Australian Venture Capital Journal
October 2007

Uniseed Appoints New Investment Manager

Universities based pre-seed and seed stage venture capital fund Uniseed has appointed David Rowe as a new investment manager based in Sydney.

Mr Rowe previously spent six years with Microsoft Corporation where he most recently led a European emerging business team. The team focused on building relationships in the venture capital community and creating value in emerging businesses that were developing innovative solutions on Microsoft's .NET platform.

Mr Rowe said he expects the extensive network of venture capital contacts he built up in in the UK and Europe while working with Microsoft to prove valuable in his new role.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr Rowe worked in Sydney and Toronto for Perth-based investment bank Transocean Securities. He worked in the venture capital arm of Transocean focusing on the internet, new media and mobile technology. He was recruited to Microsoft in London where he had been working on a deal for Transocean.

Mr Rowe holds a bachelor's degree in computer systems engineering and a PhD in computer systems architecting from the University of Technology, Sydney. He has extensive experience in real time systems engineering, enterprise computing and research consulting.

Based at the University of NSW offices of NewSouth Innovations (NSi), Mr Rowe is already working on a number of deals.

Uniseed focuses on commercialising research and ideas from the University of Queensland, the University of Melbourne and the University of NSW.

Established in 2000 as a $20 million fund by the universities of Queensland and Melbourne, the Uniseed fund has grown to more than $60 million through investment commitments from Westscheme – West Australia's largest non-government superannuation fund – the University of NSW and further investment from the founding universities.