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

AutoESL

AutoESL

AutoESL offers synthesis tools for field-programmable gate array, and application-specific integrated circuit design applications.

  • Founded: 2006
  • Round Partnered: Seed
  • Year Partnered: 2010
  • Fund: Prior Investments
  • Clear Partner(s): Rajeev Madhavan
  • Status: Acquired
  • Year Acquired: 2021
  • Acquirer: Xilinx (XLNX)
“ Clear has been providing us with great help for a wide range functions, from executive search, to providing compensation guidelines, to partner/customer/investor introductions and raising subsequent capital ... Clear is a great resource for us. ”
Jason Cong, Co-founder & CTO

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

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Palo Alto, CA 94306

866-253-2714
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