Tuesday, August 22, 2006

UVF Raises Fund, Invests In Alianza

Salt Lake City, Utah-based University Venture Fund, a venture capital fund that is run by university students, said today that it has closed on an $18M fund and placed an investment in Lindon, Utah-based Alianza Global Communication Services. Amount of the investment in Alianza was not disclosed. UVF said that the investment was the firm's tenth. UVF is a student-run fund which allows students to learn how to invest venture capital, and includes students from Pennsylvania-based Wharton School of Business, Salt Lake City-based Westminster College, Provo-based Brigham Young University, and Salt Lake City-based University of Utah. Alianza sells a virtual PBX phone system that uses VoIP, targeted at Latin American businesses. The lead investor in Alianza in this round was vSpring Capital, and the firm has also received funding from the Utah Angels. UVF has also invested in Omniture, LignUp, Socialtext, and other firms, and has received support from Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. More information »