- Duncan Hill, Founder of Think Dynamics joins Ventures West
January 11, 2007 - Toronto, ON - Ventures West, one of Canada's largest private venture capital companies, is pleased to announce that Duncan Hill has joined the firm as Entrepreneur in Residence. Duncan will assist in evaluating investment opportunities, with a focus on enterprise software applications, and will provide specialized management counsel to portfolio companies while he seeks his next venture.
"Duncan has an extensive background in IT infrastructure, as well as creating and building software companies," says Ted Anderson, Managing General Partner of Ventures West. "He will bring a perspective and insight that will benefit both our investment team and our portfolio companies."
Duncan was the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Think Dynamics, a developer of data center provisioning and automation software, which was acquired by IBM in May 2003. Think Dynamics has become an integral part of IBM's Tivoli Group where Duncan served as an executive until June 2005 guiding market and technology strategy for Tivoli's on demand automation software portfolio.
Prior to founding Think Dynamics, Duncan established a data center consulting practice that delivered enterprise systems architecture and management services to customers that included Virgin, Norwich Union, one2one, Millipore, ADP and Teleglobe in the UK, USA and Canada.
Duncan is currently a strategy consultant to technology entrepreneurs and sits on several advisory boards as well as the Board of Directors of RapidMind, a company that enables software to exploit the power of multi-core and stream processors. Duncan also chairs the infrastructure virtualization track for the CMP Interop conference.
"Experienced leadership, an extensive network, and a focus on early stage technology development make Ventures West an ideal environment to turn vision into venture," said Hill. "I'm certain the EIR experience will make me a better entrepreneur."
The Ventures West EIR program is one of the largest in Canada. It provides experienced entrepreneurs who have outstanding track records as executives or technologists with the opportunity to join Ventures West as an interim step to their next venture. The EIR program provides these individuals with the network, resources and tools to identify emerging market and business opportunities. Entrepreneurs in the program become part of the Ventures West team and gain access to its operations and deal flow; they also provide specialized management counsel to Ventures West portfolio companies.
Ventures West has invested over $170 million in Information Technology companies over the last decade. Recent investments in the Information Technology sector include Dabble DB, BelAir Networks, Fresco Microchip, and AudienceView Software.
About Ventures West
Ventures West Capital Ltd., a private venture capital investment group, is one of Canada’s leading investors in early stage technology companies. Since its founding in 1968, Ventures West has formed eight venture capital funds which total over $700 million and has invested in more than 150 companies. Ventures West has the people, the expertise, and the capital to help entrepreneurs develop emerging technology companies into market leaders. For more information, visit www.ventureswest.com.
For More Information:
Christine Ramsay
Ventures West Management Inc.
cramsay@ventureswest.com
(416) 861-2280
