01 January 2007
Chagrin Falls, Ohio – A former partner of Panzica Investments has announced today the formal launch of a closely held private equity fund focused on investing in early stage technology companies, Beta Opportunity Partners, LP. Horton-Panzica through her initial work with Panzica Investments, invested successfully in a portfolio of technology companies over the past year, including Antepo, SamePage, Euphonyx, Preemptive Solutions, Ayalogic and The Northern Ohio Children’s Technology Workshop. Much of this initial investment portfolio now serves at the foundation of the Beta Opportunity Partners fund.
The Beta Opportunity Partners fund, designed early in the operations of Panzica Investments, will continue to seek and structure early stage technology opportunities while Horton-Panzica continues expand the scope of her advisory relationships with technology companies in which she has invested. After a series of design discussions and informal market tests, Horton has launched the Beta Opportunity Partners fund with a singular focus on investment opportunities with companies that demonstrate solid, defensible intellectual property, a world class team and a positive plan for near-term cash flow.
“Initially, we had intended to combine both technology and real estate holdings as a diversified portfolio within the Beta Opportunity Partners fund, but ultimately determined that the synergies of these two asset classes were not strong enough to warrant the complexity needed to manage growth, income and venture assets all within a single group,” said Horton.
The Beta Opportunity Partners fund is managed by the newly formed Beta Strategy Group, a strategic design and advisory firm focused on the process of transforming innovation into economic outcomes for the enterprise and the public sector.
“We are pleased that, after a year of active investment in the space, I can use our initial technology portfolio to act as seed investment for a broader vision of technology development for our fund participants as well as for Northeast Ohio,” stated Cathy Horton-Panzica.
“Having worked hard over the last year to establish and refine our approach to early stage technology investing, we are now ready to move to the next phase in our evolution,” continued Horton. “We have proven the model and are expanding our team to pursue a greater level of opportunity – both domestically and internationally.”
The Beta Strategy Group has already begun the process of engaging the public sector and capitalizing on its collective experience in this field. “The economy today is not only about amazing technology, it is also about that technology’s relevance to connected community efforts,” stated Lev Gonick longtime advisor to Panzica Investments and now to Beta Opportunity Partners. “Those focused on investing in technologies that enable the digital community through innovation will define the new economy. The Beta Strategy Group is one such group.”
The Beta Strategy Group is currently constructing new offices in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. For further information, contact Cathy Horton at 440-484-2234.
# # #