NEA Appoints Jonathan Golden as Partner and Names Three as Principals

5/23/18

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) today announced that Jonathan Golden has joined the firm as Partner. Golden, an experienced technology investor and the first product manager at Airbnb, will be based in the firm’s Menlo Park, Ca., and San Francisco offices. The firm also named Matthew McAviney, M.D., Tak Cheung, M.D., and Santhosh Palani, Ph.D., as Principals on the healthcare team.

“We’re excited to welcome some tremendous new talent to NEA, and to continue building our team around the extraordinary opportunity set we’re pursuing today,” said Tony Florence, General Partner and head of NEA’s technology investing practice. “Jonathan brings substantial consumer expertise, both as an institutional and angel investor and on the operating side, most recently scaling Airbnb’s business as the company’s first product manager.”

Golden will focus on consumer technology investments in his new role at NEA. He most recently served as Director of Product at Airbnb, helping scale the company 100X over six years. Prior to that, he was a venture investor at Greylock Partners, and an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. As an active angel investor, Golden has backed numerous early-stage companies including Bowery Farming, Coinbase, Everlane, Funding Circle, and Tile, among others. Golden holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

“Matt, Santhosh and Tak will be outstanding additions to our med team on both coasts, wielding extensive knowledge and breadth of experience as physicians, scientists, investors and even entrepreneurs themselves,” said David Mott, General Partner and head of NEA’s healthcare investing practice. “As we pursue a vast landscape of opportunity at an extraordinary time in healthcare, the perspective and domain knowledge each brings to our team will be a tremendous asset.

McAviney will be based in the firm’s Menlo Park and San Francisco offices. He comes to NEA from F-Prime Capital Partners, Fidelity’s Healthcare VC Fund, where he was a Principal focused on biotechnology and medical device investments. Prior to F-Prime, McAviney held positions at Oliver Wyman, Robert W. Baird, J.P. Morgan and the National Institutes of Health. He earned a medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Palani will be based in the Washington, D.C. office, with a primary focus on biopharmaceuticals. Previously, he was as a Vice President in Equity Research at Cowen & Company, covering numerous companies across the biopharmaceuticals sector. Prior to that, Palani held roles in oncology clinical development at Pfizer and in preclinical development at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. He holds a doctorate degree in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s in chemical engineering from Texas A&M.

Cheung is based in Menlo Park and San Francisco, focusing primarily on medical device investments. Prior to NEA, Cheung was a Venture Partner at Merieux Development Venture Fund where he led all phases of investment for healthcare startups, including sourcing, diligence and investment approvals. He also co-founded Lexington Medical, a commercial-stage medical device startup in the gastrointestinal surgery space. Prior to Merieux and Lexington, Cheung was Vice President of Business Development for the Global Surgical Division at Bausch & Lomb. Cheung earned a medical degree from the University of California, Irvine, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With nearly $20 billion in cumulative committed capital since the firm’s founding in 1977, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm’s long track record of successful investing includes more than 220 portfolio company IPOs and more than 370 acquisitions. www.nea.com.

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