Business Highlights

Presidio STX Survives the Dot Com Meltdown to Live and Fund Another Day
Top Silicon Valley Adventure Capital Firms See Presidio STX as Essential Partner for Japanese Market

It has not been easy years for technology companies and venture capitalists since the dot com bubble burst in the fall of 2001. The big shakeout saw so many business plans and companies turn to dust and venture capital dry up.

But recently things are beginning to look positive. Google stock has taken off like a rocket since it went public two years ago. Magazines now trump the emergence of Web 2.0 with the rise of technologies like open source programming and community based web sites. And, most telling of all, promising technology start-ups have access to venture capital again.

This perseverance through the downturn has paid off for Presidio STX, LLC. The investment arm of Sumitomo Corporation and SCOA in the U.S. technology market, Presidio hung in when many other Japanese companies left the U.S. market after the 2001 downturn. And now Presidio's continued cultivation of connections has led them to become early stage investors in some of the hottest technology companies in Silicon VAlley.

Presidio's High Profile Investments
In just the last three months, Presidio STX, LLC has finished funding rounds for three high profile companies including Terracotta, MySQL AB and Zimbra.

"It is honor to be selected as a strategic partner by top tier venture capital firms like Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital. For these investments, many investors rushed in and all rounds were oversubscribed," said Tetsu Fukuoka, Director of Investment, IT Division, Presidio STX. "From a business perspective, the venture capital firms understood our value proposition and what we can bring to the company beyond funding."

Presidio is attractive to those companies because of their connection to the Japanese market. Presidio's relationship with Sumitomo Corporation and its subsidiaries including Sumisho Computer Systems plays a big role as they can be a value-added reseller, systems integrator and service provider for US companies in Japan.

The most prized of these recent investments may be Terracotta, who recently announced the completion of its second round of post-seed funding led by the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

The technology developed by Terracotta will simplify the scale-out of enterprise Java applications by delivering enterprise-class clustering and caching services transparently at runtime with no application level code changes.

Goldman Sachs took a big stake in the company because they expect to use the technology on their trading room floors and expect the other big Wall Street banks to be interested. Presidio was invited to the table because of Sumisho's potential to distribute and implement the technology in Japan.

Terracotta was originally backed by Benchmark Capital and Accel Partners, which are considered among the top venture capital firms in SIlicon Valley. Presidio STX has cultivated a relationship with these companies over the years and is often invited into early funding rounds for the most attractive companies because of their potential to introduce technologies to the Japanese and Asian market.

Because of this, Presidio works closely with their Sumisho contacts in Tokyo. Sumisho offers services like systems integration and service engineers for technology companies looking to move and implement their products into the Japanese market.

Two other companies that Presidio recently completed funding rounds with include open source database developer MySQL AB and open source collaboration and messaging software developer Zimbra.

Open source is a relatively new movment in software where customers are allowed to see and modify the source code of software for their specific applications and end use. It allows for more flexibility than traditional proprietary software products and has shown to give the open source products an evolutionary edge in improving their features and usefulness.

Presidio led the Series C funding round with Zimbra. The company then announced they will use the latest funding round to expand into the Japanese market. And it appears the Japanese market is ready for them.

"We see Zimbra as an open source company set to transform enteprise collaboration," said Nobutaka Kanaji, President and CEO, Presidio STX. "The culture of innovation, the amazing management team, and the product are ready for international expansion into Japan and other important international markets."

Presido Venture Partners and Sumitronics becomes Presidio STX
Presidio STX, LLC was created in April 2005 with merging of Sumitronics and Presidio Venture Partners. Previously, Presidio Venture Partners was involved with venture capital and Sumitronics was focused on the export of IT technology from the U.S. to the Japanese market and the trading of electronic materials and equipment. The new company is focused on three main areas: Investments, IT Technology and Electronic Materials and Equipment.

Presidio STX has their main offices in Santa Clara, California, and a former Sumitronics office in Boston, in addition to employees in SCOA's New York office. In all, they have 25 employees split between three main business areas.

In a typical year, Presidio will fund a total of 10 to 15 business deals with about half of those being new opportunities. The others are milestone investments as companies they funded earlier hit pre-determined financial and product parameters to qualify for more funding. THey fund about $10 milion pey year in companies, according to Kanaji.

For more information on Presido STX, visit their web site at http://presidiostx.com