Daring to Dream and
Redefine What’s Possible

We have been the earliest investor with dozens of teams that have dared to pursue their vision—creating and leading new markets, and shaping the future.

Meet the companies that inspire us every day.

Our Companies

Magma Design Automation

Magma Design Automation

Magma Design Automation was a provider of EDA software for designing low power, high performance ICs for mobile and high performance devices. With customers such as Nvidia, Apple, Qualcomm, and Samsung, Magma was instrumental in providing software that was used to design most mobile devices. Magma was acquired by Synopsys in 2012

  • Founded: 1997
  • Round Partnered: Seed
  • Year Partnered: 1997
  • Fund: Founder
  • Clear Partner(s): Rajeev Madhavan
  • Status: IPO
  • Date of IPO: 2001
  • Ticker Symbol: LAVA
  • Market Cap at IPO: $ 580,000,000
  • Peak Market Cap: $ 1,200,000,000

TEAM

  • Gary Smerdon

    CEO and Founder

  • David Reed

    CTO and Founder

  • Carl Waldspurger

    Chief Scientist

  • Bobby Minnear

    VP of Engineering

  • Adam Bane

    VP of Product Management

  • Eric Fitzpatrick

    VP of Solutions Engineering

  • Nilesh Shah

    VP of Business Development

  • Juhi Muthal

    Director of Marketing

Results Matter, Success Counts

Four of the companies our team co-founded produced over $1.7 billion of market cap from 2 IPOs and 2 acquisitions.

The Clear investment team has funded over 70 companies, 90% as the first investors, and has had 54 exits valued at a $85 billion market cap.

Before we became VCs, we had already founded 5 successful companies.

Portfolio Breakdown