Digital Partners and Encompass Ventures Combine Operations; Two of the Pacific Northwest's Most Successful Venture Capital Firms Join Forces.Business EditorsBELLEVUE Bellevue (bĕl`vy  ).1 City (1990 pop. 30,982), Sarpy co., E Nebr., a suburb of Omaha, on the Missouri River; inc. 1855. , Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2002 Digital Partners and Encompass ENCOMPASS Enhanced Consequence Management Planning and Support System (DARPA) Ventures, two of the Pacific Northwest's most successful venture capitals firms, today announced that effectively immediately they are merging their operations. Combined, this investment team has the distinction of achieving more initial public offerings (IPO's) than any other Pacific Northwest-based Information Technology venture capital firm. The two firms have $100 million under management, and over the past five years have completed 50 investments -- five of the portfolio companies were acquired for positive returns and 16 accomplished IPO's. Scot Land and Wayne Wayne, city (1990 pop. 19,899), Wayne co., SE Mich., a suburb of Detroit, on the Lower Rouge River; inc. as a village 1869, and with surrounding areas as a city 1960. It has automobile and aircraft industries and other varied manufactures. Wager, managing partners with Encompass Ventures and Bill Tenneson, managing partner at Digital Partners will lead a newly created management company, which will raise and manage future venture funds. Both firms are actively managing venture capital limited partnerships which will remain separate legal entities. The two organizations will join operations in Encompass Ventures' offices in Bellevue, Wash. in early April 2002. "By joining forces we are creating a venture capital firm that has critical mass and can operate more efficiently," noted Bill Tenneson, managing partner of Digital Partners. The firms have a history of sharing deal flow, collaborating on due diligence Research; analysis; your homework. This term has caught on in all industries, because it sounds so "wired." Who would want to do analysis or research when they can do due diligence. See wired. and co-investing. The co-investments to date include LizardTech Inc., Loudeye Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ/NM:LOUD) and Ontain Corporation. "Our consolidation is really about combining a great group of investment professionals who enjoy strong regional reputations, work well together and share identical investment strategies," said Wayne Wager, managing partner of Encompass Ventures. The two firms' portfolio companies will be able to leverage the extensive international business development network that Encompass has developed. The goal for Encompass' unique international expertise is the efficient distribution of products and services, international market intelligence and enhanced market access for their portfolio companies. "We look forward to continuing our history of creating significant international market opportunities for Digital Partners' portfolio companies," said Scot Land, Encompass Ventures' managing partner. "The international business development capabilities that Encompass has developed are a tremendous benefit for early-stage IT companies. We look forward to engaging in the international business development network and providing enhanced value-add for our portfolio companies," added Tenneson. About Digital Partners Digital Partners III is a $36 million venture capital focused on seed and early stage technology companies located in the Pacific Northwest. Digital Partners traditional, "hands-on hands-on adj. Involving active participation; applied, as opposed to theoretical: "We're involved in hands-on operations, pulling levers, pushing buttons" Arthur R. Taylor. " investment style keeps the firm in steady contact with its portfolio companies. The firm currently has $36 million under management and targets investments of $1 to 3 million over a company's development stage. Digital Partners practice areas include business software and business communication products, Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the and Intranet infrastructure, telecommunications Communicating information, including data, text, pictures, voice and video over long distance. See communications. and wireless, software, healthcare and bioinformatics Using computers in biological research to analyze or predict the composition of molecules (nucleic acids, proteins, etc.) and model biologic systems. Bioinformatics is most prominent in the Human Genome Project, which has recorded the three billion chemical base pairs that make up the ventures. The firm's core focus is wireless connectivity and data delivery, enterprise software and Internet infrastructure. For more information, please refer to the Digital Partners web site at www.digitalpartnersvc.com. About Encompass Ventures Encompass Ventures Management Company, based in Bellevue, Wash., invests in early stage information technology companies that are located on the West Coast. The firm has specific interest in companies developing enterprise applications, solutions for digital infrastructure and telecommunications including the use of wireless and broadband technologies broadband technology Telecommunications devices, lines, or technologies that allow communication over a wide band of frequencies, and especially over a range of frequencies divided into multiple independent channels for the simultaneous transmission of different signals. , next generation computing computing - computer , and innovative medical information technologies. Currently Encompass Ventures has $64 million under management with investments primarily from Japanese Japanese (jăp'ənēz`), language of uncertain origin that is spoken by more than 125 million people, most of whom live in Japan. There are also many speakers of Japanese in the Ryukyu Islands, Korea, Taiwan, parts of the United States, and information technology companies and financial institutions. Encompass Ventures provides business development support for portfolio companies interested in business expansion into Asian and European European emanating from or pertaining to Europe. European bat lyssavirus see lyssavirus. European beech tree fagussylvaticus. European blastomycosis see cryptococcosis. markets. For more information, please refer to the Encompass Ventures web site at www.encompassventures.com. |
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