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August 7, 2000 Windward Ventures in San Diego has raised $65 million for its newest venture capital fund, Windward Ventures 2000.The company says investors in the fund include entrepreneurs, university endowments and pension funds. "We are pleased by the support shown by our existing and new limited partners," says David Titus, a general partner of Windward Ventures Management. More than two thirds of the funds came from existing limited partners of the firm, which had targeted raising $60 million, the company says. The funds are earmarked for early stage technology-based companies in Southern California. The capital will be invested over the next two to three years. Specific areas of interest to Windward Ventures are communications, opto-electronics, semiconductors, software, and medical devices. "Windward Ventures is typically one of the first venture investors in a company and we work closely with entrepreneurs to build successful businesses " says Jim Cole, a general partner of Windward Ventures Management. Windward Ventures Management was formed by David Titus and Jim Cole in 1997. The pair have 15 years of experience in the venture capital industry as well as experience as entrepreneurs. Cole was a founder of Amplica, a publicly traded electronics company and Titus was a founder of Silicon Valley Bank. Windward Ventures 2000 follows upon the success of an initial fund formed in 1997. That fund, Windward Ventures L.P. has backed such Southern California companies as Accelerated Networks (Nasdaq: ACCL) of Moorpark; Sitematic Corp. of San Diego, now a part of NetObjects Inc. (Nasdaq: NETO); SkyDesk Inc. of San Diego; and Troika Networks Inc. of Thousand Oaks. "We are quite pleased with the performance of our initial investment with Windward Ventures and look forward to continued excellent results," says Charles E. Noell III of JMI Inc., one of the investors in the fund. *** G TRAN, a Westlake Village-based provider of high-speed data solutions for multimedia wireless and fiber optic transmissions, has expanded into San Diego, opening in the San Diego Tech Center. The site will house the company’s wireless division.The San Diego operation will concentrate on the development and technical support of the company’s new DotSurfer, a wireless PCMCIA type II card that allows PCS carriers to enable laptop connectivity at speeds higher than traditional landline modems. "We are naturally very excited to bring our operations into the San Diego area as part of our worldwide expansion," says Frank Lee, president and CEO for GTRAN. "(This) facility in the Tech Center provides a perfect opportunity for us to be identified with some of the most innovative and technically advanced companies in the world. Our presence here is indicative of our continued growth in the multimedia wireless and fiber optic industry, and we are proud to join this list of companies who are creating new technologies and opening new markets." GTRAN designs and manufactures high-speed data engines for the wireless and fiber optic markets. The company is among the first to have a CDMA data modem license from Qualcomm for multimedia wireless Internet access technologies such as IS95B, HDR and 1X MC. *** S an Diego-based AskTheLawyers.com has partnered with iSyndicate.com, a content syndication service on the Internet.AskTheLawers.com says it is the first entity to offer state specific legal content to iSyndicate's network of Web sites customers. The company will supply articles covering a variety of law, including family, personal injury, employment and business law. Each article will be in a question and answer format featuring topics specific to communities across the country. AskTheLawyers.com will update and maintain the content. "AskTheLawyers.com is thrilled to be able to provide this valuable, local resource through our associations with some of the most prestigious law firms in the country," says Cheney Winslow, CEO of AskTheLawyers.com. AskTheLawyers.com is an interactive service where individuals obtain an initial consultation. at no charge, via e-mail with a licensed attorney in their area. The company promotes its law firm sponsors through a network of media partnerships including WFAA (ABC) in Dallas, WBBM (CBS) in Chicago and WSB (ABC) in Atlanta. Most recently the company announced a strategic alliance with Internet broadcaster NextLevel.com to produce "Legal Live Casts" on the Internet. Click Below to View Previous Daily Business Reports |
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