2005: Year in Review
Sent on December 2, 2005
Enterprise Reports Record Year: 30 Investments, $270 Million Raised
Carl Eibl, Managing Director of Enterprise Partners, announced that 2005 will be one of the most active in the firm's 20 year history. "Enterprise Partners led investments in over 30 new and follow-on transactions, raising a total of $270M, $120M of which came from Enterprise funds. This has been an amazingly productive year for the firm and for our syndicate partners."
Enterprise invested in 10 new companies, 3 in the life sciences, 6 in emerging market technologies and 1 other, as yet unannounced. Syndicate partners include:- Alloy Ventures, August Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Domain Associates, Rho Ventures, JAFCO Ventures, Storm Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Versant Ventures, Zions Bancorporation
2005 New Investments
Life Sciences- Anaborex: Early stage biotech company focused on metabolic disease
- Celladon: Early stage gene therapy company combining catheter technology with therapeutics to treat congestive heart failure
- Celula: Early stage biotech company addressing detection of fetal abnormalities
- 3Leaf Networks: Early stage company developing scalable virtual server infrastructure
- DeviceScape Software: Early stage company that provides wireless software for devices
- Expresso Fitness: Early stage company with software and equipment enabling cardiovascular health
- Identrus: Established company delivering the global standard for identity authentication
- Muze: Buyout. Leading online and retail source of entertainment information and data for music, books and video games
- WideRay: Early stage company delivering digital content to wireless devices in retail store locations
2005 Follow-Ons and Exits
Life Sciences- Adeza (NASDAQ: ADZA)
- Genoptix
- Opthonix
- TargeGen
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Fast and Fastest
In the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500 rankings for 2005, four Enterprise portfolio and alumni companies were honored.
- NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA) was named the fastest growing technology company in North America for 2005
- The Active Network, Captiva, and Xifin were cited among the Top Fast 50 in San Diego
20 Year of Success... Time to Evolve
This year, Enterprise Partners celebrated its 20th anniversary with associates and colleagues from some of the 155 companies the firm has helped build over the years in healthcare, enterprise software, networks and telecommunications. These sectors have been remarkably successful, driving venture returns for our investors and helping drive the growth and prosperity of San Diego and the region. Now many of those sectors are maturing and growing more slowly. It is time to define and identify new investment opportunities.
Emerging Markets, Category Leaders
Carl Eibl noted, "The future for Enterprise is really about building companies that can become category leaders. The key is to create or transform large markets with either breakthrough technologies or disruptive business models. To do that we are investing in a much broader range of technology and life science disciplines than we have in the past. We're less focused on narrow domains and more interested in the emerging combinations of technologies and market opportunities we see on the horizon." To that end, the firm has recently invested in digital media (Muze), wireless content (WideRay), alternative energy systems (ReliOn), digital identity authentication for online transactions (Identrus) and software platforms for wireless handsets (Sky MobileMedia).
Managing directors Drew Senyei, Bill Stensrud, Carl Eibl and Bob Conn, - all participants in the current $350M EPVI fund and the $315M EPV fund- will build businesses in an expanded array of sectors where the firm sees the potential for exceptional growth.
back to topQ&A with Enterprise Partners
Bill Stensrud
has been a Managing Director with Enterprise since 1997 and has been successfully peering into the future of technology for many years...Q: Talking about "the technology sector" seems simplistic. What has changed in the tech world over the past couple of years and which technologies are emerging as the ones where you'll place your bets?
A: To date, there has been what I call the Six Ages of Computing: mainframes, minicomputers, personal computers, networked computers and mobile computers. Now we are entering the 6th age, the time of the embedded "netputer". In this era, we'll see pervasive computing as cheap computers-on-chips enter the market. Devices will become intelligent network elements. The Internet will continue long, sustained growth and both mobility and high speed access will be universal.
I'll be placing my bets on companies that find this century's new markets and new business models.
Carl Eibl
joined Enterprise as a Managing Director in 2003 with a background as CEO of both tech and life science companies.Q: This year Enterprise has invested in companies at varying stages of maturity, from early stage players like DeviceScape to the buyout of an established digital media company (Muze). Does that represent a shift in strategy?
A: Some opportunities originate with startups and others with more established companies that need to be repurposed or redirected in order to create, or transform, a large market.
Identrus is a good example of a company whose time and technology have arrived. The company has been in business since 1999. Enterprise led a buyout of Identrus and, with an infusion of capital and the recruitment of a new, world class management team, Identrus is poised to become THE leader in establishing digital identities to enable secure business transactions.
Bob Conn
is a Managing Director and came to Enterprise from the University of California San Diego where he was Dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering, and led the school to its current ranking among the top 15 in the countryQ: Enterprise Partners has made a point of investing in Southern California companies. You have been in a unique position to see the region develop as the UC and research community has expanded. Now, some of the region's most successful technologies are maturing. Where do you see growth?
A: The region's reputation as a research powerhouse is well deserved and no one at UCSD, or UC Irvine, or USC, or any of the private research institutes like Salk or Burnham are resting on their laurels. The drive to commercialize research is picking up speed at all these institutions, in areas ranging from the life sciences to digital media applications to energy applications. Netsift is a great example. Here is a local company, whose core packet processing research was conducted at UCSD. Cisco bought the company just 12 months after we provided the initial funding. That kind of value and company creation-and the speed to market- is why we are such believers in Southern California.
Drew Senyei
is a Managing Director at Enterprise and started the life sciences practice at Enterprise when he joined the firm in 1992. Today he directs investments in companies across many disciplines within the life sciences sector.Q: Every news report seems to bring more bad news about the state of healthcare, the cost of drugs, controversy around stem cells and an increasingly older and sicker population. Where is the opportunity in this landscape?
A:In Southern California. Seriously, this is the best market in the country for starting biotech companies. We have an extensive network of 120 biotech companies, their employees and their management. We have over 18 academic R&D centers and 12 renowned private research institutes. Big Pharma is also here.
We see opportunities in the healthcare crisis in many areas: in developing innovative therapies, in funding lower cost drugs in small companies and in identifying innovations at the intersection of converging technologies. Celladon is one of our companies doing just that. This gene therapy company has developed a unique therapy combining catheter technology with therapeutics to treat congestive heart failure.
back to topSouthern California, Land of Opportunity
Enterprise Partners has long focused on companies headquartered in Southern California. In the first half of 2005, according to Ernst & Young, over $1B was invested in the region in 90+ companies. San Diego in particular continues to be a fertile field for technology and the life sciences, driven by research conducted at UCSD and the local public and private research foundations. Enterprise continues to be a significant player in the San Diego market as noted by the following recent events:
M&As:
- NetSift, a San Diego based startup based on research from UCSD and funded solely by Enterprise was acquired by Cisco within a year of original funding
- M7, a San Diego company providing wireless gaming features and functionality for major carriers and game publishers was acquire by Motricity
Big Deals:
- TargeGen, Inc. raised $30M in the 3rd quarter, more than twice that of any other San Diego based biotech company
- In the medical device sector, Opthonix was the number one fund-raiser with $17M invested. *
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EIRs Become CEOs
Enterprise Partners regularly engages senior executives in its Entrepreneur-in-Residence program. These business leaders help source deals, research prospective investments and develop new businesses. In 2005:
Brian Button, a former EIR, recently founded Expresso Fitness and received funding from Enterprise. He is now CEO of the company.
Patrick Harr joined Enterprise this year after leaving McData (which acquired Sanera Systems, an Enterprise company). He was recently named CEO of Preventsys, an Enterprise portfolio company.
Kris Zsebo, PhD, is currently an Enterprise EIR serving as the President and Director of Celladon and as the CEO of Oncomax. Kris has a distinguished career as a CEO and senior executive at Remedyne, Alza and Amgen.
Ali Hedayati is currently an EIR with the firm exploring opportunities in technology. He joined Enterprise in 2005 from Intel, where he was General Manager of the Wireless Products Division. Ali spent 20+ years with Intel.
back to topPartovi to Lead SkyMobile Media
Naser Partovi, a managing director with Enterprise Partners since 2000 will join SKY MobileMedia as President and CEO effective in December 2005.
"SKY MobileMedia, Inc. is poised for tremendous growth as the demand for data applications on mobile phones increases," said Partovi. "SKY's platform approach to mobile applications software is quickly gaining popularity and handset deployments among manufacturers, mobile operators, and wireless chipset suppliers. I am excited to be a part of the SKY team as we enter this next stage of rapid market share and revenue growth."
back to topAll Aboard...
Industry Associations
In 2005, EPVC personnel became active in the following professional, civic and academic organizations:
- Bob Conn has joined the board of the San Diego Venture Group
- Carl Eibl has joined the board and the executive committee of CONNECT
- Moya Gollaher has joined the advisory board of CONNECT
- Drew Senyei has been chosen to evaluate projects developed by UCSD Cancer Nanotechnology Center
- Bill Stensrud is a member of the Dean's advisory council for the Rady School at UC San Diego
- Drew Senyei has been named the president of the San Diego Opera board of directors
Enterprise Gives Back. Supports Rady School
In 2005, Bill and Carol Stensrud donated $5M to UC San Diego's Rady School of Management with the partnership donating an additional $250K to support this important new source of research, innovation and entrepreneurship, The Rady School, founded in 2002, is the newest professional school at UCSD and brings top tier students and faculty together in a variety of full-time, flex and satellite programs that focus on driving innovation in science and technology. Innovation is a key component of the Enterprise approach to business building and the firm enthusiastically supports the Rady School initiatives.
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