Kemal Farid

Kemal is an investor and a veteran technology entrepreneur in energy, financial, manufacturing, e-commerce and health care products & services businesses. For three decades, Kemal has built and grown software, electronics, engineering, IT and services businesses with a specialization in the oil and gas industry covering production operations, hydrocarbon accounting, exploration, drilling, reservoir management and financial services. Kemal was an early pioneer in the digitization of oil and gas field operations. Kemal founded Merrick Systems, served as its CEO and grew it into the global leader in oil and gas production software. After his successful exit of Merrick, Kemal launched Farid Ventures, a venture capital firm for early and growth-stage enterprises. Portfolio investments and founder history include P2 Energy Solutions, Uber, GeoScale, Seismos, YouPlus, WaveGuide, Abbey Research, Kraftwurx, Zhongmen Group, Axon, SURGE Ventures, RigHand, OVS Group and Shiv Om Consultants. Kemal has been awarded several dozen business and technical awards, including Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011. Kemal serves on and chairs several non-profit boards including at the Society of Petroleum Engineers and at the University of Houston’s Engineering Technology College. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree with Honors in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an Entrepreneurship Masters from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Farid is a regular speaker on entrepreneurship, the digitization of industrial operations and the cultural impact of technology innovation.