NEA hires former XM Radio chief

Venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates has added Hugh Panero, co-founder of XM Satellite Radio, as a venture partner in its consumer technology unit.

Panero helped launch the subscription-based radio service in 1998 and served as its chief executive until August 2007, a year before the company merged with rival SIRIUS Satellite Radio. Prior to the merger, XM boasted roughly 9.3 million subscribers, although the company disappointed some investors under Panero’s leadership by missing earnings projections.

Panero has extensive experience in subscription-based media technologies, including stints at Request Television, a pay-per-view network party owned by Twentieth Century Fox, and at Time Warner Cable of New York City.

Some of NEA’s more notable investments in its consumer technology portfolio include careerbuilder.com, which the firm exited in a $52 million IPO in 1999, and Tivo, which the firm exited in a $88 million IPO that same year.

Maryland-based NEA, which also specialises in energy and healthcare investments, has made several high-profile additions to its staff over the last year.

In September David Mott, former chief executive of biopharmaceutical giant MedImmune, joined NEA as a general partner in its healthcare unit. In May, the firm tapped Morgan Stanley managing director Tony Florence and MPM Capital general partner Paul walker to bolster its venture growth equity division.

The firm has also beefed up its presence in India and made its first foray into Latin America earlier this year.