Karim Hijazi is a serial entrepreneur, a former US intelligence community contractor and the former director of intelligence for Mandiant. He will oversee the firm’s expanded focus on emerging technology platforms and evolving risks.
TAMPA, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SCP&CO, a private investment and fund management firm focused on emerging technology platforms, today announced the appointment of cybersecurity industry veteran and renowned cyber intelligence expert Karim Hijazi to Managing Director and General Partner.
Hijazi joins the firm after a long track record as a successful cybersecurity senior executive and entrepreneur, where he founded several groundbreaking startups in the field of cyber threat intelligence. As SCP&CO’s new Managing Director, he will support the firm’s expanded focus on emerging technologies and platforms, particularly focusing on the opportunities associated with the evolution from Web2 to Web3 and cybersecurity, with a strong emphasis on new authenticity technologies to counter the growing uncertainties, risks and disruptive potential posed by rapidly evolving capabilities such as artificial intelligence (AI). Hijazi will work closely with the firm’s Fund Managing Director, Chris Pizzo, in creating a new investment strategy centered around these technologies.
“Karim is one of the world’s leading authorities on cyber risk and threat intelligence, and we’re thrilled to have him join our leadership team. He will play a key role in developing our investment strategy for the emerging field of authenticity technologies, which will be increasingly vital for businesses and consumers amid the massive changes now underway in AI, cybersecurity and Web3,” said Chris Rivera, president of SCP&CO. “Our executive team has over 100 years of combined experience in technology investing, since the initial dot-com era, and we are looking ahead to how these developing technologies will dramatically transform the world around us.”
“It is an honor to join SCP&CO, which has been an active investor in the technology industry for over 20 years. While many investors have been overly bullish on the upside potential of the benevolent use of these new technologies, SCP&CO is well aware of the growing risks, particularly with the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, which could have many dangerous implications for businesses, governments and society at large,” said Hijazi. “Ensuring the integrity and ethics of these technologies, and developing effective countermeasures for their worst abuses, will be a daunting challenge for our society – and a major focus for the firm moving forward.”
Hijazi is a 25-year veteran of the cyber intelligence and counterintelligence industries, and previously served as a contractor for the US intelligence community, cyber threat analyst to the global oil-and-gas industry, and as director of intelligence for Mandiant. He also founded multiple cybersecurity startups which pioneered new tactics in the cyber intelligence field, including early-stage breach detection, adversary infrastructure monitoring and botnet infiltration and seizure. During his tenure at Mandiant, Hijazi played a key role in the influential APT1 report released in 2013, which conclusively linked the People’s Liberation Army of China to widespread cyber espionage activity against US interests. He has also appeared many times on national TV as a cybersecurity analyst, including CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg, CNN, and more.
A widely recognized expert on emerging cyber threats, Hijazi will be a keynote speaker at the prestigious MENA Information Security Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this September. He also recently spoke at the Cybershield Summit in Riyadh, where he lectured international business leaders on advanced threats posed by AI and ML.
Over the last 20 years, SCP&CO has completed more than 100 transactions, totaling $2.2 billion of aggregate transaction volume. This includes over $255 million of principal and advisory transactions in the technology industry alone.
ABOUT SCP&CO
SCP&CO is a private investment and fund management firm focused on emerging technology platforms, innovation and value investments. The firm leverages direct investing and managed funds to invest in businesses where it can provide strategic and operational impact to accelerate profitable growth. Depending on the investment vehicle, the firm invests in control positions, growth capital or venture capital to help startups and existing businesses build growing, profitable and enduring businesses. Learn more at www.scpandco.com.
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Firm 19
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