Grace Leong - DAILY HERALD | Posted: Monday, May 19, 2008 11:00 pm
Canopy Ventures of Lindon raised $100 million in private equity funding to be invested in up to 25 information technology and life sciences companies in Utah over the next eight years, officials announced Monday.
A majority of the $100 million -- Canopy's second private equity fund in 13 years -- will be invested over the next three to four years to help fund the early-stage companies' research and development, commercialization of product or services and customer growth locally and globally, said Ron Heinz, Canopy's general partner.
"We'll be investing between $1 million and $5 million per company to help them get their product to market, improve channels of distribution, and reach global markets," Heinz said. "There are three factors we look at before investing -- people, technology and marketplace. Do the prospective companies have a successful track record? Is the technology disruptive? Does it cause changes in buying behavior or ways of doing things? What is the anticipated size of the market? Does the technology have the opportunity to dramatically grow and will the market support that growth?"
The early-stage venture fund, which is backed by the Noorda family of Novell fame, is investing in life sciences for the first time, and also expanding its investment along the Wasatch Front.
"There are plenty of good opportunities in medical devices and pharmaceuticals, and there's so much good technology and so many talented scientists affiliated with the University of Utah and BYU. Utah County was our backyard from the Novell days, but we're now looking forward to branching out to northern Utah," said Brandon Tidwell, another general partner with Canopy.
Since its establishment in 1995, Canopy has invested around $100 million in 13 technology companies in Utah, 10 of which are in Utah County. Canopy was founded by the late Ray Noorda, Novell's founder and former CEO.
Separately, Redwood Shores, Calif.-based business software giant Oracle Corp. is making an initial investment of $285 million to build a new data storage center in West Jordan, government officials announced on Monday.
The 200,000 square-foot data center, which is expected to break ground in summer and be completed by early 2010, will add 100 engineers, programmers and tech support staff.
The Governor's Office of Economic Development offered $15.1 million in post-performance tax incentives to lure the software giant to expand in Utah, beating out Idaho and two other states. Oracle was attracted by the quality of the state's IT work force and the lower costs of doing business.
"Once Oracle adds the 100 jobs, builds the center and starts operations in Utah, they can start receiving up to $15.1 million in tax rebates every year for the next 12 years," said Jason Perry, executive director of GOED.
Oracle would pay salaries averaging $64,000, for a total payroll of $73.5 million a year.