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Richard Smith

Executive in Residence
Focus Areas: Application Software, Infrastructure Software
Richard, an experienced sales-and-marketing oriented business leader who has led previous Battery companies, works alongside the firm’s private equity team to find and assess potential software investments.

As an executive in residence at Battery Ventures, Richard works alongside the firm’s private equity team to find and assess potential software investments and subsequently work alongside management teams providing advice and guidance. He is the current chairman of Clubessential, VertiGIS and 1WorldSync. He is also a board member of Forterro.

Previously Richard was the CEO of Battery portfolio company Vero Software, which was acquired by Hexagon in July 2014 and the Chairman at Cambrio, which was acquired by Sandvik in 2021.

Richard has more than 25 years of experience as a business leader in the software and technology markets. Prior to Vero, Richard was CEO of IBS OPENSystems plc, which he led to a sale process resulting in a deal with Capita Plc.

Earlier in his career, Richard was general manager of the global ERP software division at Geac, where he led the turnaround of a failing acquisition. Geac’s market cap increased from $70M to $1B during his tenure, and Richard was instrumental in the successful sale of the business to Golden Gate Private Equity.

Richard also worked in software development in a number of roles at Raytheon, Dunn & Bradstreet and Merrill Lynch.

At the age of 18, Richard started his career in software with his dream job in the computer department of his local brewery and pub-management company, Whitbread plc. Reluctantly, he left that role to attend Cambridge University where he obtained an MA in mathematics and theoretical physics.