Even as some of the largest VC firms focus increasingly on late-stage investments and even create specialized quasi-PC vehicles to put large amounts of money to work, early-stage specialists are sticking to their knitting and focusing on the ground floor in companies aimed to mature in future investment cycles.

Voyager Capital, which recently closed its third fund at $107 million, announced four new deals of modest, though unspecified, size, keeping with its focus primarily in early stage companies in the digital media, software and wireless sectors in the Pacific Northwest and California. The firm's third fund has backed Seattle wireless developer Ontela Inc.; SEMDirector Inc., a search marketing software maker; location-centered advertising services developer 1020; and Yapta Inc., an Internet travel planning service.

 
Voyager managing director Bill McAleer said the firm believes its deal flow relies on entrepreneurs' recognizing its early-stage focus and strategic value it brings in pre-market expertise.  

Some of Voyager's previous investments matured quite nicely, with its most recent home run being aQuantive Inc., which sold out to Microsoft Corp. in August for $6.4 billion, The firm's Kryptiq Software medical record- keeping investment won some crucial traction recently, when it was announced that it was a key partner in Microsoft's recent HealthVault launch.

See Voyager press release

See Aug. 14 story from The Deal

See Associated Press story