BM

Brian Mcclendon

Venture Partner at UP.Partners

Lawrence, Kansas

Overview 

Brian McClendon is a Senior Vice President of Engineering at Niantic, Inc., with a strong background in 3D graphics and software development. He has also served as a Venture Partner at UP.Partners and has made investments in various tech companies, showcasing expertise in strategic partnerships and mergers. McClendon's career highlights include founding KSVotes.org and serving on multiple boards, such as Ainstein and Enriched Ag, demonstrating a commitment to community involvement and supporting innovative startups through angel investments and advisory roles.

Work Experience 

NI

Niantic, Inc.

  • Senior Vice President Of Engineering

    2021 - Current

    Leading the Platform engineerings groups at Niantic including Campfire, Game Platform, AR, Research, and Mapping groups. Building a team in Lawrence, Kansas and hiring in Bay Area, Seattle, London, and Lawrence!

  • Advisor

    2019 - 2021

Niantic develops reality platforms that focus on mapping and security for current and future AR hardware generations.

Raised $770,000,000.00 from ID8 Investments, Pure Imagination Brands and Coatue.

nianticlabs.com
U

UP.Partners

  • Venture Partner

    2021

    UP.Partners is a firm that invests in the pioneering entrepreneurs who are creating the key enabling technologies that help move people and goods cleaner, faster, safer, and more efficiently in a multi-dimensional world.

UP Partners is an early stage venture capital fund dedicated to supporting companies that are transforming the moving world.

up.partners
TU

The University of Kansas

  • Adjunct Professor

    2020

  • Taught Startup School 2020 & 2022 @ University of Kansas

    2020 - 2022

    An intensive 6 week program introducing and enforcing the challenges of creating a high-growth technology-based startup.

  • Research Professor

    2017 - 2020

  • Adjunct Professor

    2016 - 2017

K

KSVotes.org

  • Founder, Board Member

    2017

    ksvotes.org is a modern voter-registration website that allows Kansas voters to register or request advanced ballots entirely using their mobile phone.

various companies

  • Technology/Business Advisor

    1997

    Current: BlueSpace.ai, Blackshark.ai, Array Labs, StoryTell, SwayDM, MythosAI, C2FO Recent: ClearPath Robotics, Just Play Sports, RideOS, Unfolded, Draiver, AstrumU Historical examples: Gigapixel, Epinions, Control4, Noom

A

Ainstein

  • Board Member

    2021

Ainstein is dedicated to exploring the applications of advanced sensing and processing technologies in UAVs.

ainstein.ai
EA

Enriched Ag

  • Board Member

    2021

Enriched Ag makes agriculture more resilient and profitable.

Raised $9,000,000.00 from Radical Ventures and Future Ventures.

enriched.ag
FS

Free State Forge

  • Angel Investor

    1997

    We invest seed/A in technology startups, 50+ so far.

Consumer Technology Association

  • Technology Advisory Council

    2016

TB

The Beacon

  • Board Member

    2020 - 2021

    The Beacon is a non-profit investigative journalism platform reporting on Kansas and Missouri issues.

Education 

Investments 

beans.ai

Seed

Total funding: $17M

Teleo

Seed

Total funding: $12M

uMake

Seed

Total funding: $5.7M

Klarismo

Seed

Total funding: $250K

Articles About Brian

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