Vanguard Ventures - Investment Focus

Vanguard invests in virtually all segments of communications, life sciences and information technology.

Communications

Vanguard is an active investor in the communications sector, and has been since our inception in 1981. We look for breakthrough businesses that affect the way the world communicates every day. Currently, some of our areas of interest include:

Broadband Access
Foundry and Manufacturing
Integrated Access
IP Enabling Technologies
Optical Components, Modules and Subsystems
Optical Systems
Network Enabled Applications
Network Management Software and Operation Support Systems
Switching and Routing
Test and Measurement
Wireless

We seek to invest in companies that have very deep technical foundations, address very large markets, and offer at least an order of magnitude price/performance improvement to currently available solutions.

Life Sciences

Vanguard has a history of recognizing significant innovations ahead of the majority of investors. This is consistent with our overall philosophy of looking over the technological horizon for opportunities.

Historically, we have invested in biopharamaceuticals, medical devices, drug delivery systems, diagnostics and capital equipment that meets this criteria. As technology advancement has created new opportunities, we have increased our focus in several areas. These include tools for increased drug development efficiencies such as bioinformatics, biochips, and high throughput systems that provide increased knowledge rather than just data.

We also are exploring the synergistic strengths we can provide as investors through the convergence of Information Technology and Life Science practices. This can be in the previously mentioned area of bioinformatics or our new focus on the emerging opportunities in telemedicine.

Due to the backgrounds our partners possess in actual start up management and technical training, we are comfortable investing at the earliest stages of opportunities and believe this is where we can add the most value. Consequently, we are continually visiting academic institutions, research facilities and other such institutions in order that we might stay on the cutting edge of the life sciences.

Information Technology

Advances in the digital world and the information economy continue at a rapid pace, and while there are many new technologies and products created every week, Vanguard is looking for those which can measurably improve productivity or lower costs. A few of the areas of both hardware and software in which we currently see opportunities for improving productivity and lowering costs for customers are:

Low cost storage and management of digital information
Rapid and intelligent access to digital information
Security for digital information
Low cost distribution of digital information
Low cost and effective aids to collaboration and communication between people in different locations
Breakthrough computing architecture(s) with benefits for people at home, work, school, or in-between
Networking advances to improve communications and lower the cost of communicating between people and between machines
Software which has the potential to enable the "real time enterprise"

However, while these are all on our "radar screen", the best investment opportunities are generated through the creativity and insight of entrepreneurs who are deeply in touch with customer need and current pain points or problem areas. Thus, we look forward to refining our list of interest areas based on the exciting insights we gain daily from the entrepreneurs we work with.

If you think that your opportunity meets the above criteria, please review our process and send us an Executive Summary.