Investment Focus

With more than 90 years of combined operating and investing experience, we have learned that building a successful portfolio requires sharp focus. No fund can succeed by being all things to all people. The firm’s strategy has three main components – early stage investment, seeking entrepreneurs outside the traditional confines of Silicon Valley, and focusing on sectors where we have significant expertise. Our strategy reflects both our disciplined approach and our belief that there are still areas of great opportunity for venture investing.

Early Stage Companies
Companies in our portfolio are early in their development cycle – typically after angel funding, but before a traditional first round of venture finance. We identify promising companies through our active involvement with University of California and the Lawrence National Laboratories, as well as other venture and angel investors, such as Keiretsu Forum, the country’s largest seed investor network. Our strategy is to lead the initial round, where our investment typically ranges from $500,000 to $3 million. For follow-on financings we continue to provide strategic and financial support, while bringing in complementary venture investors who can offer needed skills and resources to the portfolio company.

Regional Emphasis
Claremont Creek puts special emphasis on opportunities beyond the traditional confines of Silicon Valley. We believe in helping creative and visionary entrepreneurs flourish throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. With more than $2.5 billion in annual research spending at such leading institutions as UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and the Lawrence Laboratories in Livermore and Berkeley, Claremont Creek's location gives it unique access to this fertile ground for the development of new technology solutions and compelling investment opportunities .

High-Opportunity Markets
The team at Claremont Creek has experience and proven expertise as managers and investors in a wide array of IT sectors. We focus on areas that we believe offer both promising market trends and emerging gaps that will require innovative solutions. For example, current sectors of particular interest include Mobility (voice, data, and converging platforms that facilitate collaboration in non-hierarchical, widely distributed organizations), Healthcare (research and clinical IT applications, such as instrumentation, patient management systems, and bio-informatics), and Security (which would include both the digital and physical systems that comprise mobile, small business, and enterprise computing environment). Beyond these three major investment themes, the members of the team have interest in exploring other developing areas including VoIP, alternative energy, payment processing, and distributive workforce collaboration. Ultimately, we look for entrepreneurs who have a vision outside of the box of current thinking and are building new value categories.