Darius Sankey

Darius Sankey, PhD is CEO of 3Discoverd, Inc. He has been CEO from March of 2016 to the present. He is also a general partner at Sway Ventures, formally Accelerate-IT Ventures Fund 1 (AITV), as well as a seasoned executive in the private equity and technology industries.  Founded in 2013, AITV is a US-based venture capital firm with offices in San Francisco, La Jolla and London.  Sway Ventures invest in early-stage and medium-growth IT software companies that demonstrate tremendous opportunities for growth. With the sole purpose of altering the traditional approach to venture investing Sway Ventures is intentionally singular in its focus around IT Software. Sway Ventures applies a thriving engagement engine to its portfolio companies and has developed a strategic ecosystem to ensure US and EMEA commercialization, revenue and exit pathways.

Dr. Sankey is also a Contract Managing Director responsible for the Innovation Management practice of Ocean Tomo, LLC, an integrated Intellectual Capital Merchant Banc™ firm providing an industry leading array of financial products and services related to intangible assets. In his role joint role at AITV and Ocean Tomo Dr. Sankey takes on the responsibility of managing the development of new technology ecosystems.  Dr. Sankey is currently the CEO of a 3D Printing Innovation Software Tools Development company that was founded at Ocean Tomo and is currently a portfolio company of AITV. His role as CEO is to manage the development of 3D Printing Software solutions to accelerate the demand for leveraging distributed digital manufacturing in the supply chain.  Ocean Tomo offerings include expert testimony, valuation, strategy, investments, innovation management and transactions. Ocean Tomo assists clients – corporations, law firms, governments and institutional investors – in realizing Intellectual Capital Equity® value broadly defined. Subsidiaries of Ocean Tomo include: Ocean Tomo Capital, LLC — publisher of the Ocean Tomo 300® Patent Index (NYSE: OTPAT). Ocean Tomo is the founder of the Intellectual Property Exchange International, Inc.

Prior to joining Ocean Tomo and AITV, Dr. Sankey was the Senior Director of Portfolio Management at Intellectual Venture, where his responsibilities involved managing the Investment Strategy, acquisitions, divestitures and developing licensing programs for the $5B Invention Investment Funds.

Prior to Intellectual Ventures, Dr. Sankey served as a Managing Director at Zone Ventures, where he led its technology assessment efforts and managed its portfolio investments for over ten years. While at Zone Ventures Dr. Sankey led several transactions in the microelectronics, wireless telecommunications, media & entertainment, and business & consumer software.   He also served as a board member for several companies including Siimpel Corporation, Lumexis, Inc. and Microfabrica and Neven Vision (acquired by Google). Before his tenure at Zone Ventures, Dr. Sankey worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, Inc. and held strategic planning, consulting, and R&D positions at RAND and AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Dr. Sankey is a lecturer at the Rady School of Business at the University of California – San Diego (UCSD). He has served on National Academy of Science Committees to study issues relating to managing university intellectual property, and the impact of optical technology on the national economy.  He holds B.S. degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering from MIT and a Ph.D. in Optical Engineering from University of Rochester.  Dr Sankey also founded Innovation Acceleration Capital (IAC.VC) in 2015 which advises ventures funds and corporations on Outsource R&D and innovation strategies related to IP strategic development, venture investing, and M&A.