Venture Capital Leaders Join Forces to Launch Sunrock Ventures
September 29, 2007
TAMPA, Florida – September 29, 2007 – Three respected leaders in Florida’s venture capital industry have joined forces to establish Sunrock Ventures, a venture capital firm that will make investments in a diversified portfolio of rapidly growing private companies across the highly lucrative, yet underserved, Southeast region.
“The Southeast comprises approximately 20 percent of the nation’s population, economic output and high tech industry, yet it attracted less than 5 percent of the total venture capital investments in 2006, and just 2.3 percent of the total venture capital in the country is managed by firms in the region,” said Tate Garrett, managing director, Sunrock Ventures. “We intend to change that by focusing on companies in Florida and the Southeast, where our geographic proximity and depth of experience will enable us to provide the financial support and guidance companies need to succeed.”
Garrett and fellow managing directors Matthew Shaw and Jeffrey Wolf are raising a fund of $100 million from a select group of limited partners. Sunrock, with offices in Tampa and Miami, intends to build a portfolio of 18-24 companies over the next four years, which will be geographically focused and balanced across investment stage and industry to produce superior investment returns.
“With 32 years of cumulative investment experience, including partner-level roles with established venture capital firms, Sunrock’s partnership team is uniquely qualified to find and invest in the most promising opportunities across the Southeast,” said Shaw. “Combined, we have invested $140 million in 41 companies, and have proven our ability to generate returns for our investors by guiding our portfolio companies to success.”
Equally impressive are the managing partners’ educational backgrounds, including MBAs from the Harvard, Wharton, and Stanford business schools, a law degree from the New York University School of Law, and undergraduate degrees from the University of Chicago, the University of Miami and Yale University.
“In addition to our extensive involvement in building the Southeast’s venture capital community, each of us has successfully started, sold and restructured companies, and have taken companies public,” said Wolf. “That entrepreneurial success and proven track record of venture capital investments is a powerful combination, one that plays a key role in our long-term commitment to advancing the economic status of the Southeast by providing the financial backing and guidance companies need to flourish here at home.”
About Sunrock Ventures
Sunrock Ventures (www.sunrockventures.com) is a Florida-based venture capital firm with offices in Tampa and Miami that has launched a new fund to invest in a diversified portfolio of rapidly growing, private companies located in Florida and across the Southeast. The targeted fund size is $100 million, which will be used to build a portfolio of companies that is geographically focused and balanced across investment stage and industry to produce superior investment returns.
