Nazem and Company Funds Two Personal Computer Start-up Companies; PenWare and KNEX Represent Two New Market Trends

April 6, 1992 — Nazem and Co. has funded two new computer start-up companies.

The venture firm announced Monday that it has agreed to invest $1 million each in PenWare Inc. and KNEX.

”PenWare and KNEX represent the best type of start-up companies,” said Paul C. Dali, general partner in charge of Nazem and Co.’s west coast operations. ”Both of these companies are on the leading edge of new personal computer market opportunities and their founders bring with them a passion to make their visions into reality.”

PenWare, based in San Jose, Calif., was launched last autumn to offer software applications for pen computing. Pen computers allow users to interact with computers by using a pen. This segment of the personal computer market is expected to be one of the fastest growing of the decade. ”PenWare is a company that every venture capitalist wants to back,” continued Dali.

”It is conservatively run and has been privately funded to date. With this new funding the company will begin to ramp up to capture market share in line with the real rate of the pen computer market’s growth.”

PenWare’s first product, PenCell, was the first pen-based spreadsheet to be shipped for pen computers. It was introduced for Momenta Corp.’s (also a Nazem and Co. investment) personal computer which combines traditional keyboard-based and pen-based computing. This first version of PenCell was a finalist for a ”Best of Comdex” award last autumn at one of the personal computer industry’s major trade shows.

This week PenWare is introducing PenCell for Microsoft Corp.’s operating system called ”Windows for Pen Computing.”

KNEX is in an earlier stage of development. It has a technology to enable key market trends known as ”telecommuting” (which allows workers to successfully do their jobs from home or other off-site locations by using computers and telephones) and ”teleconferencing” (which allows the use of telephones to exchange faxes and data as well as voice and video). KNEX will open offices in the Silicon Valley and will be developing its first products for the next twelve to eighteen months.

”We found Nazem and Co.’s focus on finding and capturing the right market opportunity, rather than just on the financial details of the transaction, to be refreshing,” said Jim Wilson, KNEX’s founder and chief executive officer. ”The firm takes a long term approach to its investments, looking to add value to entrepreneurs as their companies grow and develop.”

Founded in New York sixteen years ago, Nazem and Co. has raised three funds for venture capital investments and is in the process of raising a fourth fund. The firm, with over $150 million under management divides its investments among health care services, medical technologies, computer/electronics industries, and value-added buyouts (which involves purchasing divisions of companies which have potential as stand-alone growth businesses).

Nazem and Co. has participated in building numerous successful companies, including Cirrus Logic, Applied Immune Sciences, Spectranetics, Ungermann-Bass, Liposome Technologies, Momenta and Media Vision. Nazem and Co.’s investors include IBM, General Motors, Exxon, Harvard University, Benefit Capital Management, Siemens, Prudential of London, and many others.

CONTACT:
Roeder-Johnson, Burlingame
Abigail R. Johnson, 415/579-0700