The Cyber Scene in Denver ~ by Suzanne Lainson

I attended First Tuesday on June 19, (which, of course, was not the first Tuesday in June). But never mind, it was a great party, as usual. According to one news report, over 800 people were in attendance. It was back at Brooklyn's, which is a perfect place to hold such an event. It's a two-level club next to the Pepsi Center. While the local newspapers are running stories about telecom layoffs and commercial real estate gluts, this was a very upbeat crowd. I even did a reality check with Dilpreet Jammu, senior manager, business and service integration, for Nortel Networks (http://www.nortel.com), figuring that if anyone had reason to be gloomy it would be him. Nope. His demeanor hasn't changed in the six months I have known him.

As I walked from the parking into the building, I ran into my friends from Holme Roberts & Owen (http://www.hro.com) -- Mark Weakley, Suzy Thevenet and Linda Wackwitz. Mark wanted to tell me that a client, Lefthand Networks (http://www.lefthandnetworks.com), has been moving right along with its VC funding. On a related note, Boulder-based Sequel Venture Partners (http://www.sequelvc.com), one of the investors in Lefthand, just announced that it has closed its third limited partnership, Sequel Limited Partnership III, providing it with $180 million for venture investment. Sequel has done some heavy-hitting investing in such companies as MatchLogic, XCare.net, DataPlay, Finali, netLibrary, Requisite Technology, Myogen, Allos Therapeutics, HighGround Systems, Zight and ServiceMagic. Another investment is Petroleum Place (http://www.petroleumplace.com), which I recently profiled for eMileHigh (http://www.emilehigh.com/news/viewnews.asp?alt=100001325&author=Lainson). Rick Patch, a partner at Sequel, is quoted in a recent Upside article (http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/money/story?id=3b30e5e01) on investment in Colorado. Even though it was written by an "outsider," it's a good description of life here in the state.

Once I got inside First Tuesday, I didn't do as much circulating as I do at these events because I was trying to figure out how to eat a plate full of Mexican food without utensils. It couldn't be done. As I juggled my plate and napkins, I chatted with Yvonne Lynott from Lynott & Associates, a PR and marketing firm based in Niwot. She introduced me to a client, Linda Bush, CEO of SafeRent (http://www.saferent.com), which has gotten more than $21 million in funding, most recently $13 million in a third round. Linda said that even more investors want in; she was in talks with one group just that week.