Joel Espelien has worked in a number of roles over a twenty year career in the technology industry. Most recently Joel served as Senior Advisor to Karmel Capital, where he advised on corporate spin-offs and M&A transactions, including the private-equity backed purchase of DivX LLC from Rovi Corporation and subsequent sale to Neulion, Inc, as well as the successful spin-off of Snaptracs, Inc. and its Tagg wireless pet tracking product from Qualcomm and the eventual two-stage sale to Whistle Labs and Mars Petcare. Joel has also served on the boards of multiple venture-backed companies resulting in successful exits, including AI startup IQ Engines (acquired by Yahoo) and IoT-for-AgTech pioneer 640 Labs (acquired by Monsanto/Climate Corporation). Joel has also written extensively on the future of video in his capacity as Senior Analyst for the Diffusion Group where he published 14 industry research reports as well as a widely recognized weekly blog.
Previously, Joel was the Chief Business Officer, SVP of Strategy and General Counsel of PacketVideo, a pioneer in the mobile video market. While at PacketVideo, Joel led corporate development activities, including multiple buy-side acquisitions in the US and Europe, a groundbreaking technology partnership with Google that helped launch Android, a private-equity backed MBO and ultimately the sale of the company to NTT DoCoMo (Japan).
Prior to PacketVideo, Joel was a corporate attorney at Cooley LLP in Palo Alto and San Diego, California. Joel is a member of the Bar in both Washington and California. He holds a JD/LLM (International and Comparative Law) from Duke University and a BA from St. Olaf College. Joel is fluent in Spanish and has done business throughout Spain and Latin America.
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