Resonant Venture Partners

Jon Oberheide Honored in Forbes “30 Under 30″ List

Jason — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:09:56 +0000

Jon Oberheide, the CTO of Resonant portfolio company Duo Security, was recently honored in Forbes “30 Under 30″ List of Technology Entrepreneurs. Jon was selected for digging up major security bugs in the Android operating system, as well as co-founding Duo Security. Duo specializes in modern two factor authentication, allowing individuals to secure their logins and transactions using their smartphones. Congrats Jon!

The SBA Launches $1B Early Stage Innovation Fund

Jason — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:39:08 +0000

Over the past 4 years only 6% of all venture capital has been deployed in financing rounds between $1-4M, with 70% of the financings going to only three states – California, Massachusetts and New York. The Innovation Fund will target this gap, providing a 1:1 match to private capital raised by early stage seed funds. Click here to read the full White House Press Release.

House Passes Crowdfunding Bill

Jason — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:32:59 +0000

The House of Representatives passed a bill that will allow startups to raise money via crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter. Dirty cap tables – here we come! We’ll see if the Senate and President share the House’s enthusiasm. In the mean time, you can read the details and full bill here.

Jen Baird Named MVCA Entrepreneur of the Year

Jason — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:06:37 +0000

Jen Baird, the CEO of Resonant portfolio company Accio Energy, was recently named as the MVCA Entrepreneur of the Year. Along with Colin Rich, Jen co-founded Ann Arbor-based Accuri Cytometers Inc., which was sold in February to New Jersey-based Becton, Dickenson and Co. for $205 million. Congrats Jen!

Accel Launches $100M “Big Data” Initiative

Jason — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:38:55 +0000

Accel Partners just announced that they will be dedicating $100M of their existing capital towards the theme of Big Data. IDC reports big data will drive $22 billion in cloud storage and spending alone by 2015. Accel also believes much of the innovation in this space will be driven by smaller firms. Many of the data points used in Accel’s decision to launch this initiative were considered when we were defining Resonant’s industry focus. Read more here.

Don’t Launch A Company, Launch A Fund

Jason — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:04:59 +0000

TechCrunch posted an article talking about the “Barbell” situation in the VC space. Unsurprisingly, it got my attention. It refers to the large amount of angel and late stage VC capital available, combined with a small amount of Series A capital. The article has some quality stats and reiterates that this is a perfect time to launch a small early stage fund. I would have to think Resonant agrees with this conclusion. Read the full article here

End of the Free Ride

Jason — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:45:34 +0000

The number of semiconductor companies spawned with VC funding has been steadily declining for nearly a decade. In 2003, VCs gave life to 63 new chip companies. Last year the number was 13. It’s a trend that promises to reshape the semiconductor industry. I can’t say I didn’t see that trend happening during my time at Intel, but it still stings. Makes you think what the industry would have looked like if Intel didn’t receive VC funding and what other promising companies won’t get funded in this environment. Read the full article here

UM to Invest $25M in University Spinoffs

Jason — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 05:17:34 +0000

Tom Henderson from Crain’s wrote an article regarding Mary Sue Coleman’s announcement that the University of Michigan Endowment will finally be investing in its own startups. Resonant and Arboretum were profiled as two local firms which make seed stage investments and would be able to benefit from a university co-investment.

The United States of Venture Capital

Jason — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:35:37 +0000

The Wall Street Journal made an interactive map of the distribution of VC funding in the first six months of 2011. Check it out here

Accio Energy Raises $1.9M Series A and Expands Board

Jason — Tue, 24 May 2011 04:15:19 +0000

“There is no question that the underlying technology is a complete paradigm shift in wind generation. With that said, we invested in the team’s approach to the problem. Their methodology has allowed them to move through engineering challenges at a rate comparable to what we would expect to see in the information technology companies more typical of a Resonant investment,” said Michael Godwin,
Managing Director, Resonant Venture Partners.

Read the complete press release here