Richard Davies wrote: The UK has a good crop of technology pioneers in cloud computing - for example ElasticHosts, FlexiScale, Flexiant, OnApp - and also some strong government initiatives such as G-Cloud.
We will have to see whether this kind of technical leadership converts into swift mass-market adoption or not.
SEOUL, KOREA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/02/09 -- The Korea Venture Investment Co. (KVIC, CEO
Hyungki Kim) and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced that SkyLake Incuvest
& Co. Ltd. (CEO Daeje Chin) has been designated the manager of a new investment fund to support
Korean IT innovation. Called "SkyLake Global Incuvest 4 (SGI4)," the new
fund was formally submitted to the Korean Financial Services Commission for
approval today.
SkyLake will focus its investments in leading small and medium-sized
enterprises in IT and new growth-engine industries. KVIC, the Korea
National Pension Service, Tongyang Life Insurance and Cisco are
co-investors. In addition, the fund expects to add value to the portfolio
companies by actively supporting their management.
SGI4's first closing is 100 billion KRW (USD $80 million) and will be
active for eight years. As the largest IT venture fund in Korea, and the
largest investment in a fund that KVIC has made to date, SGI4 is designed
to revitalize domestic IT companies. For KVIC, the new fund represents a
key way to expand its investments and attract foreign capital.
This investment in SGI4 continues Cisco's long-time commitment to invest in
the innovation economy globally. Cisco is an active and involved investor
in markets around the world with a portfolio valued at approximately $1.3
billion.
Executive Quotes:
"KVIC and SkyLake are very pleased that SGI4, a fund that both parties
have put countless hours into, will finally be launched. KVIC, as a
government-backed fund-of-funds manager, will continue to provide support
to both domestic and international investors to stimulate and advance the
venture capital/private equity market in Korea. Accordingly in the future,
we hope that more venture capital/private equity firms are given the chance
to work together with KVIC to globalize their investment scope," said
Hyungki Kim, CEO of KVIC.
"Korea is world-renowned as a leader in ICT innovation, and Cisco's
anchor investment in the SGI4 fund underscores our belief in the innovative
technology and ideas in this exciting market," said Hilton Romanski, vice
president of Corporate Development at Cisco. "Strong local venture capital
and limited partners are the foundation for successful engagement, and the
fact that Cisco is moving forward with a commitment of 40 billion KRW (USD
$32 million) for the fund is indicative of the strength of SkyLake."
Daeje Chin, CEO of SkyLake Incuvest, added, "Skylake Incuvest has a
long-standing belief in the value of network technologies as a platform for
innovation and looks forward to collaborating with Cisco in establishing
this new fund. Korea Fund of Funds' involvement in this initiative acted as
a vital factor in completing the first closing of the fund, and we plan to
show our gratitude by executing investments where both investor and
investee come out as winners."
About KVIC (Korea Venture Investment Co.)
The Korean Venture Investment Corp. (KVIC) is a government-backed
fund-of-funds management firm established for the purpose of fostering the
growth of Korean domestic private equity industry. Since its establishment,
KVIC has played a significant role as the cornerstone and has committed
around USD 1 billion into 120 investor VC/PE funds in Korea.
About SkyLake Incuvest Co.
Skylake is a leading private equity investor in Korea with a dedicated
focus on technology investment. Our mission is to invest and incubate
('incuvest') innovative ICT companies to grow and succeed. In addition to
the capital injection, we commit our management and technology expertise,
and global network to our portfolio companies. We believe that by
supporting our portfolio companies succeed, we can realize superior
long-term investment returns for our investors.
About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms
how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco
can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to
http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in Korea is supplied by Cisco
Systems International BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.
Cisco, the Cisco logo and Cisco Systems are registered trademarks or
trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United
States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this
document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word
partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any
other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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