Earlier this year, Omers Ventures, the venture capital arm of Canadian pension fund Omers, outed a new €300 million fund aimed at European technology startups, having recruited local VCs Harry Briggs, Tara Reeves and Henry Gladwyn.
And now the firm is adding a fourth member in Europe: Jambu Palaniappan (pictured centre), the former head of Uber’s food delivery business in Europe, Middle East and Africa, has joined Omers Ventures as a Managing Partner.
Palaniappan joined Uber in 2012 when it was a 75-person startup focused primarily on the U.S. market. He led the ride sharing behemoth’s expansion throughout the EMEA region and India, before becoming Regional General Manager for Eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and Africa. He then went on launch Uber Eats in EMEA.
In other words, Palaniappan brings even more operational experience to Omers’ European VC team, although he isn’t new to the world of venture capital, either. His most recent gig was at London-based venture capital firm Atomico, where he spent 12 months as Executive-in-Residence (news that TechCrunch broke back in July 2018).
Unsurprisingly, Palaniappan has also been an angel investor, and is said to have backed a number of startups in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Meanwhile, the recruitment of Palaniappan marks a decent debut half year for Omers Ventures Europe, seeing the Canadian investor put together a team of faces well-known to the London and broader European tech and startup scene. Briggs’ resume includes stints at BGF Ventures and Balderton, as well as founding and exiting Tonics, a health drinks company. Reeves was at seed firm LocalGlobe and also co-founded Turo, the car-sharing marketplace. And Gladwyn previously managed seed investments for the founders of DeepMind.
The Omers Ventures Europe team have already invested more than €76 million into the European ecosystem. Investments to date include FirstVet, Resi and Quorso.