SOURCE: Voyager Capital

March 04, 2009 09:00 ET

Voyager Capital Expands West Coast Franchise With Addition of Respected Early Stage Investor

Seasoned Technology Investor Geoff Entress Joins as Venture Partner With Focus on Internet and Digital Media Investments in the Pacific Northwest

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - March 4, 2009) - Continuing the expansion of its franchise, Voyager Capital, a leading West Coast venture capital firm, today announced that it has added seasoned technology investor Geoff Entress as a Venture Partner to focus on Internet and digital media investments in the Pacific Northwest, with an emphasis in Washington.

"With an increasing level of entrepreneurial activity on the West Coast, Voyager has been adding experienced investors with proven track records to our investment team," said Erik Benson, managing director at Voyager Capital. "Last year, after adding Dan Ahn as a Managing Director and Diane Fraiman as a Venture Partner to our offices in Menlo Park and Portland, we invested with Geoff in the first venture round for Portland-based Elemental Technologies. While working with Geoff over the last nine months on Elemental, we learned first hand why he is widely considered to be one of the most respected angel investors in technology startups in this region."

"Our company was fortunate to attract top West Coast angel investors like Geoff Entress early in our development. Geoff is a trusted advisor and now that he has joined Voyager's team, I'm confident that Voyager Capital will have an even greater impact building technology companies of lasting value," said Sam Blackman, CEO and co-founder of Elemental Technologies. "We selected Voyager to lead Elemental's first round of venture funding due to the partners' operational and investment experience in digital media, together with their extended team of venture partners and advisors such as Frank Gill and Bruce Chizen."

Entress works with entrepreneurs in the Internet and digital media sectors throughout the Pacific Northwest. He was previously a Venture Partner with Seattle-based venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group and his successful past investments or board roles have included Isilon Systems (NASDAQ), Seadragon Software, The Coffee Equipment Company, Shelfari, and World Wide Packets, while his current portfolio includes BuddyTV, Elemental Technologies, Liquid Planner, I Can Has Cheezburger, and Sandlot Games.

"My passion is working with early stage entrepreneurs to build great businesses," said Entress. "By joining Voyager, I now have additional resources that I can offer these entrepreneurs as I work with them to build the next great technology companies of the Pacific Northwest. I also am very excited to be a member of the Voyager team and to be working with the impressive companies and entrepreneurs in their portfolio."

Prior to Madrona, Entress was co-founder and CFO of UrbanEarth.com, which he co-founded in 1999 after working as an attorney in the Seattle office of Perkins Coie. He also has worked for Salomon Brothers, The Prudential Home Mortgage Company, Mellon Bank, Priority Investment Management and Duquesne Capital Management.

Entress currently sits on the board of directors of drugstore.com (NASDAQ) and is also on the boards of several private companies. He is a member of the executive and screening committees of Seattle-based Alliance of Angels, the largest angel investor organization in Washington, and is an advisory board member of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Washington and of the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Entress is a graduate of The University of Michigan Law School, the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Notre Dame.

About Voyager Capital

Voyager Capital is a leading West Coast information technology venture firm, providing entrepreneurs with the resources, experience, and connections to build successful companies. Voyager invests primarily in early stage digital media, software and services, wireless, and web infrastructure companies, where the firm's domain expertise and "Go-to-Market" resources help build market leaders. Voyager Capital has $370 million under management with offices in Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; and Menlo Park, California. For more information please visit: http://www.voyagercapital.com/.