He has become an expert in raising capital and investing in tech companies with a focus on global and emerging markets.
WASHINGTON, DC, September 04, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Wale Ayeni has been selected for inclusion in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Mr. Ayeni is a distinguished figure in the venture capital industry, currently serving as the managing partner at Helios Digital Ventures since 2022. With two decades of experience in his profession, he has become an expert in raising capital and investing in tech companies with a focus on global and emerging markets. His responsibilities extend to building out the team at Helios Digital Ventures, sitting on the boards of companies to aid their growth and scale, and assisting investors in achieving exits after scaling. Mr. Ayeni's venture capital practice is renowned for its strategic and impactful investments.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Ayeni held several significant positions worldwide. From 2016 to 2022, his leadership was pivotal ending as the acting global head of disruptive technologies and venture capital investments at the International Finance Corporation for Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia in Washington, D.C. He was also instrumental with Orange in Silicon Valley, where he helped establish the company's initial venture capital investment team. Additionally, Mr. Ayeni was an investment banker at J.P. Morgan Chase & Company as part of its technology investment banking group, responsible for executing over $12 billion of closed transactions.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Ayeni held several technical roles at leading technology firms. He was a senior system-on-chip verification engineer at Qualcomm Technologies Inc., a Chip design engineer at Intel Corporation, a chip test engineer at Motorola Mobility LLC, and a network engineer at the Cisco Systems Training Center in Moscow, dating back to 2003. His tenure at Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and Intel Corporation were particularly notable, laying the groundwork for his transition into venture capital investments.
As an investor, Mr. Ayeni has been involved with Nomba and Paymob since 2022. Previously, he invested in companies such as Bolt Inc, PayJoy, Wave Mobile Money, MaxAB, Veniam, and Chain Inc. He also served as an investor and board observer for Bolt, investor and board director for TradeDepot, Kobe360 Inc., Twiga Foods, and Africa's Talking, and investor and advisory board member for TLcom Capital LLC and Partech Partners. Among other investor roles, Mr. Ayeni headed Venture Capital Investments in Lagos, Nigeria, from 2016 to 2020.
Highly educated, Mr. Ayeni received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, summa cum laude, from Moscow Power Engineering Institute (Technical University), a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, and a Master of Business Administration in finance and strategy from Dartmouth College. He also earned opportunities as a fellow of The Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship at Dartmouth and as a Kauffman fellow as part of a two-year program for venture capitalists by the Kauffman Foundation's Center for Venture Education. Through these endeavors, Mr. Ayeni continues to influence the global venture capital landscape while striving towards creating inclusive growth through technology.
Mr. Ayeni maintains membership with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, which allows him to network and remain abreast in his field. In addition to his work-related ventures, he is active on the Europe, Middle East, and Africa Council at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and is a mentor at the Founder Institute.
In light of his success, Mr. Ayeni's contributions have been recognized with several awards, including being named one of the Top 100 Global Corporate Venture Capital Professionals. He also received a Rising Star Award from Global Corporate Venturing in 2016.
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