The rest of the 50 (in alphabetical order): Daniel Ateya, senior manager, 3M Ventures
Dan Ateya has been a senior manager for 3M Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of manufacturing conglomerate 3M, and head of 3M’s Silicon Valley team since January 2015. The unit identifies, evaluates, negotiates and manages venture investments in areas of strategic interest to the parent.
3M Ventures director Ben Wright said: “Dan has been critical to the success of 3M Ventures over the past five years. Dan played a critical role in implementing a new strategy for 3M Ventures put in place in 2015, which has proven successful for 3M Ventures and 3M Company.
“Dan also established 3M’s Silicon Valley office, which greatly enhanced our capabilities and helped bring innovation back to 3M. Dan’s Silicon Valley team is responsible for managing over 10 portfolio companies, and the team facilitates partnerships that help advance 3M innovation and drive growth. Dan is definitely an Emerging Leader within 3M and represents the best of corporate venturing.”
Ateya said: “I have been working for 3M Ventures for five years and lead our Silicon Valley team focused on investments for 3M’s corporate venture capital (CVC) organisation. Prior to my role in our CVC unit, I spent three years as the business leader for an internal corporate venture working from new technology prototype to commercialisation in the consumer electronics space; securing seed funding from our new growth venture committee and follow-on funding for operations, pilot and scale-up equipment investments.”
Having had a long-standing interest in science, technology and investing, Ateya started by building a deep knowledge of technology through his education, working in research labs and publishing numerous papers in scientific research journals.
He said: “During that time, I grew passionate about the finance of innovation and understanding how advances in science and technology can go from benchtop to market. I realised that I wanted to pursue a career that allowed me to be involved with both technology and finance and helping build new tech businesses.”
Ateya considers the greatest success has been helping establish 3M Ventures as a respected tool for innovation within the organisation. He said: “The journey began by helping establish a new CVC strategy with 3M Ventures leadership in 2015. Since then, we have built a portfolio of 35 innovative companies, of which I have helped lead 12 strategically aligned investments in companies that have gone on to raise over $150m in subsequent financing rounds.
“Beyond just the investments, we have driven strong collaboration between internal divisions and our portfolio companies; driving 3M sales associated with collaboration and strong balance sheet gains in the portfolio. In 2019, our group has enjoyed our first two exits – one IPO and one acquisition – since implementing our new investment strategy in 2015. There is significant momentum within our organisation, and we are pleased with the strategic and financial success of our unit.”
Ateya holds a PhD in engineering with a focus on materials science, micro and nanofabrication and life sciences technologies from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an MBA from University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.
