Accel Partners, a venture capital and growth equity firm operating in Silicon Valley, Europe, Israel, China and India, has hired Rob Glaser as a venture partner.
Glaser will focus on digital media technology, social media, and mobile service investments.
He currently serves as chairman of RealNetworks, which he founded in 1994.
Glaser has been a member of the Accel Partners family since it invested in Real in 1995. In addition to his role as chairman, Glaser served as Real’s chief executive from February 1994 through January 2010.
Jim Breyer, a managing partner in Accel’s Palo Alto office, says: "We have been delighted to work with Rob as an entrepreneur and chief executive officer since 1995. His thought-leadership in the world of digital media and the consumer internet are well known, and we are very excited to have him join the Accel team in his new role as venture partner."
"After years of working with Accel as an entrepreneur, I look forward to working side-by-side with the Accel team to help identify companies which will benefit from the same kind of resources and partnership RealNetworks was so fortunate to have," says Glaser. "There is a wealth of promising start-ups in the world of digital media and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Accel to help them succeed."
Prior to founding RealNetworks, Glaser worked for Microsoft for ten years in a number of executive positions, including vice president of multimedia and consumer systems. Before joining Microsoft, he founded his first company, Ivy Research, in 1981 to make games for the newly launched IBM PC.
