Jan 9 (Reuters) - Iconiq Growth, the venture arm of

investment firm Iconiq Capital, has hired cloud-based analytics

firm Datadog's ( DDOG ) President Amit Agarwal as a general

partner in the latest expansion of its leadership team, the

company told Reuters.

Agarwal joins Iconiq after 12 years at Datadog ( DDOG ), a longtime

Iconiq portfolio company for Iconiq Growth, whose parent Iconiq

Capital manages assets for some of Silicon Valley's biggest

names.

He plans to focus on software startups as artificial

intelligence continues to shape the industry.

Agarwal said he had been working closely with Iconiq Growth

since the firm first invested in Datadog ( DDOG ) in 2015, especially

with Matthew Jacobson, the Iconiq partner who sits on the board

of Datadog ( DDOG ).

"I want to join a multistage firm where I can invest in

companies at different stages of their growth. I saw firsthand

how impactful Iconiq is as a partner to its portfolio, given the

connections it can make within its network," said Agarwal, who

has been a limited partner in several venture funds, including

Iconiq.

Iconiq says its network of high-net-worth backers, most of

whom made their wealth in the tech world - including Meta's Mark

Zuckerberg and Twitter co-founder and former chief executive

Jack Dorsey - can open many doors for founders.

The hiring is the latest expansion of Iconiq Growth's

investment leadership team, which added five partners last year

to bring the total to 16. This follows the closing of a $5.75

billion fund in 2024, despite venture capital fundraising

hitting a five-year low of $76 billion last year, according to

PitchBook data.

With a larger fund size, Iconiq Growth has expanded further

into early-stage investments. Half of the team's investments

over the past five years have been in younger startups with less

than $10 million in revenue.

The firm's recent hires have focused on former executives

from major companies, so-called operators-rather than career

investors, including Alex Gorsky, former CEO of Johnson &

Johnson.