Kodiak Venture Partners secures $290M communications fund
"Kodiak ranks with a select few funds as having that rare combination of a thoughtful targeted strategy, a well composed professional team, and deep experience in their areas of technology practice," said Philip Cooper, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs. "The Kodiak partners are broadly experienced in deal making, marketing and, above all, company building and management mentoring skills. We are pleased to be their largest investor and a frequent co-investor."
With KVP II, Kodiak will continue its focus on emerging communications, semiconductor and software opportunities. The firm will also continue its regional focus in eastern North America, building on its established presence in Boston and Ottawa. The fund will make initial seed and early stage investments ranging from $250,000 to $10 million.
The firm has already committed funds from KVP II to several new investments, including TeraConnect, an optical communications company with breakthrough data transmission technology; IceFyre Semiconductor, an innovator of high-speed wireless connectivity chips; sentitO, an integrated solutions provider of higher performing network and telecommunications equipment; and Chaoticom, a spin-out from the research laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, a developer of data compression and encryption technology.
"Kodiak has always taken a very hands-on approach to building companies, working closely with entrepreneurs, recruiting strong teams and staying close to customers," said Dave Furneaux, Co-Founder and Managing General Partner of Kodiak Venture Partners. "That approach has been successful in both up and down cycles, and we're very pleased with the confidence our limited partners have shown in our approach."
As a seed and early stage investor, Kodiak is involved in the earliest stages of building companies. The firm participated in the founding of over half of the companies in its portfolio. With KVP II, Kodiak will continue to concentrate on building strong companies from seed and early stage opportunities. Kodiak will also continue its regional focus, investing in companies located in the eastern U.S. and Canada.
Kevin Rankin, CEO of Tropic Networks (a KVP I portfolio company), remarked, "Kodiak's seasoned team of entrepreneurs understand exactly what Tropic needs in order to get to market quickly. They've introduced Tropic to the world's largest builders of optical networks and helped us forge the kinds of relationships that are required to become a market leader."
All members of the Kodiak investment team have entrepreneurial, strategic and general management experience in the target market segments. Team members include, Dave Furneaux, Managing General Partner; Jim Furneaux, General Partner; Lou Volpe, General Partner; Mike O'Neill, Partner; and Ilan Carmi, Partner. Mike Schiavo, Partner and Chief Financial Officer, and Margo Doyle, Associate, also take active operational roles in portfolio companies.
Kodiak's team works together with the network of leading institutional limited partners including Cisco, PMC-Sierra, Goldman Sachs, BancBoston Capital and DB Alex.Brown, as well as more than 100 individual limited partners, with exhaustive high technology experience and leadership roles in successful companies. The breadth of knowledge and experience of the extended Kodiak team ensures portfolio companies grow rapidly and aggressively.
About Kodiak Venture Partners
Kodiak Venture Partners is a venture capital firm focused on seed and early stage investments in emerging communications, semiconductor and software companies. With focus in the eastern regions of the U.S. and Canada, Kodiak Venture Partners builds relationships with entrepreneurs who seek accelerated market success. Kodiak's investment partners are themselves successful high-tech business entrepreneurs who take a high impact, hands on approach to founding, operating, building, and funding market leaders.
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