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MENLO PARK, CA – August 16, 2005 – ONSET Ventures announced today that Ken Martin, formerly vice president of engineering at Hansen Medical, has joined the ONSET team as an associate in its medical technology practice. Martin, who joins ONSET after 15 years in technology development and product engineering of medical devices, brings experience that is exemplary of the firm's commitment to "venture craftsmanship" — a set of principles that guides its investment and operating strategies.
"Our goal is not just to hand our portfolio companies money and hope they figure out the key to success," said Leslie Bottorff of ONSET. "We work actively with these companies to help them craft both the right product and market focus, and a systematic, milestone-driven operating plan designed to reduce risk and build value." According to Bottorff, this approach requires both an understanding of market dynamics and a thorough command of the potential uses for, and limits of, technology. "By adding Ken to our team, with his strong technical and operating background, we are underscoring this perspective," she said.
Martin, 40, joins ONSET after serving as vice president of engineering of Hansen Medical, a medical device start-up company, and Immersion Corporation, which is a pioneer in haptic, or "tactile feedback" systems, now being developed in a wide range of applications, including medical. Prior to that, he was with IDEO Product Development, the world's leading producer of technology product designs. Martin holds a B.A.Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Toronto and an MS in manufacturing systems engineering from Stanford University. He has received a number of awards and fellowships, the most recent of which was the Biodesign Innovation Fellowship from Stanford University in 2004-2005.
At ONSET, Martin will serve as an associate in the medical technology practice working with the firm's medical investing team to identify new investment opportunities, and advise early stage medical device and drug delivery portfolio companies.
ONSET Ventures specializes in providing an ideal mix of start-up, follow-on, and intellectual capital to entrepreneurs and early-stage technology ventures, to help transform world-class ideas into sustainable and valuable businesses. The firm has backed over 100 companies since 1984 and now has more than $700 million under management.
ONSET pioneered, and has continuously refined over 20 years, a highly-optimized tool set for risk and capital management that includes a focus on craftsmanship, and a shirt-sleeves style of active collaboration with entrepreneurs. That collaboration, which frequently begins before the closing of any financing, and typically continues throughout the life of the investment, has resulted in ventures that have consistently met their operational and financing milestones. In addition, ONSET has created a franchise that repeatedly attracts not only successful, serial entrepreneurs, but also those investors who want the increasingly rare opportunity to participate in very early stage venture investments.
ONSET Ventures focuses exclusively on information and medical technology-based start-ups, and has a long history of successful ventures in each of these sectors.