Hi Ausdaur - Check out the companies that this venture capital company has investments in ... (http://www.norwestvc.com/business/index.html).
Some of their other investments may provide you some additional ideas.
In September 1998 they also increased their position in Cerent.
"...Norwest Venture Partners Expands
Communications Portfolio with $9 Million
Investment in Cerent Corporation
PALO ALTO, Calif. - September 29, 1998 - Norwest
Venture Partners, the premier venture capital business
partner for emerging growth IT companies, today
announced a $9 million investment in Cerent Corporation, a
leading telecommunications manufacturer. Norwest Venture
Partners led the $12.7 million total round of financing,
which included investments from Kleiner Perkins Caufield
& Byers and Integral Capital Partners, as well as Advanced
Fibre Communications, a Norwest portfolio company. In
addition to the financing, Promod Haque, a general partner
at Norwest Venture Partners, will join Cerent's board of
directors.
Cerent, based in Petaluma, Calif., plans to use the funding
to grow the company's infrastructure and expand marketing
and distribution for its technology solution. Cerent's
products allow service providers to cost-effectively build,
and transition to, data-intensive fiber optic networks. Cerent
is currently developing the Cerent 454™, a revolutionary
access and transport platform that combines efficient,
high-speed IP over SONET/SDH transport with ATM,
frame relay and TDM access.
"Cerent has positioned itself, with a breakthrough product
offering and a strong management team, to reap the benefits
of the explosive growth in the public communications
network," commented Haque. "As bandwidth requirements
continue to grow, service providers will seek solutions that
expand their available bandwidth and deliver advanced
services while reducing their costs. Cerent's product solution
improves the efficiency of a given amount of bandwidth
while reducing the raw cost of transport."
Norwest Venture Partners will work closely with Cerent to
build the company's infrastructure to achieve a leadership
position in its market. Norwest Venture Partners will serve
as a strategic business partner by not only supplying funding
but also providing feedback and input into the company's
key business decisions. Norwest Venture Partners brings to
Cerent a wealth of experience in all related market
segments, including telecommunications, data
communications, software and service provisioning. The
firm has a strong network of portfolio companies that will
provide Cerent instant access to potential strategic business
partners and customers.
"Norwest Venture Partners has done an excellent job in
growing start-ups into world-class, industry-leading
organizations," noted Carl Russo, president and CEO of
Cerent Corporation. "Promod Haque has an outstanding
background in this market and his presence on Cerent's
board of directors will provide an excellent resource to the
company. We look forward to working with Norwest
Venture Partners to establish Cerent as the market leader."
Cerent joins Norwest Venture Partners' communications
portfolio which includes companies such as Advanced Fibre
Communications (NASDAQ: AFCI), Corsair
Communications (NASDAQ: CAIR), Brooks Fiber
Properties (acquired by WorldCom, NASDAQ: WCOM),
Verio (NASDAQ: VRIO), Xylan (NASDAQ: XYLN),
Advanced Telecom Group, Extreme Networks, WNP
Communications, and Xedia.
About Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest Venture Partners, founded in 1961, is the premier
venture capital business partner for emerging growth IT
companies. The firm actively manages $600 million in
investments, and has raised more than $1 billion since
inception. Norwest Venture Partners has a broad
information technology investment focus, including software
and the Internet, data communications, telecommunications,
semiconductors and subscriber-based services. The firm
prides itself on supporting companies beyond the call of
duty with the reputation, financial resources, seasoned
business experience and network of relationships required
for success. Coopers & Lybrand ranked Norwest Venture
Partners as the #1 most active software investor of 1997.
The firm has invested in such market leaders as
Documentum, PeopleSoft, Raptor Systems, Tivoli, Vantive
and Verio. Additional information on Norwest Venture
Partners is available via the Internet at
norwestvc.com or by calling 650-321-8000
(Palo Alto) or 781-237-5870 (Boston)...."
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I guess we are on the right track when Norwest Ventures finds value in AFC. I was surprised to see that they also have/had investments in Xylan and Polycom, both companies I have been acquiring over the past year.
EKS
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