Venture-capital investing holds steady in 2005

Venture-capital investing held steady in 2005 compared with the year before, according to the MoneyTree Survey.

The survey, being released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association, details how much money was invested both regionally and nationwide.

In the U.S., 2,939 deals raised a total of $21.7 billion compared with 2004's tally of 2,966 deals that raised $21.6 billion. In Washington, 114 deals raised $736.3 million, compared with 2004 when 114 deals raised $825.2 million.

Investment professionals considered the amount of activity healthy. "We like the steady pace and not the big swings seen in the boom," said Kate Mitchell, managing director of BA Venture Partners during a conference call discussing results.

The fourth quarter for Washington represented the busiest period last year, with 31 deals getting a total of $236.6 million in venture capital.

Wireless provider sues data brokers

Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA, a wireless provider with more than 20 million subscribers, said Monday that it filed a suit against online data brokers that allegedly obtained cellphone records illegally.

The suit, filed in King County Superior Court, is seeking an injunction to stop Locatecell.com, as well as related companies and individuals. Locatecell.com couldn't be reached for comment. The hearing is set for Feb. 24.

The suit follows action from other cellphone carriers and state and federal legislators. Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, R-Kirkland, introduced legislation Monday to ban the sale of cellphone numbers and call records. Last week, three U.S. senators introduced federal legislation.

Atlanta-based Cingular Wireless has already obtained a temporary restraining order against some of the companies involved in the practice, including Locatecell.com.

The Meacham Group, a Kirkland company that provides employee benefits to groups in Washington, is merging with Baldwin Resource Group in Bellevue.

Bill Meacham, founder of The Meacham Group, and his partner Gus Kiss will become principals at Baldwin Resource, which was founded in 1998 and offers services including risk management, insurance and business consulting.

ICO Global

2 companies name new chief executive

Kirkland-based ICO Global Communications and ICO North America said Monday that J. Timothy Bryan has been appointed chief executive officer of both entities.

ICO Global is a satellite-communications company working on offering wireless voice, data and Internet services with handsets similar to existing cellular phones. In August, ICO North America raised $650 million in a private debt placement.

Bryan is the former president of United Pan-Europe Communications, the largest cable operator in Europe, and was chief financial officer of United GlobalCom, now Liberty Global, a Denver-based cable-television company. Bryan has served on the board of directors of ICO since 2001 and is also a director of Open TV and Kirkland-based Clearwire.

"As ICO readies itself to commence operations, we are pleased that Tim will bring two decades of operating and financial experience to the company," ICO Chairman Craig McCaw said in a statement.

Firm goes public with new service

A company backed by Craig McCaw and other big names in high-tech emerged from stealth Monday to announce a service designed to let business users know how best to reach colleagues at a given moment, be it via instant messaging, telephone or e-mail.

The new company, Tello, is the brainchild of Jeff Pulver, a founder of Internet calling company Vonage Holdings.

Also on the board are McCaw, who founded the company that later became AT&T Wireless; John Sculley, the former chief executive of Apple Computer and PepsiCo; and telecom investment banker Michael Price.

The four men founded the company in 2004, providing the initial capital. The San Mateo, Calif., company attracted money from the investment arm of Intel last year.

Yahoo!

Yahoo! accepts that Google is No. 1

Yahoo!, one of the first Internet search companies, has capitulated to Google in the battle for market dominance.

"We don't think it's reasonable to assume we're going to gain a lot of share from Google," said Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker. "It's not our goal to be No. 1 in Internet search. We would be very happy to maintain our market share."

"It kind of makes you wonder about how serious they are about search," said Danny Sullivan, editor of London-based SearchEngineWatch.com, which tracks the search industry. "It really ought to be their goal to be No. 1 whether it's realistic or not."

Compiled from Seattle Times staff, The Associated Press and Bloomberg News