Iridium COO Scott Smith Joins Bessemer Venture Partners as an Operating Partner

Bessemer Venture Partners announced today that it has recruited Scott Smith of Iridium Communications, Inc. as a part-time Operating Partner, where he will help identify and advise portfolio companies in what BVP calls the emerging “spacetech” sector.

Smith will continue to serve as Chief Operating Officer and a board director of Iridium, operator of the world’s largest commercial satellite constellation. He previously served in the same role at Digital Globe. In addition to his experience at aerospace industry leaders, Smith’s background includes space tech startups: in 1995 he co-founded Space Imaging, and he recently served on the board of Skybox until its acquisition by Google.

“Scott stands out as a successful pioneering entrepreneur in the highly stagnated aerospace industry,” said BVP Partner David Cowan. “He’s the perfect person to help BVP’s spacetech practice and portfolio.”

“Innovation fuels the aerospace industry, and I could not be more excited to leverage my experience with startups as well as legacy operators like Iridium to help BVP identify and support the most promising entrepreneurial ventures on the horizon,” said Mr. Smith. “I’m particularly pleased to join BVP on the heels of our collaboration at Skybox.”

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) invests in early-stage, hyper-growth startups, partnering closely with entrepreneurs to build durable businesses. BVP is a global firm with offices in Menlo Park, Cambridge, New York, Bangalore, and Herzliya. With $4 billion under management, BVP invests anywhere from $100,000 to $75 million in innovative companies like Pinterest, Twitch, Box, LinkedIn, Shopify, Yelp, Skybox and Skype. More than 100 BVP companies have gone public and in the last three years alone, BVP has had 37 exits (IPO and M&A) and made new investments in more than 70 companies. Learn more at www.bvp.com/space or on Twitter @BessemerVP.