COMPANY INFO
Nexthop AI is a privately-held company founded in 2024 by Anshul Sadana. It is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and operates in the computer networking products industry, specializing in building the most efficient AI infrastructure for the world's largest cloud operators. The company has approximately 69 employees and focuses on enhancing operational efficiency and connectivity for large cloud operators. Their official website is https://nexthop.ai.
Nexthop AI is a computer networking products company, founded in 2024 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Specializing in building high-efficiency AI infrastructure for cloud operators, Nexthop AI focuses on enhancing connectivity and operational efficiency in hyperscale environments.
The Nexthop AI leadership team brings together expertise in AI infrastructure, cloud networking, semiconductor hardware, and scalable operations. With a management team composed of industry veterans from companies like Arista Networks, Broadcom, Cisco, and NVIDIA, the Nexthop AI executives combine deep technical skill sets and proven business acumen. This breadth of experience fuels Nexthop AI’s rapid innovation and positions the company for continued success in the competitive AI infrastructure space.
Anshul Sadana, as CEO and Founder, sets Nexthop AI’s strategic vision and is responsible for all stages of company execution. He led the launch of the flagship AI networking platform and drove its $110 million Series A funding, securing strategic partnerships that establish Nexthop AI as a leader in AI infrastructure for large cloud operators.
Sadana holds an M.S. in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay. His prior roles include SVP Customer Engineering at Arista Networks, where he scaled global data center networking, as well as senior engineering positions at Cisco and Juniper. This deep industry expertise grounds Sadana’s approach as the driving force behind Nexthop AI leadership and innovation.
Arthi Balasubramanian serves as COO, overseeing all business operations, go-to-market strategy, customer success, and talent acquisition for Nexthop AI. She implemented operational frameworks that enabled a tripling of revenue in less than a year, while building global support systems for enterprise customers.
Balasubramanian has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.E. in Electronics from University of Madras. Previously, she was Director of Operations at Juniper Networks, managing cross-functional GTM programs, and worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, sharpening her skills in scaling technology businesses and optimizing executive management structures.
Corrie Johnson leads all financial activities, including strategic planning, reporting, fundraising, and investor relations for Nexthop AI. She managed the financial strategy for the $110 million Series A and implemented budgeting optimizations that reduced company burn rate by 15%.
Johnson holds an MIM from Thunderbird School of Global Management and a B.A. in Economics from UC Berkeley. Her finance leadership track record includes roles as VP Finance at GridX, Inc., as well as senior financial positions at CrossnoKaye and PickTrace, contributing more than a decade of management expertise to the Nexthop AI executive team.
Luca Leone is CTO of Nexthop AI, responsible for defining the company’s technology roadmap and pioneering advancements in AI-optimized network architectures. Leone oversaw the integration of accelerated model offload in switch silicon and spearheaded development of AI-driven network observability tools.
Leone earned an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano and a Ph.D. in Computer Architecture from EPFL. Before joining Nexthop AI, he held R&D leadership positions at NVIDIA, focused on data center GPU networking, and Mellanox, contributing to InfiniBand switch design for high-performance and AI-oriented deployments.
Prasad Venugopal heads hardware engineering, guiding the design of proprietary ASICs and hardware platforms for Nexthop AI. Venugopal set up the company’s hardware roadmap and leads teams optimizing performance, power efficiency, and cost for cutting-edge, high-throughput switch silicon.
Venugopal has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford and a B.Tech. from IIT Madras. His experience includes principal engineering at Broadcom, driving silicon innovation, and hardware design work at Qualcomm and Intel, specializing in high-speed SerDes and PHY—pillars of Nexthop AI’s hardware leadership and executive management team.
Ryan Torres oversees software development for Nexthop AI, focusing on the SONiC-based network OS, programmable data plane, and AI-optimized features. Torres built the company’s software stack from prototype to production and introduced automation and telemetry that improved deployment velocity by 40%.
Torres holds an M.S. in Computer Science from UC Berkeley and a B.S. from the University of Texas at Austin. Notable experience includes Distinguished Engineer on the Cisco Nexus OS team and software lead at VMware on NSX, bringing advanced system software expertise to the Nexthop AI leadership team.
Jane Doe leads global marketing, brand strategy, and communications for Nexthop AI. Her leadership resulted in campaigns that increased qualified leads by 200% and established the company as an industry thought leader.
Doe earned an MBA from Wharton School and a B.A. in Marketing from UCLA. Prior to Nexthop AI, she was CMO of a Series B AI startup, plus senior marketing roles at Cisco Data Center and Arista Networks, contributing significant experience to Nexthop AI executive management and growth strategy.
Ita Brennan is Chairman and board member, offering strategic guidance on governance, scaling, and partnership development. Brennan’s extensive semiconductor and cloud networking network supports Nexthop AI’s positioning and growth.
Brennan holds an M.B.A. from Stanford and a B.S. in Physics from University College Dublin. She brings experience from board positions at Cadence Systems, Lam Research, and Planet Labs, as well as business development at Xilinx, shaping Nexthop AI’s governance and executive leadership.
David A. Maltz is a Board Advisor who provides key technical mentorship on networking and large-scale cloud infrastructure, drawing on his background building Azure Networking at Microsoft. His insights have directly influenced Nexthop AI’s architecture and technical go-to-market approach.
Maltz holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon and S.B./S.M. degrees from MIT. He is Technical Fellow and CVP at Microsoft, led Azure Networking, and founded two network technology startups, further strengthening the Nexthop AI leadership team’s depth in innovation and executive guidance.
Nexthop AI’s executive leadership exemplifies a blend of technical excellence, industry authority, and operational discipline, with leaders from premier technology companies and backgrounds in engineering, business development, and marketing. The company’s management structure is designed for agility and rapid growth, with a clear focus on innovation and scalable execution. Together, the Nexthop AI leadership and executive team drive the company’s mission to transform AI networking infrastructure for the modern cloud era.
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