Menlo Park, Calif. – April 23, 2009 – Trinity Ventures, an investor in early-stage information technology companies, today announced the closing of Trinity Ventures X.  The fund was oversubscribed and was limited to $300 million in LP commitments, consistent with Trinity’s three previous funds.  Trinity X will invest in the software, IT infrastructure and services sectors.  Target investment areas include business and consumer online services, virtualization and cloud computing, digital media and online advertising platforms, software as a service, energy efficiency solutions and mobile technology. 

“We were pleased with the strong support from our investors, which enabled us to close our target amount on schedule, despite turmoil in the markets,” said Fred Wang, general partner at Trinity Ventures. The fund is comprised primarily of commitments from returning investors, though it also includes a select number of new investors.  “We see their support as a confirmation that we have a unique strategy that is appropriate to invest in these markets in these times.”

“We kept the fund the same size as our prior funds, so we can continue our strategy of investing selectively in capital-efficient, early stage companies and our commitment to being accessible and responsive board members,” stated Wang.  The fund will invest between $2 million and $20 million in approximately 30 companies.

The Trinity team has worked together for many years.  Trinity X will be managed by general partners Ajay Chopra, Noel Fenton, Tim McAdam, Patricia Nakache, Larry Orr, Gus Tai, and Fred Wang, principals Dan Scholnick and Jim Tybur, and CFO and administrative partner Kathy Murphy.

For more information contact Fred Wang or Larry Orr at 650-854-9500.
 

About Trinity Ventures
Founded in 1986, Trinity Ventures, a boutique firm, partners with passionate entrepreneurs to transform revolutionary ideas into reality.  With over $1 billion under management, Trinity Ventures was founded on the principle of personal engagement and mutual respect with the entrepreneurs we fund.  Trinity Ventures focuses on early stage technology ventures with a particular emphasis on digital media, Internet services, mobility, security and software markets.

Trinity Ventures has invested in more than 100 ventures, including such leading companies as Affinity Labs (acquired by Monster.com), Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN), Bix (acquired by Yahoo!: YHOO), Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE), Crescendo Communications (acquired by Cisco: CSCO), Extreme Networks (NASDAQ: EXTR), Forte Software (FRTE), IntruVert Networks (acquired by Network Associates: NWK), LoopNet (NASDAQ: LOOP), Modulus Video (acquired by Motorola:  MOT), Network Alchemy (acquired by Nokia: NOK), Photobucket (acquired by News Corporation: NWS), SciQuest, Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies: AKAM), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), Sygate Technologies (acquired by Symantec: SYMC) and Wall Data (NASDAQ: WALL).

 “We were impressed by Avaak’s unique market opportunity and the management team’s ability to marry a proven security technology with digital technology to deliver a much-needed consumer application,” said Fred Wang, a general partner at Trinity Ventures. “By combining innovative ultra-low power wireless video mesh networking technology with the power of the Internet, Avaak has created uniquely simple products that any consumer can easily use to stay visually connected with family and friends no matter where they are. The company’s patented wire-free video networking technology enables consumers or small business owners to keep an eye on their homes or offices from afar, delivering utility and accessibility that anyone can use.”

Avaak’s innovative wireless video mesh networking technology was first developed with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Office of Naval Research (ONR) for use in defense and security applications.  The company continues to support the mission of these organizations, and was recently awarded an additional $3 million contract by the Office of Naval Research. 
 
“Trinity Ventures, InterWest Partners, and Leapfrog Ventures’ combined track records in helping consumer-focused start-ups reach their potential is unequalled,” said Gioia Messinger, co-founder and chief executive officer of Avaak, Inc. “With our new consumer product we’re defining an entirely new category of products and we’re thrilled to have the backing of these notable firms. We welcome Fred to Avaak’s board, and look forward to working with him as our product launch approaches and in the years to come.”

About Trinity Ventures
Trinity Ventures, a 22-year veteran in the venture business with more than $1 billion under management, partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great companies. Trinity Ventures focuses on early-stage technology investment opportunities with a particular emphasis on the digital media, Internet services, mobility, security and software markets. Trinity has invested in more than 100 ventures, including such leading companies as Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN), Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE), Crescendo Communications, Extreme Networks (NASDAQ: EXTR), Forte Software, Illustra, LoopNet (NASDAQ: LOOP), Photobucket (acquired by News Corporation: NWS), Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies: AKAM), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Sygate Technologies (acquired by Symantec: SYMC).

Palo Alto, Calif. – Sept. 17, 2008 – Travel search and discovery engine UpTake (www.uptake.com) today announced it has raised more than $10 million in new funding, including a Series B round of investment led by Trinity Ventures and Shasta Ventures, and additional backing from other sources.  The new funding builds on the company’s Series A round of $4 million from Shasta Ventures announced in December 2007, when UpTake opened the site to its first private beta users.  

Founded by the former GM of Yahoo! Travel Yen Lee, UpTake went into public beta in May with the travel industry’s most comprehensive database for hotels and attractions.  UpTake’s vacation search helps travelers make better decisions by providing more than 20 million online reviews and opinions from other travelers across the web, and delivering results that match user preferences. The site includes content from thousands of trusted web sites like TripAdvisor, Expedia, Fodors, goCityKids, Virtual Tourist, and Yahoo! Travel.

UpTake will use the new funding to achieve three main objectives for the company and its product. First, it will expand search beyond UpTake Hotels into new categories including:  UpTake Lodging, UpTake Things to Do, UpTake Restaurants and UpTake Beaches.  Second, UpTake will invest in its search technology to improve travel recommendations based on its analysis and filtering of collective intelligence. Lastly, it will pursue opportunities to grow the company through acquisitions.   

"We looked at dozens of investment opportunities in the online travel industry for several years before deciding to invest in UpTake,” said Patricia Nakache, general partner, Trinity Ventures.  “UpTake has a distinct approach that addresses a big search and discovery gap in the travel market and is run by a proven CEO and team.”  

UpTake is also unveiling a new Content Partner Program, enabling publishers to provide the most up-to-date content to the UpTake visitor. UpTake partners include: BedandBreakfast.com, Restauranti.ca, OpenTable, La Quinta Inn & Suites, Away.com, and FriendCommunications, the leader in online reservations for RV parks and campgrounds.

“Bedandbreakfast.com has the most comprehensive database of B&Bs and UpTake has the most comprehensive database of travel information to help travelers make more informed decisions to improve their vacation experience. By joining UpTake’s Content Partner program, BedandBreakfast.com and UpTake are working together to ensure that travelers can find the right B&B given their travel preferences,” said John Banczak, chief operating officer of BedandBreakfast.com. 

About UpTake
Founded in 2006, UpTake has collected and organized more than 20 million traveler reviews, ratings, blogs and articles from across the web to help travelers to make better decisions about where to go, where to stay and what to do. UpTake uses a travel ontology and natural language analysis to extract meta-tags from the collective intelligence it has collected and returns unbiased, personalized recommendations based on travelers’ facts and feelings. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California with global engineering teams in Beijing and Moscow. More information can be found at www.uptake.com.

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'Sun logo' is a trademark of UpTake Networks, Inc. 

About Trinity Ventures
Trinity Ventures (http://www.trinityventures.com/), a 22-year veteran in the venture business with more than $1 billion under management, partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great companies. Trinity Ventures focuses on early-stage technology investment opportunities with a particular emphasis on the digital media, Internet services, mobility, security and software markets. Trinity has invested in more than 100 ventures, including such leading companies as Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN), Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE), Crescendo Communications, Extreme Networks (NASDAQ: EXTR), Forte Software, Illustra, LoopNet (NASDAQ: LOOP), Photobucket (acquired by News Corporation: NWS), Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies: AKAM), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Sygate Technologies (acquired by Symantec: SYMC).

Menlo Park, Calif. May 14, 2008 — Trinity Ventures today announced that Ajay Chopra has been appointed general partner of the venture capital firm. Chopra joined Trinity Ventures as a venture partner in 2006 after 20 years of operating experience at senior management and board level with start-ups, as well as public and private companies. 

“Ajay has walked in the entrepreneur’s shoes, and brings invaluable strategic and operating experience to each investment opportunity,” said Larry Orr, a general partner at Trinity Ventures. “He has been instrumental in successfully guiding our investment strategy in mobile applications, digital media and online advertising companies and is also leading Trinity’s investment efforts in international markets. We are delighted to appoint Ajay a general partner and look forward to his continued contributions in these markets.”

Chopra’s investments at Trinity Ventures include 21Vianet, Guard ID Systems, Mobile Messenger and Skyfire. He is active in the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial community outside of his investments. Chopra is a Charter Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs and a convener for TiECon 2008, the world’s largest entrepreneurial conference being held later this week in Santa Clara, California. Prior to joining Trinity Ventures, Chopra co-founded Pinnacle Systems, a seminal media technology company that pioneered consumer generated media creation. During his tenure at Pinnacle, the company grew from a start-up to a global $350 million revenue public company, winning several Emmy awards and completing more than a dozen M&A transactions before being acquired by Avid Technology. Prior to Pinnacle, Chopra held technical and management positions at Mindset Corp., a computer graphics start-up; Atari Corp., a video game company; and Unisys Corp., an IT services company.

About Trinity Ventures 
Trinity Ventures, a 22 year veteran in the venture business with more than $1 billion under management, partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great companies. Trinity Ventures focuses on early-stage technology investment opportunities with a particular emphasis on the Digital Media, Internet Services, Mobility, Security and Software markets. Trinity has invested in well over 100 ventures, including such leading companies as Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN), Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE), Crescendo Communications (acquired by Cisco: CSCO), Extreme Networks (NASDAQ: EXTR), Forte Software (acquired by Sun Microsystems: SUNW), Illustra (acquired by Informix, now part of International Business Machines: IBM), LoopNet (NASDAQ: LOOP), PhotoBucket (acquired by News Corporation: NWS), Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies: AKAM), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), and Sygate Technologies (acquired by Symantec: SYMC).

Trinity Ventures adds executive-in-residence to help find next “big” new media advertising play
Ashu Garg to focus on advertising and digital media opportunities

MENLO PARK, Calif. March 26, 2008 —With several digital media investments in its current portfolio, early-stage venture capital firm Trinity Ventures today announced that Ashu Garg will join as an executive-in-residence (EIR) to help identify next-generation advertising and digital media opportunities.

“Online advertising has reached a point of substantial growth since Trinity’s successful investment in early pioneer 24/7 Real Media, and there are tremendous opportunities for success in the unfolding landscape,” said Ajay Chopra, venture partner at Trinity.  “Trinity is known for investments in consumer-facing opportunities like Photobucket, acquired last year by News Corp., Bix, acquired by Yahoo, and SkyFire, which launched this year at DEMO – each of which have ad-supported business models. Recently Trinity has been looking at compelling next-gen ad plays. We invested in the Ripple out-of-home ad network and are seeking other well-differentiated opportunities in this space. Ashu will help us to identify the plays that are most promising for future success. He brings deep domain expertise, from product conceptualization to customer acquisition, and everything in between.”

Garg has held a variety of operating and management roles at Microsoft Corporation, McKinsey & Company, Cadence Design Systems and Unilever Plc. Most recently he was General Manager of Microsoft’s Online Services business, where he was responsible for strategy and business management for the Digital Advertising Solutions Business Group. His responsibilities included developing the business plan and yield management across the network. At McKinsey, Garg helped early-stage digital media and software companies address growth. He held senior operating roles at both Cadence and Unilever.

Garg is involved in a number or organizations including The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Pant IIT Alumni Association, and The Indian Angel Network. He sits on the board of Vienova, an early-stage online education services provider.

About Trinity Ventures 
Trinity Ventures, a 21 year veteran in the venture business with more than $1 billion under management, partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great companies. Trinity Ventures focuses on early-stage technology investment opportunities with a particular emphasis on the Digital Media, Internet Services, Mobility, Security and Software markets. Trinity has invested in well over 100 ventures, including such leading companies as Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN), Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE), Crescendo Communications (acquired by Cisco: CSCO), Extreme Networks (NASDAQ: EXTR), Forte Software (acquired by Sun Microsystems: SUNW), Illustra (acquired by Informix, now part of International Business Machines: IBM), LoopNet (NASDAQ: LOOP), PhotoBucket (acquired by News Corporation: NWS), Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies: AKAM), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), and Sygate Technologies (acquired by Symantec: SYMC).

Contact:
Theresa Maloney
For Trinity Ventures 
925-287-1509
theresa@cogentacom.com

San Francisco — March 11, 2008 — Fluid Entertainment, a California based interactive entertainment developer, today announced it has secured $3.2 million in Series A funding led by Trinity Ventures. These funds will support the development and launch of a new, entirely original MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game for children. Fluid Entertainment will announce more game details in the coming months.

“Fluid Entertainment is led by a creative team with more than a decade of experience developing interactive, educational, and - most importantly - fun entertainment for kids,” remarked Tim McAdam, general partner at Trinity Ventures. “The company has been in business since the late 90s, and is widely known for developing well regarded games for children. With three other gaming investments in our current portfolio, we were looking for the right play in the children’s MMO area, which is an open canvas with only a few incumbents. Fluid has a veteran team, a great history, and a clear and progressive vision that positions the company to become a leader in this arena.”

Fluid Entertainment will use the financing to complete development of an engaging, interactive, and environmentally themed “green” game for kids. Slated for launch later this year, the game will feature unprecedented levels of engaging gameplay for children’s MMOs, while infusing the compelling narrative with a meaningful purpose.

“It’s an exciting time for everyone here at Fluid Entertainment as we drive toward launching an enormously imaginative, vibrant, and innovative new online ‘playscape’ for children,” said Greg Jones, CEO of Fluid Entertainment. “We’re thrilled that the venture community shares our exciting vision, and this financing ensures our ability to execute.”

Fluid Entertainment’s introduction of an original MMO property comes at a time of immense growth in the interactive entertainment field. According to the ESA (Entertainment Software Association), the computer and video game industry broke sales records in 2007, surpassing $9.5 billion. This figure reflects 28% growth from the previous year, with largest growth reflected in the “Family Entertainment” genre, which grew 110%. Additionally, a recent study published by eMarketer, predicts that MMOs, also called “virtual worlds,” will be played by 53% of children and teens, a projected 20 million users, by the year 2011.

Working at the forefront of digital entertainment since the genre’s earliest years, Fluid Entertainment has a long history of creating educational, engaging and entertaining media for children. The company boasts partnerships spanning a decade with such publishers as Hasbro, Berkeley Systems, Disney, Mattel and The Learning Company.

For more information on Fluid Entertainment, please visit: http://www.fluidentertainment.com

About Fluid Entertainment 
Based in Mill Valley, California, Fluid Entertainment is an independent children’s interactive entertainment developer founded in 1998 by industry veteran Scott Mathews. With experience creating high profile licensed interactive products based on properties including Harry Potter™, Disney, the Powerpuff Girls, Pokémon and many others, Fluid Entertainment is currently developing an original MMO title for children.

About Trinity Ventures 
Trinity Ventures, a 21-year veteran in the venture business with more than $1 billion under management, partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great companies. Trinity Ventures focuses on early-stage technology investment opportunities with a particular emphasis on the digital media, Internet services, mobility, security and software markets. Trinity has invested in more than 100 ventures, including such leading companies as Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN), Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE), Crescendo Communications, Extreme Networks (NASDAQ: EXTR), Forte Software, Illustra, LoopNet (NASDAQ: LOOP), Photobucket (acquired by News Corporation: NWS), Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies: AKAM), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Sygate Technologies (acquired by Symantec: SYMC).