Addition, Subtraction at Local Venture Firms

Already in the week, we’ve had a few moves at some local venture capital firms. Read below for the details.

—Rob Go, formerly a senior associate at Boston-based Spark Capital, announced on his blog today that last Friday was his last day at the firm. He didn’t specify where he’d be going next, but says in the biography section of his blog that he is the “cofounder of a new entrepreneurial venture.” Other members of Spark were tied up in meetings when I called for additional information on his move. (If I hear back from them, I’ll be sure to update this space.) Prior to joining Spark, Go worked in marketing at eBay, where he launched products that enhanced the website’s browse, search, and merchandising functions.

—Commonwealth Capital Ventures announced today that it added Alex Laats to the investment team as a general partner; he will focus on investments in software, defense, Internet, and security companies. It’s a homecoming of sorts for Laats. He worked for the Waltham, MA-based firm before as a venture partner, specializing in enterprise IT and communications infrastructure. He then took a job at BBN Technologies, a company funded in part by Commonwealth that was purchased by Raytheon in 2009. At BBN Laats created and ran the company’s Delta division, which worked to turn intellectual property and R&D materials into sources of revenue.

Author: Erin Kutz

Erin Kutz has a background in covering business, politics and general news. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Erin previously worked in the Boston bureau of Reuters, where she wrote articles on the investment management and mutual fund industries. While in college, she researched for USA Today reporter Jayne O’Donnell’s book, Gen Buy: How Tweens, Teens and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail. She also spent a semester in Washington, DC, reporting Capitol Hill stories as a correspondent for two Connecticut newspapers and interning in the Money section of USA Today, where she assisted with coverage on the retail and small business beats. Erin got her first taste of reporting at Boston University’s independent student newspaper, as a city section reporter and fact checker and editor of the paper’s weekly business section.