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RIM, RBC, and Thomson Reuters to Anchor BlackBerry Partners Fund

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May 12, 2008

RIM, RBC, and Thomson Reuters to Anchor BlackBerry Partners Fund

By Anshu Shrivastava, TMCnet Contributing Editor


Research In Motion (RIM), RBC, and Thomson Reuters (News - Alert) have announced plans to launch the BlackBerry Partners Fund.

 
A $150 million venture capital fund, BlackBerry (News - Alert) Partners Fund aims to focus on applications and services for the BlackBerry platform and other mobile platforms including mobile commerce — payments, advertising, retailing, and banking — vertical and horizontal enterprise applications, communications, social networking, location-based applications like navigation and mapping, as well as media and entertainment and lifestyle and personal productivity applications.
 
“The BlackBerry Partners Fund will focus on evaluating companies in all regions of the world and investing in the long term success of those that demonstrate market leadership and unique differentiation,” according to John Albright, managing partner at JLA Ventures, who will also assume the role of co-Managing Partner of the BlackBerry Partners Fund.
 
BlackBerry Partners Fund, according to the companies, will not restrict the development of mobile applications or services to any single mobile platform or any specific industry segment.
 
“The Fund will be designed to advance the industry by fostering development and driving the entrepreneurial spirit to create the most innovative mobile offerings for customers,” the companies said.
 
Jim Balsillie, co-CEO at RIM, noted that the mobile world has evolved well beyond phone calls and simple messaging to require empowering and liberating solutions that connect people to everything that matters most to them, wherever and whenever they want.
 
“RIM, RBC, and Thomson (News - Alert) Reuters share the common belief that mobile applications and services will propel the industry forward and the BlackBerry Partners Fund is being formed to help fuel innovation and activity in the mobile ecosystem,” he added.
 
Echoing similar thoughts, Devin Wenig, CEO of markets division at Thomson Reuters, noted, “Thomson Reuters is committed to supporting the development of next generation mobile applications that will provide our professional and business customers with anywhere, anytime capabilities.”
 
He also expects that the ability to make business critical decisions with intelligent information available on mobile devices will give customers a clear competitive advantage.
 
“The BlackBerry Partners Fund will be a catalyst for the development of next generation mobile applications and services,” commented Kevin Talbot, RBC Vice President and Managing Director at RBC Venture Partners, who will also assume the role of co-Managing Partner of the BlackBerry Partners Fund.
 
This Fund is to be co-managed by JLA Ventures and RBC Venture Partners.
 
Anshu Shrivastava is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
 
For all the latest enterprise IP communications, unified communications, and contact center news, please click here.
 


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