The rest of the 100 (in alphabetical order): Wikings Machado, Next47
Wikings Machado works for Next47, the coporate venturing unit of Germany-based industrial conglomerate Siemens, as lead for Next47’s catalyst team in Palo Alto, California.
The firm said: “In that capacity, he works hand-in-hand with the founders of our portfolio companies to help them capitalise on the Siemens ecosystem in order to achieve their business development goals.
“Since joining Next47 in January 2018, Wikings has been working closely with half a dozen of our portfolio companies, leading to hugely successful outcomes.
“Wikings joined Next47 from Siemens where he was most recently a business unit CEO in Brazil. Wikings is passionate about entrepreneurialism and helping startups grow, so much so that he decided to leave his leadership role at Siemens in order to help Lak Ananth, head of Next47, build the Catalyst Program in the US.
“His energy, enthusiasm and tenacity are exactly what is needed to deliver on Next47’s value proposition – to combine the speed and agility of an independent investor with the global reach of Siemens’ business and technology, in order to help startups scale revenue faster.”
In its first six months, Next47’s Catalyst Program helped six of its portfolio companies, such as Markforged and Bonsai, to create nearly $20m in sales, to internationalise, to improve supply chain processes and to solve engineering issues.
It is the other side of the fence for Machado, who said: “Over the years I saw a large variety of Siemens’ businesses being unexpectedly disrupted by startups which were completely new for me.”
