AUSTIN, Texas—The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a business accelerator for technology startup companies and a program of the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, has formed a strategic partnership with Sevin Rosen Funds to mentor and provide grant opportunities for new ventures that join ATI.
ATI has tapped Sevin Rosen Funds as one of its strategic partners to support ATI’s mission of offering business counsel to help early stage ventures make the transition into successful technology businesses.
ATI and Sevin Rosen will closely examine business plans to identify promising early stage companies, admit them into ATI, and through a competitive grant offered by Sevin Rosen, support the cost of membership in ATI for one year.
Sevin Rosen also will become involved in mentoring the company to help it accelerate its development into a successful technology business. The business acceleration program provides companies with quarterly strategic reviews to help entrepreneurs shape business strategy, acquire customers and partners and get access to sources of funding.
To apply to the program and grant, companies are asked to submit their business plans to ATI with authorization to share it with Sevin Rosen. A select number of companies that are invited to present to ATI and Sevin Rosen will be offered admission into ATI. Upon successful completion of the admission requirements, these entrepreneurs will operate under the program grant in support of their membership at ATI.
“ATI welcomes Sevin Rosen Funds as a new strategic partner in support of our efforts to accelerate the growth of new ventures in central Texas,” said Erin Defosse, acting director of ATI and the director of ATI Wireless, ATI’s sector-focused business accelerator for the wireless industry. “Sevin Rosen’s principals are former entrepreneurs and executives who have launched and run successful technology businesses and we believe that their operational insights and experience will significantly benefit the entrepreneurs in our region.”
Since 1981, Sevin Rosen Funds has demonstrated its commitment to the entrepreneurial community. Engaging in this mentoring program with ATI’s accelerated companies will allow the firm to further support the development of emerging technology companies by becoming an operational and technical adviser, as well as a counselor on early-stage funding options.
“Sevin Rosen Funds is committed to helping great ideas become great companies,” said Al Schuele, general partner for Sevin Rosen Funds. “This year marks our 25th year of investing in entrepreneurs and incubating companies like Compaq and Cytokinetics that have become benchmarks for new entrepreneurs. We’re excited to work with ATI to help the next generation of Texas-based entrepreneurs fulfill their visions.”
About Sevin Rosen Funds
Sevin Rosen Funds (SRF) is a top-tier venture capital firm with a record of funding successful companies since 1981. The SRF partnership has consistently made early-stage investments in pioneering technologies and companies with the potential to create new markets. The partners’ broad range of venture and operating experiences in successful technology companies translates into a sustained commitment and contribution to the development of the ventures funded. Compaq, Lotus, Cypress, Electronic Arts, SGI, Citrix and CIENA are representative of some of the firm’s successful IPOs.
Sevin Rosen general partners are Jon Bayless, Steve Domenik, Steve Dow, John Jaggers, Jackie Kimzey, Dave McLean, John Oxaal, Charles Phipps, Al Schuele and Nick Sturiale. The firm has offices in Austin, Dallas, Palo Alto and San Diego. For more information, please visit .
About the ATI
The ATI is a nonprofit technology business accelerator that harnesses local business, government and academic resources to provide strategic counsel, operational guidance and infrastructure support to early stage ventures in order to accelerate them transition into successful technology based businesses.
ATI enables its members to successfully compete in the global marketplace by linking them with ATI’s worldwide network of industry leaders, experts from academia and professional service providers. ATI companies have raised more than $700 million in capital, generated more than $1.5 billion in revenue and created more than 10,000 jobs. The ATI is a key program of the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin.
