Investors in Wireless

We’re (not just) investors. We’re (more than) advisors. We’re (beyond) connectors. Ben Franklin Technology Partners combines the best practices of early stage investing with a higher purpose – to lead the region’s technology community to new heights, creating jobs and transforming lives. For over 30 years, Ben has been the leading seed stage capital provider for the region’s technology sectors, investing over $170 million in more than 1,750 regional technology companies, many of which have gone on to become industry leaders. Ben Franklin has also launched university/industry partnerships that accelerate scientific discoveries to commercialization, and has seeded regional initiatives that strengthen our entrepreneurial community.

IMM Investment Corp. is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in mezzanine investments. It focuses on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital investing, corporate restructuring, private equity investing, industry consolidation, management buyouts, spin-offs, recapitalizations, and cross-border investments. Within mergers and acquisitions, the firm invests in strategic mergers, growth through acquisitions, going public via a reverse merger, and strategic divestures. For recapitalizations, it targets family owned enterprise considering whole or partial exit and balance sheet restructuring. The firm also co-invests in buyout transactions. For its growth stage investments, it allocates 20 percent to startups, 40 percent to expansion, and 40 percent to mezzanine. The firm targets companies operating in information technology infrastructure, wireless communications entertainment and contents, franchising, cement, software, electricity, food and beverage, machinery, game software, chemical, paper manufacture, and automobile parts industries. For industries concentration, it sets 40 percent to information technology infrastructure focusing on security, application service provider, and e-commerce solutions; 30 percent to contents, focusing on education, game, and animation; and 30 percent to digital hardware focusing on network and communications equipment, semiconductor, parts and others. The firm also invests in infrastructure, environment, manufacturing, enzyme, biotechnology, and healthcare sectors. It also makes secondary investments. The firm primarily invests in South Korean medium-sized companies located in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Daegu, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and Chungcheongbuk-do. It prefers to take an active role in management. IMM Investment Corp. was founded in July 1999 and is based in Seoul, South Korea.

Intel Capital, Intel's strategic investment program, is one of the largest worldwide corporate venture programs investing in the technology segment. With an overall strategy to stimulate advances in computing and communications, the Intel Capital team seeks out, and invests in, promising companies worldwide, working together to establish new and innovative technologies, develop industry standard solutions, drive Internet growth, and advance the computing platform. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than $11.6 billion in approximately 1,437 companies in 57 countries. In that timeframe, 212 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 377 were acquired or participated in a merger.

Kinetic Ventures, L.L.C. is a venture capital firm specializing in early stage investments. It also considers investments in the seed, growth, mid venture, emerging growth, and late stages companies in special situations. The firm typically invests in communications, information technology, and power and clean technology sectors. In communications sector, it focuses on last mile connectivity, video over the Internet, quadruple play, wireless infrastructure, RFID and sensor networks, and mobile video companies. In information technology sector, the firm seeks to invest in mobile platforms, open source, on-demand computing, customized content and entertainment, lite applications, and security and identity management companies. In power and clean technology sector, it focuses on smart grid, low carbon solutions, efficiency, environmental finance, sustainable industrial processes, and green building materials. The firm prefers to invest in companies based in the United States and selectively in Canada and outside of North America. In selected cases it considers investments in foreign companies. It seeks to invest between $2 million and $10 million in a company and for larger investments, the firm arranges a syndicate of investors. The firm prefers a Board seat in the portfolio company. It typically exits its investments through an IPO or acquisition. The firm was formerly known as Arete Ventures. Kinetic Ventures, L.L.C. was founded in 1983 and is based in Chevy Chase, Maryland with an additional office in Atlanta, Georgia.

Qualcomm Ventures (QCV) was formed and began funding in 2000, with a $500-million fund commitment to make strategic investments in early-stage high-technology ventures. Since then, QCV has funded numerous companies in the wireless sector, and set up several exclusive regional funds to spur development in key strategic markets, including a $60-million fund in Korea, a $30-million fund in Japan, a $100-million fund in China and a EURO100-million fund in Europe. QCV makes strategic investments in wireless-industry ventures that provide both a strong potential return on investment (ROI) and complement existing Qualcomm products and services. QCV also seeks to identify and fund new telecommunications growth markets before widespread market recognition, and to find emerging technologies and business models that further accelerate the wireless market. QCV invests between $500,000 and $10 million typically at the expansion stage, often the second round of financing.

Founded in 1993, WI Harper Group is an investment firm based in Beijing. The firm invests in start-up companies.

Founded in 1999, Enhanced Capital Partners is a national investment firm with over $400 million under management specializing in investments in small and mid-size companies. Enhanced Capital provides a range of investment options to promote the growth and expansion of businesses. Our flexibility and practical investment approach can make the difference in maximizing the growth potential for a company poised for rapid growth.

Collaborative Fund aims to be the leading source of capital and strategic support for creative entrepreneurs who want to change the world. The fund focuses on two themes: the increasing importance of values as they relate to the decisions people make about who they work for, what they buy, and how they spend their time; and the shift from an economy based on hyper-consumption to one based on Collaborative Consumption. These two forces present a significant opportunity for new technologies, products, and services to reinvent how society conducts business and transform daily lives. According to published reports, investors in the $6 million fund include GM O'Connell, Nicholas Negroponte, Jason Krikorian (co-founder of Sling Media), Ben Goldhirsh (heir to the Inc. Magazine fortune), and Brendan Synnot (founder of the 'Bear Naked' and 'Revelry' brands).

A Plus Finance, which is headquartered in Paris (France), is an independent trust company specialising in the management of Common Investment Funds for Innovation (FCPI) and Proximity Investment Funds (FIP). A Plus Finance is involved in all innovative sectors, particularly in the IT, media and security fields. The A Plus Finance team includes financiers and entrepreneurs, thus providing companies with both an awareness of the daily constraints of management and a long-term perspective on the development of their business. Managing funds amounting to nearly €220m, A Plus Finance invests between €1 million and €4 million per project.per

Sequoia Capital Global Equities extends Sequoia Capital’s technology investing efforts into the public markets. SCGE currently manages over $7 billion and invests in companies across the global technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sectors, primarily focusing on software, internet, financial technology, and technology-enabled consumer businesses. The firm’s portfolio consists of concentrated, long-term investments in leading companies across the world. While the majority of the portfolio is comprised of public companies, SCGE also partners with entrepreneurs through late-stage private crossover investments, often investing alongside Sequoia Growth funds. The firm’s private portfolio includes emerging leaders in the United States, China, India, Brazil, Korea, and Israel. As these private companies become public, SCGE grows the partnership with additional investments at the IPO and beyond.