Posting news that I have not seen posted. Saw a lot of comments by everyone though. ;) Mr. Farmwald joins Benchmark capital as Venture Partner.
biz.yahoo.com
Monday January 22, 7:01 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital Announces Mike Farmwald as Venture Partner
Firm Teams With Rambus Cofounder and Serial Entrepreneur to Collaborate On Investments in Semiconductor Technologies
MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Benchmark Capital, the leading early-stage high-technology venture capital firm, today announced that Mike Farmwald, a serial entrepreneur with one of the most successful track records in Silicon Valley, will join the firm as a Venture Partner. As a recognized expert in semiconductor, systems and networking technologies and markets, Mr. Farmwald will work with Benchmark to pursue investments in start-ups and help accelerate their growth by facilitating strategic partnerships, serving on company boards and offering technical guidance. Mr. Farmwald joins Reed Hundt, former FCC chairman and telecommunications industry authority, as a Benchmark Venture Partner.
``Mike is one of those rare individuals who possesses truly deep technical knowledge as well as a keen sense of market insight and vision,'' said Bruce Dunlevie, general partner at Benchmark Capital. ``I've worked with Mike for more than 11 years, including sitting on the boards of four of his companies, and I'm thrilled to formalize what is already a very close and productive relationship.''
``Benchmark partners share a tremendous amount of personal entrepreneurial experience, and they really understand entrepreneurs' needs and how best to serve them,'' said Mr. Farmwald. ``I turned to Benchmark in the past to take advantage of this expertise. Now, I'm looking forward to working with Benchmark even more to apply my own experience and knowledge of company building and technology markets as I help other entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life.''
Mr. Farmwald has founded six companies to date, five of which were financed in part by Benchmark. Mr. Farmwald is best known for cofounding Rambus Inc., a developer of scalable chip technologies that enable semiconductor memory devices and ASICs to keep pace with faster generations of processors and controllers. After founding Rambus in 1990, Mr. Farmwald served as vice president and chief scientist, overseeing the development of several key innovations.
In 1993, Mr. Farmwald founded Chromatic Research, a privately held developer of media processors for the PC industry. Mr. Farmwald served on the board of Chromatic Research until the company was acquired by ATI Technologies in November 1998. In 1996, Mr. Farmwald cofounded Epigram, creator of advanced semiconductor home networking technology, which helped revolutionize high-speed networking connectivity within the home. Epigram was acquired by Broadcom in April 1999. In late 1997, Mr. Farmwald cofounded Matrix Semiconductor, a start-up backed by Benchmark and Microsoft, among others.
Prior to his success at Rambus, Mr. Farmwald founded FTL in 1986. FTL, an ECL supercomputing company, merged with MIPS in the same year. At MIPS, Mr. Farmwald served as chief scientist for high-end systems. Following his experience at MIPS, Mr. Farmwald was an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois.
Mr. Farmwald, who holds 50 U.S. patents and has approximately 20 patents pending, received a B.S. degree in mathematics from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. He currently sits on the boards of Rambus (Nasdaq: RMBS - news), Matrix Semiconductor and AON Networks.
Company Background
Benchmark Capital was founded in 1995 with the mission of helping talented entrepreneurs build major technology enterprises focused on long-term growth. Benchmark takes a labor-intensive, team-oriented approach to venture investing in order to deliver a superior level of service to its portfolio companies. Benchmark's portfolio includes franchise companies such as Ariba, Broadbase Software, CacheFlow, Critical Path, eBay, Handspring, Juniper Networks, Kana Communications and Red Hat Software. Managing more than $2.3 billion in committed venture capital, Benchmark focuses on early-stage investing in markets where the partners have direct, relevant experience. For more information on Benchmark, visit its web site at www.benchmark.com.
SOURCE: Benchmark Capital |
