JH

Jeff Herbst

Managing Partner at GFT Ventures

San Francisco Bay Area

Overview

Work Experience

  • Founding Managing Partner

    2021 - Current

    Jeff Herbst is Co-Founding Managing Partner of GFT Ventures. He brings three decades of venture capital, operational, business development and M&A experience. Prior to launching GFT, he spent 20 years as NVIDIA's Vice President of Business Development where he built an ecosystem of accelerated computing applications spanning the domains of AI, Data Science, Autonomous Machines, and Graphics and Visualization. During his tenure at Nvidia, Jeff created the Nvidia GPU Ventures program, overseeing more than 40 global investments and 20 acquisitions valued over $8B. He also led the Nvidia Inception global startup accelerator comprised of more than 8,000 AI, Data Science and High Performance computing companies. ​ Prior to joining Nvidia, Jeff ran the Business Development function at the Altavista search engine, and was a Partner at the Wilson Sonsini law firm in Palo Alto. He holds a JD from Stanford University and a BS with Honors in Computer Science and Economics from Brown University.

  • Global CEO Advisory Board

    2024

  • Board Member

    2023

  • Board Member

    2022

  • Board Advisor

    2022

  • Board Member

    2022

  • Board Member

    2022

  • Board Member

    2021

  • Senior Advisor/Board Observer

    2020

  • Vice President of Business Development and Head of Nvidia Inception GPU Ventures

    2001 - 2021

    Served as senior executive, and member of the executive staff, in charge of strategic business development function (i.e M&A, partnerships, strategic business relationships) and venture investments for Nvidia (the world leader in AI and visual computing with revenues now in excess of $60B/year). Responsibilities included overall ecosystem development spanning the domains of AI, Data Science, Autonomous Machines, Graphics and Visualization. During 20-year tenure at the company, created the Nvidia ventures and acquisitions programs, overseeing more than 40 global investments and 20 acquisitions valued over $8B USD. Also led the Nvidia Inception global startup accelerator, now comprised of more than 10,000 AI, Data Science and High Performance Computing companies.

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