Global venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) today announced several promotions across the firm’s investment team, including the appointment of Philip Chopin as Managing Director, Head of Europe. The firm also promoted technology investors Ayush Goradia and James Kaplan to Principal.
“Philip has played an instrumental role in establishing our London office and deepening the firm’s presence in Europe,” said Tony Florence, Co-CEO, NEA. “He has led several key investments over the last several years, including NEA’s investment in Sana, one of Europe’s largest AI exits to date. We are proud to recognize Philip’s contributions with this promotion as our firm continues to expand our activities across the continent.”
Chopin joined NEA as a Managing Director in 2022, leading the opening of the firm’s first office in Europe. He has led investments in Sana Labs (acquired by Workday), Synthesia, VAST Data, CuspAI, and others. Prior to NEA, Philip was a Partner at 83North, where he led and was involved in numerous investments including Paddle, Pelico, Exotec, Podimo, HungryPanda, and Wolt. Earlier in his career, he served as a Project Leader at BCG. Philip holds an MBA from Kellogg and an MSc from Grenoble Ecole de Management.
“We’re pleased to promote Ayush and James to Principal, recognizing the meaningful contributions each has made to our technology investing practice,” said Rick Yang, Partner and Head of Technology, NEA. “Ayush has a distinctive ability to map a category from the top down and identify where the most compelling opportunities sit within it, and he prioritizes building the kind of genuine, lasting founder relationships that define NEA’s approach to company-building. James brings a compelling combination of operational experience and investor instinct to his work—having founded a startup himself, he has deep empathy for founders and a sharp focus on AI-native applications across vertical software, gaming, and entertainment. We are thrilled to promote both of these talented investors and look forward to their continued growth at the firm.”
Ayush Goradia joined NEA’s technology team in 2023 and is focused on AI infrastructure & applications, enterprise software, and defense technology investments. He is based in the firm’s New York office and works with numerous portfolio companies including CHAOS Industries, Clio, Databricks, Horizon3.ai, Firestorm Labs, Kaizen, Wonder, Veza, and Second Front. Prior to joining NEA, he spent two years at Qatalyst Partners in San Francisco. Originally from Houston, Goradia graduated from the University of Texas at Austin.
James Kaplan joined the firm in 2023 as a technology investor based in NEA’s Menlo Park office. He focuses on early-stage investments in AI-native applications across vertical software and enterprise and works closely with portfolio companies including Perplexity, ElevenLabs, Echodyne, August, Aurelian, Samaya, Fenris Creations, Ceramic, Genmo, and Kira. Prior to NEA, Kaplan founded a consumer mental health startup and held roles at GlossGenius, and Credit Suisse. Kaplan graduated from the University of Southern California.
About NEA
New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. Founded in 1977, NEA has more than $35 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2025, and invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm’s long track record of investing includes more than 285 portfolio company public listings and more than 510 mergers and acquisitions. For more information, please visit www.nea.com.
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