Wellington Financial opens new office in San Jose, California

Earlier today we announced the opening of another Wellington Financial office in California, as well as the addition of Rob Helm and Sean Lynden as our newest colleagues and Partners.

During their many years with Gold Hill Capital, a well known venture debt fund that started in 2000, Sean and Rob demonstrated the value of partnership to their portfolio companies and VC relationships. They also generated excellent risk-adjusted returns for their limited partners on both Gold Hill Capital I and II, which is something that matters to anyone in our business.

Rob is a Cal Polytechnic grad with 14 years of experience financing high-growth technology businesses. Rob was a Partner with Gold Hill, with responsibilities for transaction sourcing and adjudication. Before he joined Gold Hill in 2003, Rob spent three years with Silicon Valley Bank.

Sean has over 20 years of experience providing debt financing to growth companies, primarily in the California region. As a founding partner of Gold Hill Capital, Sean was involved in every facet of the business, including capital raising, transaction sourcing, credit reviews and portfolio management over a 14 year period. Previous to Gold Hill Capital, Sean spent 12 years with Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB:Q), with senior executive responsibilities. He’s a Stanford University graduate.

In 2009, we opened our first U.S. office and planted our flag in Santa Monica with the hiring of Eric Speer, formerly of Vencore Capital. In 2013, we added a second U.S.-based colleague and an office on Battery Street in San Francisco. Now that about 40% of our entire portfolio is based in California, and considering the impressive number of companies that continue to attract VC interest in that part of the world, it only makes sense to add San Jose and bolster our team further.

Welcome to Rob and Sean, and I promise that we’ll never ask you to stop cheering for the Sharks in favour of the Maple Leafs.

MRM