Scoop: Hosein Khajeh-Hosseiny leaves Northgate to form new firm

Hosein Khajeh-Hosseiny tells Axios that he has stepped down as CEO and managing general partner of San Francisco's Northgate Capital.

Why it matters: Northgate is a major player in the venture capital and private equity firms, managing nearly $5 billion of direct investment and fund-of-funds assets.

His plan is to form a new tech consulting and early-stage investment firm called Open X Innovations.:

"Open X will have two purposes. The first is to partner with incumbent, global firms that need to effectively transition into smart companies. The other is to help entrepreneurs who have distinctive technologies enabled by AI and machine learning to solve for complexity and simplify a lot of the decisions they need to make on the way to IPO."

Khajeh-Hosseiny declined to identify his Open X partners, except to say that he has some. Initial investments will come from personal money.

Northgate has not yet named a replacement. CFO/COO Mo Virani says it is "in process."

• Northgate was founded in 2000 by a pair of ex-NFL players, Brent Jones and Tommy Vardell, who left in 2016 under less-than-amicable circumstances.