Saum Vahdat

Saum Vahdat General Information

Biography

Mr. Saum Vahdat serves as Managing Partner of Bridgewest Ventures and Chief Executive Officer of Bridgewest Ventures - New Zealand at Bridgewest Ventures. He serves as Board Member at MACSO Technologies. He serves as Board Member at BioOra, BioViros, and Nanophage Technologies. He also serves as the Director of Finance and Corporate Strategy at Endura Technologies. He leads the investment strategy for Bridgewest Ventures while leading the corporate strategy for BV's investment holdings. In this role, he also provides leadership to Bridgewest Ventures' portfolio companies. He is also responsible for leading the Group's finance and business development initiatives. Previously he worked with Johnson & Johnson's venture capital platform, assisting with commercialization strategy formation and market research. Prior to J&J, he led financial analysis and business development at a real estate investment firm. As a champion of creative entrepreneurial thinking, he enables innovative idea development and new enterprise creation by leveraging strategic business resources and fostering investment in burgeoning deep tech segments. His vision to progress future technologies for the betterment of social, environmental, and economic growth, has led to several disruptive new ventures. With hands-on oversight and pragmatic management methodologies, he guides portfolio companies through the common challenges faced by young businesses, to accelerate and improve commercialization timelines. Utilizing a core team culture that capitalizes on development platforms and expertise ecosystems within BV and BVNZ, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and partners actively share best practices and business relationships, resulting in heightened product impact and economic success. Previously, he worked with Johnson & Johnson's venture capital platform and led financial analysis and business development for a global real estate investment firm. He graduated from Cornell University with an MBA focused on Finance and Strategy.