Investors
World Wide Packets is funded by a group of highly experienced and successful technology investors. In 2005, the company completed its last round of funding which was co-led by Craig McCaw’s Eagle River Holdings, LLC, and Rally Capital, LLC, two prominent investment firms with broad telecommunications expertise. Previous investors include Argo Global Capital LLC, Azure Capital Partners, Entrepia Ventures, the Madrona Venture Group LLC, Millennium Technology Ventures and Northwest Venture Associates.
Argo Global Capital LLC is a U.S. Venture Capital firm with more than US$460 million of committed capital. Founded in 1997, Argo is a leading international private equity firm dedicated to communications and information technology. Argo's two funds, GSM Capital Limited Partnership and ARGO II-The Wireless Internet Fund Limited Partnership, have made more than 38 investments in Europe, North America and Asia from its offices in Boston, Montréal, London and Hong Kong. Major wireless operators around the World - including France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, KPN, ESAT, Singapore Telecom, SmarTone, VoiceStream, Microcell Telecommunications and TIW - contribute capital and ongoing support to Argo's funds and its portfolio companies.
Azure Capital Partners is an early stage venture capital firm with over $500 million under management, headquartered in San Francisco, California. Our goal is to identify, invest in and help build earlier stage information technology companies that are at the forefront of a transformative opportunity for growth. Our partners have a long track record of identifying and helping to build some of the most successful companies in communications, software and related technology segments. Azure Capital Partners support portfolio companies with active guidance to our entrepreneurs in all key aspects of strategy, operations and governance.
Eagle River Holdings, LLC
Eagle River Holdings, LLC is part of a group of closely held investment companies formed by Craig McCaw, beginning in 1993. Eagle River invests primarily in telecommunications and technology companies. The group's past investments have included Nextel, Nextel Partners, RadioFrame Networks, Clearwire Corporation and ICO Global Communications, among others.
Entrepia Ventures invests in private, technology-based, expansion-stage companies that stand to benefit from market or technology affiliation with Japan. Operating out of offices in New York, San Jose, Montreal and Tokyo, and increasingly recognized as the "go to Japan" fund, Entrepia helps its portfolio companies generate incremental top-line growth to become more competitive, successful and valuable. Anchored on access, relationships, a hands-on approach, and on-the-ground presence, Entrepia's strategy is directed towards investment opportunities worldwide in IT, communications, electronics and core technologies.
Madrona Venture Group LLC is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on the information technology economy in the Pacific Northwest. The firm targets investments in technology companies, with an emphasis on enterprise software and services, consumer software and services, and wireless, networking and infrastructure. Based in Seattle, Madrona has a $250 million fund that includes early-stage investments such as Isilon Systems, Impinj and ShareBuilder.
Millennium Technology Ventures is a $160 million venture capital fund based in New York City. Millennium’s focus is primarily on early stage companies developing Internet and communications infrastructure, enabling technologies, software, and tools. The fund’s most recent success story is Phobos, a developer of unique SSL load balancing technology, that was recently acquired by SonicWALL (Nasdaq: SNWL), a public company in the Internet security field.
Other notable investments of the fund and its predecessor, PS Capital, include InterNAP (bandwidth management and Internet routing technology and services; Nasdaq: INAP), Aventail (turnkey extranet technology and services), RuleSpace (advanced content categorization technology), Wild Tangent (interactive and 3-D multimedia streaming platform), NxtWave (semiconductor design for advanced and interactive television), and Mixed Signals (the leading platform for delivering interactive content on the television set today).
Northwest Venture Associates (NWVA)
Formed in 1986, NWVA is a leading private equity firm exclusively invested in a diversity of Northwest based companies, predominantly in the information and business services, communications and consumer industries. NWVA differentiates itself by seeking emerging businesses with exceptional growth potential, adhering to an investment strategy based on fundamentals and working closely with its management teams. Since inception, NWVA has invested in over 40 companies in its targeted sectors, including several of the region’s most promising and successful businesses.
Rally Capital, LLC
Rally Capital, LLC was formed in early 2005 with a focus on investing in telecommunications companies. Bringing decades of strategic industry experience and relationships, Rally invests in companies with innovative approaches to meet the needs of their customers and service organizations.
