PALO ALTO, California, April 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- Sukhinder Singh Cassidy Brings Growth and Early Stage Experience to the Global Firm

Accel Partners, a leading global venture and growth equity firm funding companies from inception through the growth stage, today announced the addition of Sukhinder Singh Cassidy as CEO-in-Residence. Ms. Singh Cassidy joins Accel from Google where she served most recently as President for Asia-Pacific (APAC) Latin American Operations. In this role, she was responsible for all of Google's commercial operations in both regions, and built the company's presence from inception to its current scale serving users, advertisers and partners across 40 domains and 103 different countries throughout APAC and Latin America.

Having already worked with the Accel team as a Google executive and an entrepreneur, I know first-hand Accel's approach to engaging and supporting their companies, said Ms. Singh Cassidy, Accel Partners. Accel's portfolio of category-transforming digital media companies such as AdMob, Etsy, Facebook, Glam Media, Kayak, and others creates a rich set of opportunities for marketplace dialog and new category creation.

Ms. Singh Cassidy has a long-standing relationship with Accel having co-founded Accel-backed Yodlee, a leader in the internet financial application and online banking space. As CEO-In-Residence, Ms. Singh Cassidy will be evaluating new venture and growth equity opportunities in partnership with Accel in addition to working with companies in Accel's digital media and advertising portfolio. Sukhinder's reputation as an entrepreneurial leader in both startups and Google are well known in the industry, said Jim Breyer, Partner, Accel Partners. We're very pleased to have Sukhinder join the Accel team.

Sukhinder is the rare executive who has excelled both at founding internet companies as well as running a multi-billion dollar business within Google, said Theresia Gouw Ranzetta, Partner, Accel Partners. Her experience will be a real asset for both Accel's early stage and growth franchise.

Sukhinder is a world-class Internet executive, said Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and former Google colleague of Ms. Singh Cassidy. It will be great to be working together again as part of the Accel family.

Prior to running Asia Pacific and Latin America, Ms. Singh Cassidy joined Google in 2003 as the first General Manager for Google Local Maps, helping to launch these innovative new services, then expanding her responsibilities to lead the company's strategic partnerships for Google Books, Scholar, and Video. From 1999-2003, Ms. Singh Cassidy was Co-founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development for Yodlee.com Inc., a leading solutions provider to the global financial services industry. Ms Singh Cassidy started her Internet career in strategy and business development, working for Amazon.com and interactive TV provider OpenTV. For her work in the Internet industry, Ms. Singh Cassidy has been profiled in numerous publications globally, including Fortune, Business Week, Canada Post, India Today, and the book, Innovation Nation, profiling Canada's most innovative business leaders.

In addition to Accel's continued investments in early-stage startups from the Accel X early stage fund, Accel announced its US$480 million growth fund in December of 2008. This fund will focus on growth equity opportunities across a broad range of sectors, including: information technology, internet, digital media, mobile, networking, software, and services. As with Accel's early-stage efforts, Accel Growth Fund will play an active role in helping entrepreneurs and management teams build category-defining, global businesses.

About Accel Partners

Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long history of excellence and innovation in the global venture and growth equity business. It is dedicated to partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class companies, from inception through growth. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California; London, UK; and Bangalore, India; as well as in China via the IDG-Accel Partnership.

With over US$6 billion under management, Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful category-defining companies including: Actuate, Alfresco, AMCC, Arrowpoint, Baidu, BBN, Brightcove, ComScore, Etsy, Facebook, Focus Media, Foundry Networks, Gameforge, Glam Media, Imperva, Infinera, Interwoven, JBoss, Kayak, Macromedia, metroPCS, Mu Sigma, Polycom/PictureTel, Portal Software, QlikTech, Rapt, Real Networks, Redback Networks, Riverbed, Sohu.com, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, XenSource, and Zimbra. For more information, visit the Accel Partners web site at www.accel.com.

Keirsten Lampkin of Accel Partners, +1-650-614-4800, klampkin@accel.com