# Sandeep Bhadra

> Sandeep Bhadra is a General Partner at Vertex Ventures US, a $150M early-stage fund focused on B2B software, cloud infrastructure, and developer tools. A Ph.D. engineer turned venture capitalist, he joined Vertex in 2017 as a founding team member after stints at Menlo Ventures and Cisco's corporate development. He's known for concentrated, high-conviction bets - typically 1-2 new investments per year - in companies like Hasura, Docker, Tulip Interfaces, and Gitpod. His background spans semiconductor engineering at Texas Instruments, $425M in cloud M&A at Cisco, and founding-team work that contributed to the creation of Barefoot Networks (later acquired by Intel). He grew up in India, where watching mobile telephony disrupt landline bureaucracy first showed him how software could leapfrog legacy systems.

- **Role:** General Partner at Vertex Ventures US
- **Organizations:** Vertex Ventures US, Menlo Ventures, Cisco, Texas Instruments
- **From:** India
- **Nationality:** Indian-American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Technology (Electrical Engineering), IIT Madras, MBA, INSEAD, Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
- **Known for:** Co-founded Vertex Ventures US, a $150M early-stage fund as a founding team member in 2017, Board member at Hasura, Orkes, Tulip Interfaces, and BrokerBuddha, Managed approximately $425M in cloud and infrastructure software M&A at Cisco

## Career timeline

- **~2000s** — Engineer at Texas Instruments - worked on LTE/LTE-A cellular systems and software-defined networking chips
- **~2010** — Work contributed to the founding of Barefoot Networks (later acquired by Intel)
- **2012** — Completed MBA at INSEAD
- **2012-2015** — Corporate Development at Cisco - managed ~$425M in cloud and infrastructure software M&A
- **2015-2017** — Principal at Menlo Ventures - backed Platform9, Signifyd, Unravel Data, Clarifai
- **2017** — Joined Vertex Ventures US as a founding team General Partner alongside Dani, Insik Rhee, and Jonathan Heiliger
- **2018** — Led investments in Astound and Tulip Interfaces
- **2019** — Led investment in BrokerBuddha
- **2020** — Led investment in Hasura and Gitpod
- **2023** — Led investment in Orkes (Conductor workflow orchestration)
- **2024** — Led investments in LightBeam.ai (Series A, $18M) and Onshore (Series A, $12M)
- **2024** — Led investment in Northflank developer PaaS

## Achievements

- Co-founded Vertex Ventures US, a $150M early-stage fund as a founding team member in 2017
- Board member at Hasura, Orkes, Tulip Interfaces, and BrokerBuddha
- Managed approximately $425M in cloud and infrastructure software M&A at Cisco
- Contributed to the formation of Barefoot Networks while at Texas Instruments (later acquired by Intel)
- Backed Docker as an investor - one of the most significant developer tool companies
- Successfully backed multiple open-source infrastructure companies including Hasura (GraphQL) and Gitpod
- Backed Tulip Interfaces through Series C ($130M total raised) in manufacturing software
- Led investment in LightBeam.ai for AI-powered data security

## Latest updates

- **2024-11** — Led investment in Northflank, a developer PaaS platform
- **2024-10** — Led Onshore Series A ($12M) investment
- **2024-02** — Led LightBeam.ai Series A ($18M) in AI-powered data security
- **2025-02** — Featured in 'The Lonely Journey of Founders' YouTube interview with Amir Bormand

## Links

- Website: https://vvus.com/team/sandeep-bhadra/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeepbhadra
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/bhadrasandeep

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sandeep-bhadra
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Last updated: 2026-05-17