Sometimes, truth really is stranger than fiction.
Need proof? California has a Republican governor.
The Dodgers and the Angels are both in first place. Donald Trump
is a TV star.
And, after a 3-year absence, Venture Capitalists seem to have
returned.
Does this mean that the markets are finally about to re-open?
Come to the Orange County Chapter’s June event and find out
from our panel of experts.
- Is the
long-anticipated Google® IPO a harbinger of a new wave of
Tech IPOs? Or is it a one-time anomaly?
- Who’s
doing the funding? And what kinds of technology solutions are
being funded?
- What have
investors learned from the “Irrational Exuberance”
of the late 1990’s? And what kinds of deals are they looking
for today?
- Most importantly,
what are the implications for Southern California technology
companies?
Come join
in what will undoubtedly be a lively discussion on the state of
venture funding in 2004—and beyond—with our panel of
respected, active investors.
Panelists:
- Bob Holmen,
Partner of Miramar Venture Partners
- Sumant
Mandal Principal of Clearstone Venture Partners
- James D.
Somes, President, Managing Director and co-founder of Alexander
Dunham Capital.
Moderator:
Ivan A. Gaviria, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips
About
the Panel
Bob Holmen,
Partner of Miramar Venture Partners
Bob is a partner and co-founder of Miramar Venture Partners. Launched
in 2001, Miramar is focused on early and expansion stage venture
capital investing in information technology companies, primarily
in Southern California. Prior to forming Miramar, Bob served as
Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of First Consulting
Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: FCGI), which provides information technology
consulting, integration and management services to health care,
pharmaceutical and other life science organizations throughout
North America and Europe. From 1997 until its sale to Purdue Pharma
in 1999, Bob served as General Counsel and Secretary, and later
Vice President and Acting Chief Financial Officer, of CoCensys,
Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that discovered and developed
new drugs for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders.
From 1994 until its sale to Harcourt General in 1997, Bob served
as corporate counsel to National Education Corporation, a global
provider of interactive multi-media products and services for
the education and training marketplace. Bob spent five years as
an associate attorney at Latham & Watkins and Morrison &
Foerster, specializing principally in finance and mergers and
acquisition transactions for technology and life science companies.
Prior to attending law school, Bob worked for Hughes Aircraft
Company, designing and programming application software and integrating
hardware and software for defense-related projects. Bob received
his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in
1985, and his J.D. from UC Berkeley in 1989.
Sumant
Mandal Principal of Clearstone Venture Partners
Sumant joined Clearstone Venture Partners in October 2000, and
focuses on core technology investments for Carrier and Enterprise
Infrastructure. He is on the board of Mimosa, Kazeon Systems and
Chutney Technologies, led Clearstone's investments in ARIO Data
Networks and SiNett and works closely with Crimson Microsystems.
Prior to Clearstone,
Sumant spent more than eight years as an entrepreneur and successful
manager, including building one business in India from start up
to substantial revenues. He served as a Managing Director for
Technip Inc., a company focused on infrastructure technologies
in Asia.
Sumant engineered
the sale of controlling equity in his corporate division to a
European multinational. Sumant was also a founder of MyPotential,
Inc., a multi-media company where he helped write the company's
first business plan, hired the key management team, raised close
to $15 million in angel and venture financing and built key strategic
relationships.
Sumant has
an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern
University, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State
University.
James D.
Somes, President, Managing Director and co-founder of Alexander
Dunham Capital.
Mr. Somes has more than 25 years experience in investment banking,
principal investing and leveraged finance. He has originated,
structured and placed more than 55 private equity, leveraged acquisition,
mezzanine, project finance and international merchant banking
transactions amounting to over $5.5 billion. Mr. Somes was the
merchant banker involved in the acquisition, recapitalization
(and subsequent sale) of a leading publishing software and services
company System Integrators, Inc. Among other engagements, he has
advised on the corporate divestiture of Com21's wireless system,
Long Distance International's $150 million hi-yield bond financing,
and on recapitalization, shareholder rights plans and other corporate
divestiture activities at Liquid Audio (NasdaqNM:LQID). Previously,
Mr. Somes was Vice President of Security Pacific Business Credit
where he was the West Coast manager for the company's $80 million
mezzanine debt fund. Prior to that he was Vice President of Citicorp
Leveraged Capital and with Citicorp International Limited/Asia
Pacific Capital Corp., Citicorp's Hong Kong-based Asia/Pacific
Merchant Bank. Mr. Somes received his Bachelor of Arts in History
from Tufts University and his MBA from Columbia University.
