Simon Levene
Venture Partner, Accel Partners

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Simon came to Accel in 2006 and is a partner focusing on Internet, software and services. Simon serves on the board of MyHeritage, and has led investments in two further un-announced projects. He is also actively involved in Gameforge and manages Accel London’s investment in Etsy. Earlier in his career, Simon spent over a dozen years in the Internet, media and communications industries.

Immediately prior to Accel, Simon served for four years as VP/Managing Director of Corporate Development at Yahoo!, where he was a key thought leader in the company’s international strategy, and responsible for sourcing and pursuing new business opportunities in Europe and Israel—through internal development, M&A, investment, and partnerships. His scope covered all of Yahoo!’s activities, including search, media & advertising, premium services, marketplace/listings, communications, mobile and core technology infrastructure. Simon also led the acquisition of seven companies, deploying $650M of cash, and played a point role in turning around Yahoo!’s European operations, growing revenues ten-fold.

Before Yahoo!, Simon was VP of Business Affairs at Time Warner, focusing on global cross-divisional investments and M&A. Earlier, he spent five years in Silicon Valley. Simon co-founded @Home’s international operations, which in his tenure grew to 500 people and $75M revenue, and as Director of Corporate Development at Excite@Home, was jointly responsible for strategy and business development outside North America. Simon began his career at The LEK partnership, an international strategy consulting firm, focusing on the telecoms, information and logistics industries.

Simon graduated from Cambridge University with a double first, was elected to a Choate Fellowship at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.