Top 50 Emerging Leaders 2022 (in alphabetical order by CVC unit): Amit Shofar, investment director, Samsung Catalyst Fund
Amit Shofar joined Samsung Catalyst Fund, the $500m evergreen corporate venture capital (CVC) of electronics manufacturer Samsung, in 2014 as an investment director and concentrates on the new data economy and strategic ideas for mobile and consumer electronics groups within Samsung.
David Goldscmidt, vice-president, managing director and head of Samsung Catalyst Fund, said: “Amit Shofar played a major role in expanding the portfolio of the Samsung Catalyst Fund in Israel and Europe, driving investments into deep tech ventures, and particularly in the connectivity space.
“He established close relationships with VCs, CVCs and entrepreneurs alike. Amit, member of the board of multiple portfolio companies, demonstrated a proactive approach, working very closely with management teams and helping them on both financial and operational aspects, as well as developing the collaborations with Samsung’s business units.”
Before joining Samsung, Shofar served in multiple roles – most recently as vice-president of business development and corporate marketing – at embedded security producer Discretix between 2004 and 2014, which followed an over four-year tenure as director of technical services at IT services company Trivnet.
Regarding his achievements at the unit, Shofar said: “My first success at Samsung Catalyst Fund was our investment in Argus Cyber Security, and it was also the first exit of the fund with a great five-times return after just two years – Argus was acquired by Continental for $430m.
“Another success story is our portfolio company Valens which completed a SPAC merger and started trading in NYSE on September 30, 2021. We invested in 2017 and the company have been progressing strongly to become the market leader of their category.”
Fernando Moncada Rivera
Fernando Moncada Rivera is a reporter at Global Corporate Venturing and also host of the CVC Unplugged podcast.
