Team - HP Tech Ventures

An experienced team focused on the trends, markets and technologies that will change how we live and work tomorrow.

PRINCIPAL

Otilia Barbuta

Otilia is a Principal at HP Tech Ventures. She works closely with the North American and European startup ecosystem across all of HP’s interest areas, including Advanced Manufacturing, AI, and Gaming. →

Otilia Barbuta

Otilia joined HP in 2015 and prior to her role at HP Tech Ventures, she was a Senior Analyst and Futurist, working closely with all business groups and HP Labs on researching and analyzing global trends and defining HP's point of view on the future. She often delivered thought leadership presentations at partner and customer events.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Business Administration, from Babes Bolyay University in Romania and International Business Academy in Denmark. She is also a graduate of the Venture Capital Executive Program at the University of California, Berkeley, Hass School of Business.

A native of Moldova, Otilia has lived and worked in Spain, Romania, and Denmark, and currently resides in the Bay Area, California. She is fluent in English, Russian, and Romanian, and conversational in Spanish and French. In her free time she is Chair of Professional Development at the HP Palo Alto Women’s Impact Network, where she leads various programs, including a speaker series on Leadership: Thriving in Extraordinary Times.

GLOBAL HEAD & MANAGING PARTNER

Andrew Bolwell

Andrew is the Global Head and Managing Partner for HP Tech Ventures and oversees the fund’s worldwide and pan-industry activities and investments. →

Andrew Bolwell

Andrew is the Global Head and Managing Partner for HP Tech Ventures and oversees the fund’s worldwide and pan-industry activities and investments.

He and the Tech Ventures team specialize in working with early-stage entrepreneurs and investments focused on industry shifting trends—Hybrid work, Additive Manufacturing, Metaverse, Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability.

Andrew is also one of HP’s lead futurists, responsible for HP thought leadership and industry evangelism. In this role, Andrew is a sought-after keynote speaker, recognized futurist, blogger and HP spokesperson for global megatrends, new business creation, innovation, emerging technology trends and new, disruptive technologies. Prior to this role with HP Tech Ventures, Andrew was General Manager of a number of HP businesses, including co-founder and CEO of MagCloud, a self-publishing web service from HP. In this position, he guided MagCloud’s evolution from early HP Labs concept to a fast-growing online publishing business.

Andrew is a graduate of the Venture Capital Executive Program at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, and the Accelerated Leadership Executive Program at Harvard Business School. He graduated magna cum laude from Monash University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

A native Australian, Andrew has lived and worked in the US, Australia, and Japan. He currently resides in Santa Cruz, California with his wife and two daughters.

PARTNER

Angelo Del Priore

Angelo is a Partner for HP Tech Ventures, where he leads investments in AI/Data Science, AR/VR/Metaverse, Edge Computing, Gaming and Hybrid Work. →

Angelo Del Priore

Angelo is a Partner for HP Tech Ventures, where he leads investments and partnerships in artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality, PC Gaming, Services, and Education. Some of the deals he has led include Disti, Mobalytics, Parsec, and Pixo. He is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences and an active advisor to startups in the AI, VR, and gaming space, especially at Berkeley’s SkyDeck program and Galvanize.

Previously Angelo was with HP’s corporate strategy group where he focused on mergers & acquisitions, and market entry strategies across all of HP’s business lines. Before HP, Angelo was Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Couchsurfing, where he helped raise $23M in venture capital funding (Benchmark, General Catalyst) and grew membership to over 5M users. He also ran a tech sector focused management consulting company for 8 years and worked for numerous startups and Fortune 500 companies, including Apple, Cisco, Dell, Groupon, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, and YouSendIt.

Angelo has taught classes around the world, including at Wharton’s Executive MBA program (Strategy), the Haas School of Business (Market Insights), and IDC Herzliya (Market Entry). He earned degrees from Northwestern and Wharton (Finance).

A Brooklyn native, Angelo currently lives in Berkeley, California and in his free time he likes to run, cook and spend time with his family.

VENTURE PARTNER

Irit Hillel

Irit is a Venture Partner for HP Tech Ventures, leading strategic investments, and partnerships with early-stage technology startups primarily originating in Israel, as well as globally in Industrial Print, EdTech, Publishing and Microfluidics / Healthcare. As part of the global team, Irit also helps to shape investment strategy and create new external innovation models for HP. Irit is currently on the board of Twine Solutions, Deep Instinct and Copprint, and led partnerships with Screenovate, PMatX, and other undisclosed deals.

An entrepreneur at heart, Irit has held senior positions within startups and investment firms throughout her career. Until recently she served as a board member at Radcom (Nasdaq: RDCM) and Imagesat NV (acquired).

As Managing Director at Magnolia Capital Partners, Irit ran the Israel practice of leading technology investment banks Thomas Weisel Partners and Nomura, advising Israeli high tech and life science companies on initial public offerings, mergers & acquisitions, and capital raising. Joining top-tier venture capital fund JVP’s Media Hub in Jerusalem, she headed the Interactive division at 3D animation startup Animation Lab.

Earlier in her career, Irit co-founded PC games startup PrintPaks, acquired by Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT). At Mattel, she led Mattel Interactive Europe with a team in 6 countries, bringing to market some of Europe’s best-selling computer game titles. She began her career as an Investment Manager at Columbia Savings, the #2 investor in high yield bonds and equities in the US at the time.

Irit holds an M.B.A. from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University. She is also a graduate of the Venture Capital Executive Program at UC Berkeley.

Born and raised in Israel, Irit has lived and worked in the US, France, and Israel. She has two kids and lives in Tel Aviv, Israel.

PRINCIPAL

Maya Solomon

Maya is a Principal at HP Tech Ventures, focusing on investments and partnerships in Generative AI and Wearable Technologies startups to support HP’s innovation strategy. →

Maya Solomon

Maya is a Principal at HP Tech Ventures, focusing on investments and partnerships in Generative AI and Wearable Technologies startups to support HP’s innovation strategy.

Maya is working with Startups and VCs from the US, Europe, and Israel, as well as with various ecosystem players such as corporations, accelerators, and government leaders. Prior to her current focus at HP Tech Ventures, Maya led projects that focused on Ed-Tech and Packaging-tech, helping HP to scale via partnerships with leading startups in these domains.

Maya has a robust background in the high-tech industry in both tech startups and multinational corporations. In recent years, Maya worked in cross-vertical startups helping them in their innovative journey. Previously Maya worked at Intel where she led the company’s IoT Lab and fostered collaborations with startups that aimed to partner with Intel’s vision in creating new product offerings. Her project portfolio included scouting alongside nurturing new partnerships leading to strategic initiatives. Before working at Intel, Maya specialized in enterprise and consumer pre-sale and marketing at Lenovo. Prior to her corporate days, Maya spent a few years in Paris, France, where she served in a diplomatic position.

Maya holds an MBA from Reichman University, and a Bachelor's degree in Business and Governance from Ben Gurion University (BGU). She is also a proud alumna and an HP rep sponsor of the VC Academy, an initiative aiming to connect between leading VC’s and promoting an increase in the representation of female investors in VCs. Maya currently resides in the U.S.

VENTURE PARTNER

James Taylor

James, a Venture Partner for HP Tech Ventures, invests in key frontier technologies centering on artificial intelligence, machine learning, life sciences, edge computing devices, space and autonomous transportation. Beyond investments, he helps startups scale their solutions into nascent global marketplaces. James has led investment teams, global business development groups and technology innovation program offices at Apple, HP, and Palm.

Previously, James was General Manager at Rothenberg Ventures, an early investor in successful startups including Robinhood, Gusto, August IoT, PartPic, SpaceX, Planet, Boom, Bustle, Matterport, etc. Rothenberg's portfolio was ranked #1 in frontier technologies and augmented reality and virtual reality by Goldman Sachs, CB Insights, and Pitchbook.

Early in his career, James founded Active Media, Inc. acquired by EDS and served as President and Chairman of the Board at the SD Memory Card Association.

James recently founded Ecosystem 2.0 to help corporations establish investment and innovation programs to create opportunities for exponential business growth beyond their core.

James served as a combat airborne infantry officer in the U.S. Army and has a Master of Arts degree in National Security Affairs from the US Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, CA.

VENTURE PARTNER

Mitchel Weinstock

Mitchell is a Venture Partner for HP Tech Ventures, where he identifies promising, leading-edge technology startups and pursues strategic investments and partnerships to help those companies bring products to market and scale as they grow. →

Mitchell Weinstock

Externally liaising with the worldwide institutional Venture Capital and the Corporate Venture community, country trade missions, as well as HP Labs, HP business groups, their customers and their partners, Mitchell is defining new market segments, products and business models that will help shape HP’s future growth especially in Cybersecurity, Edge Computing, Active Sensors, Robotics, and computer core technology.

An expert in monetization of nascent technologies and operational experience in new product marketing, Mitchell has worked with some of the biggest names, products and architectures from Apple QuickTime to the first Razer gaming mouse. He is a chronic optimist and has had the pleasure of working at five successful early and later stage startups including Kinoma (exited to Marvell), Generic Media (exited to Sony), Sonic Solutions (exited to Rovi), SuperMac (exited to Radius), and Razer (went IPO).

Mitchell is a graduate of the Venture Capital Executive Program at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. He graduated from Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and is a member of the executive leadership faculty for the venture capital executive program at US Berkeley Executive Education.

A native New Yorker, he currently resides in San Jose, California where he hybridizes and grafts fruit trees. Occasionally, he will still wear a tie.