Atlas Venture Announces Appointment Of Laura Jennings As Senior Principal To Focus On West Coast Expansion

Market Wire, 20050229

Atlas Venture, the leading international venture capital firm with $1.6 billion under management, announces the appointment of Laura Jennings as Senior Principal. Ms. Jennings will be responsible for leading Atlas Venture's expansion on the West Coast, and will open a Seattle office for the firm. As a Senior Principal, Ms. Jennings will participate fully in all aspects of the firm's overall strategy and management.

Laura Jennings joins Atlas Venture after 12 years at Microsoft, where most recently she was Vice President of Worldwide Strategic Planning, reporting to company President Steve Ballmer. She sat on the Business Leadership Team, the top executive group at Microsoft, and was charged with implementing new business strategy in the business-to-business marketplace, leading over $1 billion in Microsoft investments, including Healtheon WebMD, Verticalnet, MyPlant.com and Radiant Systems. Previously, as Vice President of MSN, she managed the 1,000 person MSN Internet business worldwide, and led the Microsoft acquisitions of Hotmail and LinkExchange, taking MSN.com from inception to the third most trafficked site on the web. Other senior positions held during her 12-year tenure included General Manager of the Messaging Business Unit which included the Microsoft Mail, Schedule and Microsoft Exchange product lines; Senior Director of Marketing and Business Development for Advanced Consumer Technology; and Product Manager responsible for the launch of the original Microsoft Office product. Ms. Jennings holds a master's degree in Management from the Kellogg School of Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree in Business from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"Laura has the perfect background to lead our expansion on the West Coast," states Christopher Spray, Senior Principal of Atlas Venture. "She joins us with a vast amount of management and investment experience to help us execute our international strategy." He continues: "Seattle is market rich with early-stage venture investment opportunities. It is well-served with seed capital, but has few full-service venture capital firms with truly international networks. The combination of Laura's track record and reputation and Atlas Venture's international reach promises to create new opportunities for early-stage companies in the Seattle area. We are delighted to welcome her to Atlas Venture."

"I look forward to identifying and working closely with local firms in Seattle to provide them with a complete suite of support services, including the international expansion support which is one of Atlas Venture's hallmarks," says Ms. Jennings. "I also look forward to supporting the expansion of Atlas Venture's existing office in Menlo Park, and to joining the boards of several current Atlas Venture portfolio companies where my experience can be helpful."

Atlas Venture is the leading international, early-stage venture capital firm investing in Internet, communications, and health and life sciences companies. With offices in Amsterdam, Boston, London, Menlo Park, Munich and Paris, Atlas Venture's investments are split evenly between the United States and Europe.

Founded in 1980, Atlas Venture manages five international funds, with $1.6 billion in committed capital. The Atlas Venture investment team is comprised of seasoned operating executives and career venture capitalists who have been deeply involved in the formation and development of more than 300 companies - from entrepreneurial startups to industry-leading enterprises - worldwide.

Recent Atlas Venture portfolio company IPOs include Actelion (SWX: ATLN), deCODE genetics (Nasdaq & Easdaq: DCGN), Exelixis (Nasdaq: EXEL), Modex Thérapeutiques SA (SWX: MDXN), Orchestream Ltd (LSE: OCH), SpeechWorks International (Nasdaq: SPWX), and Variagenics (Nasdaq: VGNX). Recent acquisitions of Atlas Venture portfolio companies include Cerulean Technology (Aether), eGroups (Yahoo), OnDisplay (Vignette), Trading Dynamics (Ariba), Omnia Communications (CIENA), RightPoint Software (E.piphany), and T.sqware (GlobeSpan). (For more information, see www.atlasventure.com.)