I was the founding managing partner for Frazier Technology Ventures (http://www.fraziertechnology.com/), which unfortunately was founded in May 2000, possibly the worst time for starting a new venture fund. Up until last week, the fund’s performance was in the middle of the pack (and therefore did not come close to returning capital). This was a financial, professional, and personal disappointment for me.
After more than 10 years, the fund had only one surviving company that was still private and alive, Aprimo (http://www.aprimo.com/), an integrated marketing software company. The founder and CEO, Bill Godfrey, started with a vision that marketing professionals needed a strong and consistent platform that supported their needs and aspired to fill that need. He was supported by good investors, who shared that vision and stood by the company in the lean times as well as the flush ones. The FTV board member, my partner, Gary Gigot, had consistently forecasted that Aprimo was creating a new category, would dominate that category, and therefore would be a very valuable company.
And then on December 22nd, Teradata announced that it would acquire Aprimo for “approximately $525 million” (http://www.aprimo.com/TD/). The transaction is expected to close sometime in 1Q2011. Well done Bill and the Aprimo team! This is a spectacular outcome for Aprimo, Bill, and the investors, as well as for Teradata.
And this acquisition wraps up Frazier Technology Ventures I on a high note, placing FTV I in the top quartile of its peers in that vintage. For all of my friends that invested in my fund, I am thrilled that your faith in me turned out OK.