Motorola Inc.'s [MOT] venture capital arm has invested in wireless application maker Appian Inc. More broadly, the ailing wireless phone giant says that its troubles notwithstanding, its nine-year-old venture arm is flourishing, thank you very much. Motorola Ventures never discloses how much it invests in individual startups, only noting that the investment in Appian is a part of the $23.5 million that the company has raised to date. Typically, Motorola Ventures avoids seed-stage investments and aims to get in at the Series B level, with investments usually in the $3 million to $5 million range.
Three years ago, The Deal profiled Motorola Ventures, which even at that time was one of a shrinking number of corporate venture funds remaining, following a mad dash by high-tech companies to give venture investing a try during the easy money days of 1999. At the time, the fund said it has been consistently profitable and was steadily pouring about $100 million into promising startups per year.
A Motorola spokeswoman said Tuesday that the fund is still going strong and remains profitable. Some of its recent exits include Entropic Communications Inc. [ENTR] and Intellon Corp. [ITLN], which both went public last December. Another portfolio company, Danger Inc., was bought by Microsoft Corp. [MSFT] in February. -- Andrea Orr
See July 1 announcement on Appian invesment from Motorola Ventures
See May 7 story on Motorola from TheDeal.com
See May 2005 story on Motorola Ventures from TheDeal.com
See December 2007 story on Entropic IPO from TheDeal.com
See December 2007 story on Intellon IPO from TheDeal.com
See Feb. 11 announcement from Microsoft on Danger acquisition
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