Clifford Platt is departing from his investments-focused role as senior director of corporate development for Nvidia, having helped turbocharge its CVC strategy.
Clifford Platt has left his role as senior director of corporate development – investments at graphics and AI chip producer Nvidia after two years in the post.
Nvidia hired Platt as head of venture capital business development in 2019. He transferred to a strategic venture investments position just a few months later, before being promoted to his current position in 2023 under corporate development chief Vishal Bhagwati.
His time at Nvidia coincided with the company significantly ramping up its corporate VC activities. While dedicated CVC arm NVentures focused on early-stage startup investments, Nvidia’s corporate development oversees larger investments as well as acquisitions and partnerships.
The firm’s direct investments over the past year include artificial intelligence unicorns Cohere and Poolside and data centre infrastructure developer Crusoe as well as participation in multibillion-dollar rounds for generative AI developers OpenAI and xAI.
“This was not an easy decision,” Platt said in a message seen by GCV announcing the move. “My time at Nvidia has been the most consequential of my 25-year career.
“It’s been an extraordinary experience to be part of a company that is transforming industries and advancing technology at an unprecedented pace. I feel privileged to have contributed, in some small way, to its mission of tackling some of the world’s most important technology challenges.”
Before joining Nvidia, Platt spent nearly five years at ecommerce firm Amazon, eventually as a venture capital business development principal for cloud computing subsidiary AWS.
