Chris Beard has left venture capital firm Greylock Partners to take the reins as Mozilla CEO, leading to speculation the company could heighten its corporate venturing.

Mozilla, the US-based developer of the Firefox web browser, has appointed Chris Beard, most recently an executive-in-residence for venture capital firm Greylock Partners, as its interim chief executive.

Beard will replace Brendan Eich, who was promoted to CEO last month only to resign 10 days later after vehement online protests regarding his donation in 2008 to a campaign against Proposition 18, which would have legalised gay marriage in California.

Given his venture capital experience, the presence of Beard, who was…