Hamburg, Munich, Menlo Park, February 20, 2007. Earlybird is pleased to announce that it has promoted Wolfgang Seibold and Thom Rasche to Partner, and strengthens its technology team with Gayathri Radhakrishnan. Earlybird is bringing the total number of Partners to six and thereby is further strengthening its complementary and highly experienced investment team.

Wolfgang Seibold has led several financing rounds and has contributed to a number of Earlybird’s technology companies as an observing board member, since he joined as an Associate in 2001. In addition, he drove Earlybird’s investment strategy in areas as semiconductors, materials and clean technologies. Wolfgang has represented Earlybird in various startup and industry initiatives, such as CTI invest, German Tech Tour and Silicon Saxony.
Prior to Earlybird, he worked as a management consultant for The Boston Consulting Group where he was a member of BCG's Worldwide IT-Practice Group. Before that, he had worked in communications engineering at Alcatel/SEL.
Wolfgang studied physics and mathematics at the universities of Ulm and Newcastle upon Tyne, from where he graduated as a Dipl. Phys. (MSc equivalent) with a major in semiconductor physics. Later, he obtained an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Dr. Christian Nagel comments: “Wolfgang has built a solid expertise in technology investing and managing the growth of young companies. With this, he has been a great contributor to Earlybird’s technology portfolio”.

Thom Rasche is a seasoned executive in the industry with over 18 years of working experience within the Medical Device & Diagnostic sector. He started with Earlybird as Venture Partner in 2003, responsible for the Medical Device Portfolio and new investments in this area. He successfully led various follow on investments in both European and US based companies. In addition he has been a key driver in realigning their strategic directions to maximize value.
Before joining Earlybird Thom was the Managing Director for ETHICON Endo-Surgery, a Johnson & Johnson company, building the market leadership for minimal invasive surgery in Germany.
Prior to that, Thom held various senior general management and marketing positions with
Johnson & Johnson in Europe and the US in both medical capital goods as well as medical disposables for the surgical, anaesthesia, gynaecological and internal medicine markets.
Thom Rasche holds a Degree as Diplom- Kaufmann from the University of Applied Sciences in Lüneburg - Germany, specializing in Marketing and Human Resource Management.
Thom serves on the board of Zonare Medical Systems, Inc.
„In particular in Medical Devices you need to know before you invest into a start-up who of the big players will buy the company when it’s grown up, certainly Thom´s 15 years at Johnson & Johnson builds a great complementary network” says Rolf Mathies, co-founder of Earlybird.

Gayathri Radhakrishnan joined Earlybird as an Associate in early 2007 focusing on technology investments.
She gained entrepreneurial experience as one of the first employees of the start-up SozoTek, Inc. As Director of Product Marketing at SozoTek, she assisted with the successful launch of the company and was responsible for branding, product management, sales support, and direct/channel marketing. In addition, she also managed SozoTek’s projects for end-customers, including tier1 wireless carriers and handset manufacturers both in the US and Canada.
Prior to SozoTek, she was with Corning Inc., as a Senior Market Development Engineer for the Broadband and Premises markets. In this role, she was involved in new fiber development projects and played a key role in the launch of Corning’s 10 Gigabit multi-mode fibre.
Gayathri received her bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, India and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA. In addition, she holds an MBA degree from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.


About Earlybird:
Earlybird with offices in Germany (Hamburg and Munich) and the U.S. (Menlo Park, California) invests primarily in early stage companies, in Europe and the US, within the Software/IT, Communications and Healthcare industries, as well as in the area of Convergent Technologies. The company was established in 1997 and currently has approximately US$ 300 million of capital under management. Earlybird identifies companies that are capable of global success in their respective industries while utilizing the best worldwide resources to do so. Most Earlybird companies are active in areas of technology where Europe plays a leading role and at the same time offers investors better initial valuations than in the U.S. Many of Earlybird’s portfolio companies have established subsidiaries across the Atlantic and in Asia. In some cases, company headquarters have relocated to the U.S. to take advantage of market locale, entrepreneurial leadership talent, expansion, and exit opportunities.

In addition to their financial competence, Earlybird’s partners and staff possess extensive operating and management experience, enabling them to provide comprehensive support for their portfolio companies. A network of experienced industry specialists serves on Earlybird´s advisory board and assists Earlybird and its portfolio companies in providing strategic advice and operational support.

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vonsaenger@earlybird.com

For further information, please contact:
Daniela von Wedel
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Earlybird
Van-der-Smissen-Str. 3
22767 Hamburg
Tel.: +49-40-4329 41-0
Fax: +49-40-4329 41-29

  www.earlybird.com