June 17, 2009 01:30 PM Eastern Time 

Peter Lee Named as Partner of Baroda Ventures Los Angeles-based Venture Capital Firm

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Baroda Ventures, the Los Angeles-based venture capital firm launched in 1998 by technology entrepreneur and philanthropist David C. Bohnett, has named Peter Lee as Partner. Immediately prior to joining Baroda Ventures, Lee was with Prism Ventures, and his background in venture capital includes tenure at Clearstone Venture Partners.

“I am excited about the vision and experience that Peter Lee brings to Baroda Ventures”

The addition of Mr. Lee to the Baroda Ventures team heralds a new expansion for the firm, which concentrates on early stage investments—seed and series A—for innovative Southern California-based projects with an emphasis in the technology sector. In particular, Baroda Ventures will identify outstanding opportunities in the areas of consumer Internet, digital media, and SaaS. It is a focus in line with Mr. Bohnett’s legacy as the founder of the pioneering Internet portal/social media site GeoCities, which was publicly traded on NASDAQ and was subsequently sold to Yahoo! in 1999.

“I am excited about the vision and experience that Peter Lee brings to Baroda Ventures,” said David Bohnett. “As an investor and venture capital strategist, he balances rigorous intellectual acumen and an open-minded, adventurous perspective, which are both invaluable assets. With his background in media and technology investing, Peter is an ideal fit for Baroda Ventures’ plans for growth going forward.”

Peter Lee said, “It’s an exciting time to be investing in Southern California, and to do so with David Bohnett and Baroda Ventures is a remarkable challenge. Despite the general downturn, there are many interesting prospects, and the fact that the market seems to be under-capitalized from the venture perspective opens up a lot of fascinating opportunities. We’re looking for visionary entrepreneurs who are passionate about building successful businesses, and I think we’re in for an extraordinary ride.”

Prior to his career as an investor, Lee—who holds a B.S. and M.S. in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—was Vice President of Operations and Product Management at GoldPocket Interactive (acquired by TandbergTV), a startup developing a platform for creating, distributing and managing interactive TV solutions and systems. Previously, he was a manager with the worldwide management-consulting firm McKinsey & Company, and a product manager at Microsoft’s wireless device group. In addition to his degrees from M.I.T., he holds an MBA, with Honors, from Harvard Business School.

Since its inception in 1998, Baroda Ventures has invested in LowerMyBills.com, Stamps.com, OVGuide.com, Xdrive.com, NetZero, ID90T, WireImage.com and others. A theme common to many of Baroda Ventures’ investments are businesses and disruptive technologies that serve the end-consumer, build community, and advance networking opportunities.

About Baroda Ventures:

Baroda Ventures (www.BarodaVentures.com) is a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm founded in 1998 by philanthropist and technology entrepreneur David C. Bohnett. Previously, Mr. Bohnett founded GeoCities, an Internet-based media company, publicly traded on NASDAQ and subsequently acquired by Yahoo! Baroda Ventures is focused on early stage venture investments (Seed and Series A)—ranging from $100K to $5M—in the consumer Internet, SaaS, and digital media industries, with a particular focus on Los Angeles and Southern California-based companies.

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