Sheshadri Amathnadu, senior investment director - CVC at SK Telecom Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.

Sheshadri Amathnadu has been senior director at SK Telecom Ventures, the North American-based venture investment and corporate development arm of South Korea’s largest telecommunications company, since 2015.

Since its founding in 2008, SK Telecom Ventures has operated as an evergreen fund, managing a portfolio of more than 30 early to mid-stage companies across deep tech sectors such as AI, infrastructure, semiconductors and enterprise solutions.
Amathnadu has strategically invested in leading AI companies including Anthropic, Perplexity, Together AI, Twelve Labs and Lambda Labs. These investments have yielded strong financial returns and fostered high-impact strategic partnerships, emphasising the importance of corporate VC’s by providing strategic access to emerging markets and innovation ecosystems.
“One of the most important lessons I have learned through years of corporate investing is that alignment with the company’s long-term vision is just as critical as financial performance,” says Amathnadu. “The most impactful investments are the ones that fuel innovation and create real strategic value for the business.”
“The most impactful investments are the ones that fuel innovation and create real strategic value for the business.”
His portfolio also includes pioneering firms such as SambaNova Systems, Inworld and SiFive, firmly positioning SK Telecom at the forefront of next-generation technology innovation and expanding its focus in the deep tech sector.
Amathnadu is focused on balancing long-term fund sustainability with high-impact growth opportunities. His investment strategy targets three core verticals: AI, infrastructure and enterprise technologies. He is especially attuned to areas such as agentic AI, artificial general intelligence, reasoning systems, small language models and security technologies. Each investment is evaluated through a strategic partnership lens and for direct capital deployment.
Amathnadu brings strong technical expertise to the role, having been a software engineer in his early career. He later transitioned to focus on corporate strategy. Beyond direct investments, he has led impactful accelerator and incubator programmes, serving as both advisor and mentor to numerous technology startups.

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.