iRobot Chairman, Co-Founder and CEO, Colin Angle Joins Data Point Capital Team

BOSTON, Nov. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Point Capital, a venture capital firm focused on companies that can be leveraged and scaled on the internet, today announced the addition of Colin Angle as a Special Advisor to the organization. In addition to building one of the region's most heralded billion dollar businesses, Angle's leadership and vision have been recognized with numerous professional awards. He has been named CEO of the Year by the Mass Technology Leadership Council, a Mass High Tech All-Star, one of Fortune Small Business Magazine's Best Bosses and New England Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young.

"I could not be happier to have Colin join our group," said Scott Savitz, Managing Partner of Data Point Capital. "Colin has deep integrity with everything he does, is one of Boston's best innovators, cares deeply about entrepreneurism and the community and is a proven operator who enjoys building tremendous value.  Data Point Capital and the companies that make up our portfolio will benefit greatly from his leadership and management expertise."

"I am thrilled to be involved," notes Colin Angle. "Scott has put together a group of individuals that have proven they can achieve great success.  It is clear as you look at the team why Data Point Capital has so quickly become one of the premier venture capital firms. I look forward to adding to the firm's very bright future."

Angle joins a set of other successful entrepreneurs and business executives that make up what is an impressive Special Advisory group to Data Point Capital that have committed as investors, and to bringing deep expertise to the organization including:

Lars Albright: Co-Founder and CEO of SessionM, a venture funded mobile engagement and advertising platform. Prior to founding SessionM, Lars was Co-founder of Quattro Wireless, a leading mobile advertising platform that was acquired by Apple in late 2009.

Fred Bertino: Founder and President of MMB, and former President and Chief Creative Officer at Hill, Holliday. 

Desh Deshpande: President of Sparta Group LLC, and Founder and Chairman of Sycamore Networks (SCMR).  Prior to co-founding Sycamore Networks, Desh was Founder and Chairman of Cascade Communications Corp.

Diane Hessan: CEO of Startup Institute and Chairman and former CEO of Communispace, a leading social networking company that is transforming the way that companies listen to and understand their consumers. Communispace was sold to Omnicom in 2011.

Steve Papa: Founder and CEO of Endeca, building it until it was Oracle's 6th largest acquisition ever on announcement in 2011. Before founding Endeca, Steve was part of the original team creating Akamai.

Alan Phillips: Founder of Where.com, a mobile location-based media company, which sold to eBay in 2011. Before founding Where.com, Alan served as Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of ZDNet, where he managed technology and infrastructure and was instrumental in the sale of ZDNet to CNet for $1.6 billion.

Jim Salzano: Former President of Clarks Americas. Jim was with the company for 19 years and during that time the company grew from just over $200M in revenue to over $1B share of the North American market.

Len Schlesinger: Former President of Babson College. Len also previously served as Vice Chairman and COO of Limited Brands (now L Brands), and Executive Vice President and COO of Au Bon Pan.

According to Diane Hessan, Chairman and former CEO of Communispace and Special Advisor to Data Point Capital, "The group Scott has put together at Data Point is unique. Rarely do you see a combination of talent that is responsible for over $12 billion in exits that is so committed to collectively seeing the next generation of entrepreneurs similarly experience success. Colin Angle fits right in. He is a visionary who knows what it is like to build a very big business, to make a lot of money for investors, to leverage talent, and frankly, to win. I speak for all involved when I say we look forward to having Colin be part of our team."

About Data Point Capital
Data Point Capital focuses on companies that can be leveraged and scaled on the Internet and touch the consumer. Categories of interest include mobile, gaming, social networks, payments, comparison shopping, e-commerce and emerging technologies. Our opportunistic approach allows us to invest in companies that are at key inflection points in their lifecycles. The firm is made up of business executives and internet leaders who have created tremendous value through building a number of very successful companies (in many cases, again and again). At Data Point Capital, we like to think of ourselves as entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs and that by investing with independent thinking based on real, differentiating innovation and complimentary key metrics, superior results can be achieved.

About Colin Angle
Colin Angle serves as Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of iRobot, guiding the strategic direction of the company. One of the world's leading authorities on mobile robots, Angle is an industry pioneer with more than two decades of experience. Under his leadership, iRobot is at the forefront of the growing robot industry, delivering home cleaning and military robots that are making a difference. Angle's keen sense of business strategy is a driving force behind iRobot's successful identification and execution of expansion opportunities. With Angle's guidance, iRobot has formed key strategic partnerships, building on decades of expertise from each partner to create new and innovative robot solutions. Angle's leadership and vision for the future of robots have been recognized with numerous professional awards. He has been named CEO of the Year by the Mass Technology Leadership Council, a Mass High Tech All-Star, one of Fortune Small Business Magazine's Best Bosses and New England Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young. Angle is a member of the board of directors at Striiv, Inc. Angle holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master's degree in computer science, both from MIT.

SOURCE Data Point Capital

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