Born on the picturesque island of Carriacou, Dr. Nicholas Brathwaite is a seasoned technologist, entrepreneur, business executive, and philanthropist. Most notably, he serves as the founding managing partner at Celesta Capital, a prominent technology venture capital firm nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley California.

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History and Education

Dr. Brathwaite, the son of Grenada’s fifth prime minister, attended high schools at Presentation Brothers College in Grenada and Queen’s College in Guyana. He then graduated from McMaster University with a B.Sc (honours) degree in applied chemistry before earning an M.Sc degree in polymer science from the University of Waterloo, Canada.
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Career Trajectory

Following his graduation from the University of Waterloo, Dr. Brathwaite joined Intel Corporation.  At Intel, he earned his first patent while simultaneously establishing himself as a leader in developing and implementing semiconductor assembly and packaging technologies. He held various engineering management positions in technology development and manufacturing at Intel from 1992 to 1996.

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In 1989, Dr. Brathwaite went on to be a founding member of nCHIP Inc., a start-up specializing in industry-leading, multi-chip module process technologies.  Quickly, he put his chemistry and engineering background to use as he started developing wafer fabrication and assembly. Dr Brathwaite was instrumental in the success of the company where he served as Vice President of Operations and Technology Development. His work ultimately resulted in a company that manufactured electronic modules for computers,  aerospace, and semiconductor test equipment.

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nCHIP was acquired by the Silicon Valley-based, multi-national company Flextronics in 1996 and Nicholas Brathwaite became Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer.

During Brathwaite’s tenure at Flex, he led the company from a $200M contract manufacturer to a $30 billion global leader in electronics manufacturing services with approximately 240,0000 employees in 35 countries. Flextronics was early to forecast what would be the success and dominance of cell phone camera technology, and it was while he was at Flextronics that Brathwaite oversaw the development of the company as a cell phone ODM, designing camera modules and power-supply units. Brathwaite also led the product and technology development of the first Palm Pilot, the first Microsoftt Xbox and the first miniaturized chargers for the Apple iPhone and Amazon Kindle during his tenure at Flextronics.

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Following his career at Flextronics, Dr. Brathwaite co-founded Riverwood Capital, a private equity firm.  He and his founding partners aimed to create a middle-market technology and technology-related investment firm because they saw the need for a different type of private equity investor, one focused on building great businesses and not necessarily engineering financial outcomes. Riverwood’s current portfolio of companies includes GoPro, LightingScience, Ambarella, Sauce Labs, Aptina and others. He also served as Chairman and CEO of Aptina Imaging a global leader in CMOS image sensors and as chief technology officer at Katerra, a construction technology company. This focus on mid-market technology firms requires a larger intellectual capital investment than a mere financial investment.

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Dr. Brathwaite then helped transition Aptina from a business unit of Micron Technology into a standalone company. Aptina was one of the industry leaders for CMOS imaging and semiconductor technologies, which are used in phones, computers, cameras, medical equipment, scanners, gaming products and everything in between. The fruition of Aprtina came about when Micron acquired Photobit, a CMOS image-sensor supplier, in 2001, followed by Micron acquiring the image-sensor business of Avago Technologies in 2006. This afforded Micron the title of being the world’s leading CMOS image-sensor supplier. Challenges were observed in 2008, however, when the division lost some significant market share, and split the CMOS imaging business into Aptina Imaging that same year. By 2009, Aptina Imaging was fully purchased (and consequently, privately held) by Riverwood and TPG Capital. Dr. Brathwaite stepped into the role as Aptina CEO at this time, watching the company grow to nearly $620 million in revenue in 2010—reclaiming top market share in the CMOS image-sensor industry.

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He is now a co-founder and Managing Partner of Celesta Capital (formerly called WRVI Capital), a technology venture capital fund.

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Dr. Brathwaite is or once was a director of Aptina Imaging (USA),   ArkMicro (China),  Atonarp (Japan),  BrightSource (Israel),  Clairvolex (India),  Globant (Argentina),  Hughes Software Services (India),  IdeaForge (India),  Inphi (USA),  Lighting Science Group (USA),  Magnetic Insights (USA),  Northwestern Mutual Insurance (USA), Power Integrations (USA),  Photon Dynamics (USA),  Pluna Airlines (Uruguay),  Riverwood Solutions (USA),  Tessera / Xperi (USA).

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Philanthropy

In 2015 Anderson Peters, a teenager in Grenada, had the talent to become a world-class javelin thrower but was unable to afford a javelin for training. Dr. Braithwaite jumped at the opportunity to help and funded a handful of javelins to the community and Anderson Peters. The infusion of equipment enabled a career for Peters, eventually helping him to become the world champion.

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On a larger scale, Dr. Brathwaite and his wife Janice Brathwaite founded PETNA — to honour his parents  — catalyzing most of his philanthropic work around the world, especially in the Caribbean and Africa. The foundation provides scholarships and funding to schools, youth & community development organizations and clubs such as the St. David Track Blazers Club, distributes new shoes to thousands of poor individuals, supplies computers to individuals, and provides members with opportunities in athletics and education.