Sanjay Reddy
Founder of Unlock Venture Partners
Sanjay Reddy
Founder of Unlock Venture Partners
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
Overview
Work Experience
Co-founder and General Partner
2017 - Current
Co-founder and partner at Unlock Venture Partners , which is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology investments in Los Angeles and Seattle. At Unlock, we invest in entrepreneurs that have deep conviction and unique insight on how best to utilize data and AI to build world class companies. Investments include Possible Finance, Make.TV (acquired by LTN Global), Foundation AI (acquired by Jones Capital), Chatititve (acquired by Mailchimp), Outer, Downstream (acquired by Jungle Scout), Concreit, Fight Camp, Dolly (acquired by Updater), Mango Sciences, Fantasmo (acquired by Tier), Sensate, Mandala Space Ventures, Seasalt.AI, DRESSX, Irreverent Labs, Gen.G, Pixel Canvas, Aston Labs, Auriga Space, Audiotool and Vitrina AI. Interact with our portfolio in the metaverse at unlockvp.com/portfolio. I am currently on the boards of Sensate, Pixel Canvas, Audiotool and Vitrina AI; board observer at Mango Sciences (former board member) and DRESSX. Prior board member of Fantasmo (acquired by Tier.) Past investments by the principals include Cheezburger Network, SoFi (Tkr: SOFI), JW Player, Sparq, Remitly (Tkr: RELY), Redfin (Tkr: RDFN), NetCracker Technologies, Rover (Tkr: ROVR), Jetlore, BuddyTV, Buuteeq, Klout and Minted. We are currently investing out of Fund II. Startups who'd like to talk to Unlock - please submit info at https://unlockvp.com/contact-us/
Member Of The Board Of Advisors at Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at UCLA Anderson
2015
Member of the Board of Advisors for the Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, a recognized leader in entrepreneurial education and research at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Advisory Council, Entrepreneurship@Cornell
2022
The Entrepreneurship At Cornell Advisory Council supports a diverse, university-wide program that finds and fosters the entrepreneurial spirit in participants from across all twelve participating Cornell schools and colleges.
Angel Investor and Advisor
2000 - 2017
Early stage investor in startups including: • NETCRACKER TECHNOLOGIES (acquired by NEC) • KLOUT (acquired by Lithium Technologies; investors included KPCB, Microsoft and IVP; subsequently acquired by Vista Equity) Uses social media analytics to rank its users according to online social influence via the "Klout Score" • JW PLAYER (investors include Greycroft) World's most popular open source video player • BUDDYTV (acquired by Vizio; investors included Madrona Ventures) Source of TV show recaps, episode videos, exclusive spoilers, news, celeb photos, etc. • RESISTOR PRODUCTIONS Producer of Web based F2P game ‘Clan Wars’ and the iPhone application ‘iGirl,’ which reached the #2 rank worldwide in its second month, and has since been downloaded over 6 million times Former Advisor: Runt, Signal Zero, TVersity, Resistor Productions, V-Nova
EVP
2016 - 2017
Following FOTV's acquisition of OVGuide, I was an EVP at FOTV in addition to retaining my responsibilities as President of OVGuide.
CEO
2012 - 2017
OVGuide was the most comprehensive online video guidance solution for discovering, via search or browse tools, and then consuming free high quality online videos, including TV shows, full-length movies, and clips from hundreds of sources. OVGuide.com receives millions of monthly unique visitors to 45+ million topic pages across over 20 categories. While I was CEO, and then President, OVGuide: • Developed and released FASEngine, a data tagging solution based on Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning algorithms • Built a robust API that powered OVGuide and third party solutions on Web, mobile and OTT platforms while transitioning to a pure Cloud infrastructure • Deployed a proprietary online video platform (OVP) to enable content ingestion, transcoding and streaming across OVGuide and third party applications; power 26 Roku AVOD movie channels, of which 15 were O&O, showing 10,000+ titles • Released multiple apps which received millions of downloads on iOS, Android and Roku • Was acquired by FOTV in March 2016
CEO and co-founder
2008 - 2011
CEO and co-founder of Live Matrix - it is the guide to live and upcoming scheduled events on the web. Any event that has at least a start time and can be attended online qualifies to be indexed by Live Matrix e.g. audio and video webcasts, online chats, online sales and auctions, product launches, events in gaming and virtual worlds, etc. • Live Matrix was awarded the "Most Promising Media Concept" by NBC's Peacock Equity when the site debuted at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference in New York City, in May 2010 • Live Matrix was acquired by OVGuide, Inc. in December 2011
SVP, Business Development and Strategic Planning
2004 - 2008
Led Strategy, M&A and Business Development for Gemstar-TV Guide (Ticker: GMST), a company at the convergence of media and technology, with businesses spanning interactive guidance technology, cable television, publishing, mobile, and online. • Led execution of successful public sale process of company, culminating in the acquisition of Gemstar-TV Guide by Macrovision in a $2.8 billion transaction; company was renamed Rovi Corporation (Ticker: ROVI, and now TIVO, following Rovi's merger with TiVo.) • Contributed significantly to major company turnaround • Developed and refined company strategy with CEO • Identified and completed key strategic Internet and technology acquisitions and investments; led divestiture of SkyMall • Developed company’s international expansion strategy
Co-Founder & Principal
2002 - 2004
Acquired Aikia, a division of a public company, to execute on outsourced animation and software development projects in India.
VP, Corporate Development
2000 - 2001
Covad Communications was a publicly traded independent DSL company (Ticker: COVD) based in Santa Clara, CA (it is now part of MegaPath). In my capacity as a VP in the Corporate Development group, I: • Conceived, structured, and negotiated transactions, including domestic and cross border (in Europe and Asia) acquisitions, minority investments, and strategic partnerships • Worked directly with the Chairman on the company’s financing alternatives with potential strategic investors; member of five-year financial planning committee • Resolved several distressed channel partner situations involving reorganizations and asset purchases in bankruptcy; settled troubled accounts exceeding $20 million while preserving the network