Highland Capital Partners Names Laurence Garrett as General Partner

GENEVA and LEXINGTON, Mass., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Highland Capital Partners, a leading venture capital firm with a more than twenty year history of helping great people build great companies, today announced that Laurence Garrett has joined the firm as a General Partner. Based in Highland's Geneva office, Garrett will work to identify, fund, and grow Europe's most promising technology and internet companies.

"We are focused on partnering with leading entrepreneurs with the ambition to build breakthrough companies and market leaders," said Fergal Mullen, General Partner with Highland.  "Laurence has a proven track record of doing so, and a strong reputation with entrepreneurs and the European venture community.  He'll be a terrific addition to the Highland team."

Garrett is a former Partner of 3i Ventures and most recently led the 3i European technology team.  He spent 14 years with 3i and led investments in several communications and technology companies, producing realized returns of over three times invested capital. While at 3i, Garrett's investments included: CSR plc (IPO), UbiNetics Ltd (acquired by Aeroflex Inc), Trigenix Ltd (sold to Qualcomm Inc), Ezurio Ltd (acquired by Laird Technologies plc), Icera Inc, and Insensys Ltd (acquired by Moog Inc). He currently sits on the investment committee for Cambridge Enterprise, endorsing investments made by the Cambridge University venture funds, and is on the board of BlueGnome Ltd.

"With their global platform, Highland has an outstanding track record of being a value-added partner to exceptional entrepreneurs and management teams," said Garrett.  "I am truly excited to be working with such a dynamic group of partners committed to nurturing the next generation of market leaders."

Highland has a significant and growing presence in Europe.  The firm's European portfolio includes such companies as Autoquake, Glasses Direct, PhotoBox, picoChip, Privalia and Spartoo.com.  Garrett will be joining existing European investors Fergal Mullen and Irena Goldenberg in Highland's Geneva office.

About Highland Capital Partners

Highland Capital Partners was founded with the mission of helping great people build great companies.  Since its inception in 1988, the firm has taken a sector-focused approach to investing in exceptional communications, consumer, digital media, healthcare and information technology companies.  With over $3 billion of committed capital and offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, Geneva and Shanghai, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as VistaPrint, Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, Coremetrics, lululemon athletica, Lycos, MapQuest, Navic Networks, Ocular Networks, Odyssey Healthcare, P.A. Semi, Quattro Wireless, Quigo, Starent Networks, Sybase and Telica.  For more information, visit Highland's web site at www.hcp.com.

SOURCE Highland Capital Partners