PRESS RELEASE:
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 26, 2016–
Sheeraz Daniel Haji today announced the launch of his new firm: zipdragon ventures (ZDV). This investment firm will provide seed capital to industry cloud startups.
Sheeraz is an investor passionate about the power of SaaS companies to transform vertical markets such as clean energy and water. Sheeraz has co-founded, served as an executive, and invested in numerous startups over the past twenty years. Two of these ventures have gone public, and four have had successful acquisitions. In addition to his work at ZDV, Sheeraz serves as a Senior Advisor for ENGIE and as a Venture Partner for Rembrandt Venture Partners.
Prior to founding ZDV, Sheeraz served as CEO of Cleantech Group (CTG) and played a pivotal role in the transformation towards clean energy and resource efficiency. Under his leadership, CTG built i3, the innovation network that drives sustainability, and helped many leading corporations embrace sustainable innovation. CTG was acquired in January 2016 by Enovation Partners.
Prior to CTG, Sheeraz co-founded and served as CEO of GetActive Software, a company that pioneered online fundraising and constituent engagement for nonprofits. He led GetActive’s merger with Convio; then as Convio’s President built a company that had a highly successful IPO and was acquired for $325 million.
Sheeraz has also worked as a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company, an entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) for El Dorado Ventures, and an operations executive for GMO LLC. Sheeraz launched his career as an environmental engineer with Environ International. Sheeraz earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in environmental engineering from Brown University and Stanford University respectively.
“As our first angel investor, Sheeraz was instrumental in helping us with our first financing and guiding us in a number of other areas,” said Tri Tran, CEO and co-founder of Munchery. “His past operating experience makes him a terrific partner for startup CEOs.”
“Sheeraz’s experience with SaaS, energy and connected buildings has been immensely helpful as we grow our business,” said Tom Arnold, founder and CEO of Gridium. “His CEO experience combined with his broad network makes him a great advisor.”
“We are thrilled to be working with Sheeraz to increase our venture investment activities in North America,” said Hendrik Van Asbroeck, Director, ENGIE New Ventures. “We are optimistic our partnership will help drive value for ENGIE as well as for startups leading the transformation of energy markets.”
About zipdragon ventures
zipdragon ventures (ZDV) is an investment firm providing seed capital to industry cloud startups. Past ZDV investments include FrontLeaf (acquired by zuora). ZDV’s current portfolio includes Classy, FotoNotes, Gridium, Munchery, Voltaiq, and Zerista. To learn more, please visit www.zipdragon.com.
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zipdragon ventures
Sheeraz Daniel Haji
Managing Partner
sheeraz@zipdragon.com