DFJ Gotham Ventures Recruits Thatcher Bell as Associate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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DFJ GOTHAM VENTURES RECRUITS THATCHER BELL AS ASSOCIATE
Hiring Marks Important Expansion
of DFJ Gotham Investment Team
February 13, 2006, 2006 (NEW YORK, NY) – Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures, an early-stage technology venture capital fund based in New York, today announced the addition of Thatcher Bell as the newest member of the DFJ Gotham investment team.
Bell joins as an Associate and will work with Co-founders Ross Goldstein and Danny Schultz and Venture Partner Jed Katz, to identify, evaluate, invest in and build great entrepreneurial technology companies.
“I am very excited to be joining DFJ Gotham,” commented Bell. “The New York area is rich with early-stage technology companies. The DFJ Gotham team, leveraging DFJ’s unique affiliate network, has proven its ability to select the most promising of these companies and to provide them with the strategic, operational and financial support they need to be successful. I look forward to drawing upon my experiences in venture capital, operations and consulting to help continue that success.”
Bell is an accomplished investment professional whose background includes venture investing, operating and consulting roles with software, Internet, and financial services companies. He began his venture capital career as a Senior Analyst at North Hill Ventures, the venture capital affiliate of Capital One Financial, where he invested in financial technology, enterprise software, and technology-enabled services companies. Subsequently, he was a Summer Associate with Silicon Alley Venture Partners in New York. Before joining North Hill, Bell was Manager of Business Development at OpenPages (http://www.openpages.com), an enterprise software vendor, and was the third employee at SharkTank, an online marketplace for attorneys. He began his career in consulting at Ernst & Young, focused on competitive strategy and process improvement in the financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare industries. Bell received his B.S. cum laude in Engineering from Cornell University and completed his M.B.A. at the Wharton School.
“Everything Thatcher has accomplished professionally makes him ideally suited for early-stage venture capital. We’re delighted he is part of the DFJ Gotham team,” commented Schultz. “Thatcher possesses a wide array of skills from consulting and investing to working at start-ups, experience that will enable him to contribute broadly to DFJ Gotham and the portfolio,” added Goldstein.
Managing Directors Ross Goldstein and Danny Schultz founded DFJ Gotham Ventures in 1999. Since then the group has invested in a wide range of early-stage technology companies mostly in and around the New York tri-state area and the East Coast in general including Mimeo.com, Magnolia Broadband, Lumeta, Massive, ContextWeb, Pivot Solutions and others and has also realized several successful exits.
About Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures:
Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures is an early-stage information technology venture capital firm with approximately $100 million of capital under management, focused on investment opportunities in New York and the surrounding regions. The Fund is an affiliate of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the leading venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. For more information about Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures see www.dfjgotham.com.
About Draper Fisher Jurvetson:
Draper Fisher Jurvetson is the leader in seed and early-stage venture capital worldwide. It is the only venture capital firm with global presence through a network of affiliated funds, with offices in more than 30 cities around the world and more than $3 billion in capital commitments. DFJ’s mission is to identify, provide capital for, and serve extraordinary entrepreneurs located anywhere, who seek to change the world. Over the past twenty years, DFJ has been proud to back approximately 300 companies across a myriad of sectors including such industry changing catalysts as Hotmail (acquired by MFST), Baidu (BIDU), Skype (acquired by EBAY), United Online (UNTD), Overture (acquired by YHOO), Interwoven (IWOV) and others. For more information about Draper Fisher Jurvetson see www.dfj.com.