Benjamin Franklin duPont is an American businessman known for founding the company
yet2.com and yet2Ventures. He is a member of the prominent
Du Pont family. He co-founded and is a partner at Chartline Capital Partners.
Career
In 1986 duPont began working for the
DuPont corporation
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
, a company the du Ponts founded in 1802. He held various management positions in the company over 13 years. In 1999, he left DuPont to cofound yet2.com with Phillip Stern,
a U.S. patent distribution firm located in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. DuPont serves as the company's president. After a year of development the firm had raised $24 million in financing and was described as a "quasi-clearinghouse for technology developed by corporations" by ''
Forbes Magazine'', where both inventors and companies can post their patents for sale or lease to other firms.
In December 2002, yet2.com was acquired by Scipher, but the next year duPont reacquired it from Scipher and became its executive director.
The website had grown into the world's largest open innovation platform. A venture capital firm, yet2Ventures, remained independent after being incubated at yet2.com. yet2Ventures has specialized in investments in medical devices, electronics, materials science, clean tech, and other technology. The company has offices in
Liverpool,
Boston,
Tokyo, and
Wilmington, Delaware.
In 2010, yet2Ventures completed a transaction with the Japan Asia Investment Corporation relating to its U.S. venture portfolio. Over the years his firm has invested in more than 40 U.S. companies.
and a number of secondary direct and primary transactions.
DuPont has served as a director of Vianix, Speakman,
Longwood Gardens Inc., Gigsky, Inc, and
Bessemer Trust Delaware.
Since 2008 he has been a member of the board of the directors for MSCI. He is also chairman of the board for Mobeam Inc., headquartered in California's
Silicon Valley. and a board observer of Ecrio.
In 2015, he co-founded Zip Code Wilmington,
[ a nationally recognized nonprofit coding boot camp in Wilmington.
In April 2018 duPont and business partner Don Wirth announced plans to purchase the ]DuPont Country Club
Along Delaware Route 141 there are a number of historic sites that trace the history of both the Du Pont family and the DuPont company. At the southwest end is DuPont’s Chestnut Run Plaza and at the northeastern end is the Alfred I. duPont Ho ...
(constructed 1921 in Wilmington) from DowDuPont. DuPont and Wirth plan to modernize the club.
Family
Benjamin Franklin duPont was born in 1964. His father was Pierre S. du Pont IV
Pierre Samuel "Pete" du Pont IV (January 22, 1935 – May 8, 2021) was an American attorney, businessman, and politician from Rockland, Delaware, Rockland, in New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington. He was the United ...
, Republican U.S. Representative and Governor of Delaware from 1977 to 1985. He graduated from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1986.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:duPont, Ben
American technology chief executives
1964 births
Ben duPont
Benjamin Franklin duPont is an American businessman known for founding the company yet2.com and yet2Ventures. He is a member of the prominent Du Pont family. He co-founded and is a partner at Chartline Capital Partners.
Career
In 1986 duPont b ...
Living people
Tufts University School of Engineering alumni
20th-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesspeople