Venture capital biz hires former EMC CEO

Former EMC grand fromage Joe Tucci has walked into a special advisor role at venture cap outfit 83North.

Tucci left his old employer once Michael Dell had taken EMC private in a $60bn plus deal in September, and is co-CEO at special purpose acquisition firm GTY Technology Holdings and chairman of private equity house Bridge Growth Partners.

The industry old timer is not new to 83North; the VC previously invested in Israeli storage startup ScaleIO before EMC took it over in 2013.

“I am keeping a close eye on areas they invest in globally, many of which are going through massive inflection points of innovation. I am looking forward to sharing my experience and advising their portfolio companies,” said Tucci.

83North general partner Gil Goren spent more than 14 years at EMC, starting as director of engineering and latterly running EMC Ventures International, so he in turn knows Big Joe too.

“Scaling companies is a tough task and very few leaders have done it to the extent Joe has achieved at EMC,” he said in a canned remark.

Tucci landed the CEO job at EMC in 2001 when it was a $1bn business and left last year when the firm was on course to turn over well in excess of $20bn, his time at the top was not without mistakes.

Current investments by 83North’s portfolio include online takeaway portal Just Eat, Wonga and Precise Software.

Prior to his stint EMC, big Joe was at Unisys and Wang Global. ®