which went on to become Dell Technologies Capital.
“DTC pulls from my experience both at Intel Capital and Frazier and it is the best of both worlds. We are a financial-returns-driven team, but we have got the network and resources of Dell Technologies available to us,” says Darling.
The venture team invests up to $200m annually with early-stage startups focused on cybersecurity, infrastructure, data and analytics, edge and logistics, and silicon.
“Personally, as a leader, the team we have here right now at DTC is my greatest success.”
During his career, Darling has seen the tech industry transform multiple times. “I have experienced several world-shifting innovations – PCs, mobiles, cloud and now AI, and the booms and the lulls that go along with them. It has been an incredible ride so far.”
Darling has a collaborative leadership approach and an aversion to siloed work and believes that this is one of the strengths of the unit. “Personally, as a leader, the team we have here right now at DTC is my greatest success,” says Darling.
There have been financial successes, too, with IPOs for portfolio companies including Zscaler, JFrog, Nutanix and MongoDB. DTC led Zscaler’s series A round and Darling continues to serve on the board of directors as a publicly held company.
Currently, the unit is looking at startups building foundational infrastructure to support the AI boom from the silicon chip level upward. Another focus is on smart vertical applications that are rethinking enterprise work in specific industries and in functional areas such as logistics.
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.
