SeaPoint spreads wealth to wireless

SeaPoint Ventures is doing its part to encourage confidence in the wireless industry’s financial prospects, having announced four new investments in wireless start-ups.

The new firms in SeaPoint’s portfolio are CapBack, a Seattle company working in network transport technology; Kineto Wireless, a Milpitas, Calif., firm developing an in-building wireless solution; PocketThis, a London-based developer of software multimedia messaging and content conversion; and Vayusa, a Boston company with a wireless point-of-sale payment platform.

"This is an exciting time to be investing in wireless," said Tom Huseby, managing partner at SeaPoint Ventures and founder and former executive of Metawave Communications and Innova. "Over the past 18 months, we've reviewed hundreds of attractive opportunities."

Huseby said SeaPoint’s investments in wireless have three areas of focus: mobile value chain, wireless network elements and transactional hub infrastructure. Vayusa and PocketThis are part of what SeaPoint deems the mobile value chain, as both companies create new revenue streams for wireless network operators.

PocketThis delivers software to wireless operators that allows their customers to save the content they choose--from the Web, desktop, directory assistance or print--with one click to their mobile phones. Once on the phone, the content is dynamically tied to the operators' existing services that are most useful for the content saved. The content can also be shared with other mobile users, increasing data traffic for carriers.

"Mobile value chain companies that drive wireless data usage will prove critical to the wireless industry," said Melissa Widner, general partner at SeaPoint Ventures.