Venture Capital News
BNSL Opens Regional Office in Matamoros
The Bi-National Sustainability Laboratory (BNSL) signed an agreement with the Secretariat of Economic Development of the State of Tamaulipas (Mexico), the Tamaulipas Council of Science and Technology (COTACYT) and the Maquiladora Association of Matamoros (AMMAC) to work together to create opportunities for overall economic development in the Tamaulipas border region and develop technology-based businesses on the U.S.-Mexico border. Through its host of business incubation services, the BNSL will work with these partners to identify potential technology-based markets, the opportunities and challenges related to these markets, and Partner, Stakeholders, and Service Providers to support the region. In order to further these goals this agreement initiates the opening of a BNSL office in Matamoros.
The agreement was signed on June 27, 2007 in Matamoros by C.P. Alfredo González Fernández, Secretary of Economic Development and Employment of the State of Tamaulipas; C.P. Mónica González Creer, President of AMMAC; Dr. Julio Martínez Burnes, Director of COTACYT; and Dr. Paul Maxwell Executive Director of the BNSL. Also present at the signing ceremony were Ing. Rolando González Barrón, President of Industrias Gobar Systems; Lic. Nancy Estrada, Secretary of Economic Development of the City of Matamoros, and C.P. Roberto Mattus Rivera, Director of AMMAC.
The new BNSL office will be located in the AMMAC building in Matamoros, and is supported by funds from the parties to the agreement. Ing. Jorge Alberto Hernández Ortíz will head the office as the Regional Technical Director.
[ FYI Index ]
Millennium Technology Ventures Adds to Investment Team
Representatives of The Millennium Technology Ventures family of private equity funds announced the addition of Noah Yago to the firm's investment team as Vice President, as well as the promotion of Dan Borok to Vice President. The firm also announced its participation in several recent successful realizations, including the sales of Tellme Networks to Microsoft and Aventail to SonicWALL, bringing to seven the number of realizations the Millennium funds have achieved since 2006.
Noah Yago joins Millennium as a Vice President. Previously, Noah wasan Associate at Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), a private equity partnership focused on media and communications, with approximately $2.8 billion under management. While at VSS, he executed ten private equity and mezzanine transactions and served as an Observer on the Boards of Infobase Publishing, Riviera Broadcast Group, Xtreme Information Services, and Access Intelligence. He also worked with VSS portfolio companies to identify add-on acquisition candidates, to navigate the mergers and acquisitions process and to raise debt financing. As a former technology entrepreneur, he played a key role in evaluating the technology components of a number of fund investment opportunities. Yago received a Master of Business Administration from Stanford's Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts from Tufts University, where he majored in the dual subjects of Computer Science and German Language & Literature.
Dan Borok joined Millennium in 2005 and was recently promoted to Vice President. At Millennium he specializes in internet advertising, marketing businesses and other types of new media business models. Previously, Borok was a Business Analyst at Google, where he worked with senior management on multiple new product initiatives, including the launch of Google Adsense. He was also part of the core team responsible for implementing the financial reporting and revenue projection infrastructure. Borok received a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School with honors and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Vermont.
Recent Realizations at Millennium
Tellme Networks, the world's leading voice search company, recently completed its sale to Microsoft for approximately $800 million. Millennium became a significant investor in Tellme Networks through a large number of liquidity-oriented secondary transactions.
Aventail, another Millennium portfolio company, recently announced its sale to SonicWALL. Millennium built a large interest in Aventail through a primary venture capital investment, as well as the purchase of multiple secondary positions in liquidity-oriented transactions involving the Exodus bankruptcy and other former Aventail investors.
[ FYI Index ]
TechCrunch20 Announces $50,000 Cash Award for Top Start-Up
TechCrunch20, the inaugural two-day conference founded by Jason Calacanis and Michael Arrington where twenty technology start-ups present their business model to industry leaders, announced it will award a $50,000 cash prize to the most promising technology start-up at the event. The winner will be selected by the advisory panel of industry experts which includes Marc Andreessen, Marissa Mayer, Brad Garlinghouse, Chris Anderson, Om Malik, Robert Scoble and others. TechCrunch20 will be held at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, September 17-18.
The TechCrunch20 audience will consist of enterprising start-ups as well as executives from major technology firms, venture capitalists and investors, and media covering business and technology. The conference will be broadcast live on the Internet at http://www.techcrunch20.com .
Applications to appear at the TechCrunch20 Conference close Friday, July 6. Entry forms can be downloaded from http://techcrunch20.com/submit-your-company/, entry is free. Companies selected must be able to publicly present their business model and products by the September 17 conference date.
