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Former Trulia President, COO Joins Sapphire Ventures

Paul Levine

Paul Levine, former COO and President of Trulia, has joined Sapphire Ventures [1], a Palo Alto, California-based venture capital firm with $2.5 billion under management that invests in emerging growth-stage companies and early-stage venture funds, as partner. In this role, Paul will lead direct investments for the firm and help expand its consumer investing footprint.

Paul joins Sapphire's direct investment team, which partners with entrepreneurs to help them build companies of consequence through an active, collaborative approach. He will focus on expanding the consumer investments portfolio, which includes investments in 23andMe, DocuSign, Fitbit, LinkedIn (acquired by Microsoft), Paytm, Sun Basket, Ticketfly (acquired by Pandora), and TransferWise. Paul will also invest in high-growth marketplace, fintech, and real estate technology companies.

"We are delighted to welcome Paul to our team. He'll play a critical role in leading new investments for the firm and broadening our consumer technology practice," said Nino Marakovic, CEO and managing director at Sapphire Ventures. "Beyond capital, we deliver high-value expertise to our portfolio, and Paul's track record of building and scaling consumer companies is exceptional. He will no doubt leverage his unique experience and perspective to help us both grow our portfolio and help our companies scale successfully."

Prior to joining Sapphire Ventures, Paul held executive leadership roles at E*TRADE, Yahoo! (acquired by Verizon), Trulia,  and Zillow Group. Paul helped lead Trulia's transformation from a private 100-person company with $20 million in revenue, to a standalone public company, to its eventual merger with Zillow Group to create a company with more than 3,000 employees, $1 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization.

"Joining Sapphire Ventures is an exciting next step in my career, as I utilize my experience building and scaling consumer companies to help Sapphire's existing portfolio and lead new investments for the firm," said Levine. "What really drew me to Sapphire is the firm's outstanding track record, combined with the talented team and strong culture that the firm has built. I'm thrilled to be joining the Sapphire team and can't wait to further our mission of helping the next generation of entrepreneurs build category-defining businesses."