Fenox Venture Capital was an American

venture capital firm Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number ...

, headquartered in San Jose,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The company worked with emerging technology companies worldwide and served a bridge for global

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses tha ...

seeking entry into American, Asian, European and Middle Eastern markets.

History

Fenox Venture Capital was founded by Belarusian businessman Vitaliy Arbuzov and Anis Uzzaman in 2009. In December 2015, Fenox led a $16 million investment in Jibo. This investment was seen as a push from

Jibo Cynthia Breazeal is an American AI and robotics scientist and entrepreneur. She is a pioneer of social robotics and human-robot interaction. She is the former chief scientist and chief experience officer of Jibo, a company she co-founded in 2012 ...

to start expanding globally. In February 2016, the firm led an investment in agriculture IoT company Edyn. The investment in Edyn was another event in Fenox establishing itself as a key investor and supporter of American technology startups aspiring to grow globally. In May 2016, the firm led a $14 million investment in Affectiva. Other portfolio companies include Tech in Asia, BlockCypher, MindMeld, and Sensely.

Controversies

In February 2016, it was reported that Fenox was ordered by the US Department of Labor to pay back wages totaling over $330,000 to 56 unpaid interns it had hired. In June 2017, Uzzaman and Fenox sued an anonymous blogger saying he falsely accused him of sexual harassment. The lawsuit was later dismissed. During the course of the proceeding, a court order discovered the IP address tracing to the article was linked to the home address of Brandon Katayama Hill, founder and CEO of a San Francisco based company Btrax. The case was finally settled with a multimillion dollar payment by the defense.

References

{{Reflist Financial services companies established in 2011 Venture capital firms of the United States