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Wanted: UK Storage Startups

Calling all storage networking startups in the U.K! Penta Capital, a private equity firm based in Glasgow, has announced an early-stage technology fund and is eager to invest in this sector.

The new fund, called Pentech Ventures, is looking to fund U.K.- and Ireland-based companies in the wireless and storage markets. Pentech has raised 12 million (US$17 million) so far and plans to close the fund at between $21.2 million and $28.3 million.

“We will certainly look at a company in the data storage space; it’s one of the hottest segments now,” says Eddy Anderson, director and co-founder of the fund. He adds that they are particularly interested in the software side of the business.

“It’s a great time for us now as the sluggish economy means lots of the VCs in the U.S. are retrenching rather than investing, but there’s still an abundance of good technology companies out there looking for money,” says Anderson. In three days they’ve seen a dozen companies already, many of them coming out of the universities in Scotland. Most of them are wireless plays -- no storage firms yet.

Pentech plans to invest from $250,000 to $1 million across 10 to 12 companies in any one round. But don’t go booking the Caribbean cruise just yet: The criteria for investment are rigorous.

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