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Naya Ventures Launches New $50 Million Fund Focusing on the Mobile and Cloud Markets
DALLAS, TX, Dec 06, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --
Naya Ventures, a new type of venture capital fund specializing in
early stage companies in the mobile and cloud markets, today
announced its first closing for its $50 million fund.
Headquartered in Dallas, with offices in Silicon Valley, Seattle and
Hyderabad, India, Naya takes a unique approach from the typical
venture capital fund to lead by collaboration. Combining the features
of a venture capital fund with those of a private equity firm, Naya
not only provides capital to early stage companies, but also the
industry experience and relationships at the concept stage in their
development to help jumpstart their growth to the next level and
beyond. Naya helps connect entrepreneurs with the necessary key
players in big companies, from internal product marketing and
development all the way up to C-level executives, leveraging its own
extensive operational experience, product development expertise and
network of strategic relationships to help entrepreneurs grow their
companies and accelerate value creation. At a time when many funds
have struggled or even closed, the value of Naya's portfolio
companies have created significant value and all its portfolio
companies have gone straight to Series A or B funding.
The fund is led by serial entrepreneurs who are veterans in mobile
and cloud technology industry and who have collectively founded and
sold mobile technology companies creating more than $500 million in
shareholder value. The fund is headed by Dayakar Puskoor, a wireless
industry visionary and former Microsoft executive whose background
includes founder and CEO of JP Mobile and M2 Junction; Prabakar
Reddy, an experienced global executive with more than 20 years of
strategy and operational roles in Fortune 500 and innovative start-up
companies including co-founder and CIO of Risemart and managing
director of ANSR Group, and Gowri Shankar, CEO of SinglePoint
Technologies and a founding member of the Sprint PCS launch team,
which laid the foundation for Sprint PCS's industry-leading
enterprise sales strategy.
"We're pleased that these investment partners have joined us and see
the value in our unique approach," said Puskoor, who serves as
general and managing partner for the fund. "We are not a traditional
incubator model, nor a traditional Venture Capitalist; we consult
with our portfolio companies' management teams to identify areas in
which Naya can help and go beyond opening doors for our portfolio
companies. We do all that we can to build value. All of our portfolio
companies have benefited by Naya's connections in getting strategic
deals and partnerships, and kickstarting revenue opportunities."
In operation since 2011, Naya's current portfolio consists of seven
companies in the mobile and cloud market. These include BoxFish
(formerly Mixaroo), a better way to control TV, Zoomingo, a top rated
shopping app platform that lets consumers find the best deals in
their local stores or online from their smartphone or home computer;
and Glympse, a mobile service that allows GPS-enabled mobile devices
to share their location via a web app for a pre-set amount of time.
Additional companies are currently in the pipeline or under
evaluation.
"Naya's team has helped us in our business development and marketing,
assisting us to refine our strategy and getting key introductions to
potential partners that helped us to accelerate our business
development," said Eoin Dowling, Co-founder and CEO of Boxfish. "Naya
worked with us in lockstep to increase our business development
bandwidth."
"Naya has been a key strategic partner from the beginning, and the
team is available to us as much as we want," said Shirish Nadkarni,
president and CEO of Zoomingo. "As part of this, Naya had helped us
with our strategy and business development, identifying and
introducing us to potential business partners to help us establish a
strong business model for Zoomingo."
Co-investors in Naya portfolio companies include Menlo Ventures,
Benaroya Capital, Seapoint Ventures, Intel Capital, Deutshe Telecom
Ventures, Ignition and Rally Capital.
Founded in 2011, Naya Ventures invests in early stage mobile
technology and cloud based companies where its product development
expertise, emerging market channel relationships and go-to-market
strategies can efficiently increase enterprise value. Led by serial
entrepreneurs in the mobile and cloud industry, Naya Ventures'
principals work alongside a global network of C-level executives and
general partners at influential US technology companies and venture
funds. Naya's strong mobile and cloud industry reputation, its
relationships with leading technology companies such as Microsoft and
its global network of technology and market development resources
help accelerate value creation. Its relationships also provide Naya
with an extensive deal sourcing and follow on funding capability.
For more information please contact:
Belinda Young
BYPR
Telephone: 206-932-3145
Email: Email Contact
Jeremy Young
BYPR
Telephone: 206-291-3818
Email: Email Contact
SOURCE: Naya Ventures
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