Cambridge Cluster

Image via Wikipedia Each week, Jenny Chapman of the Cambridge Evening News puts together her twelve page Business & Finance section.  This week, the centre page features Mike Lynch, founder of Autonomy which is now back in the FT 100- how I wish I had kept my shares in Autonomy after the crash in the early ’00s.  Business is booming but we never find out more about the “immaculate conception” of Autonomy and how it went from start-up to sales so quickly in 1996.  Where did the product come from and who paid?  Lynch loves Cambridge and it is just surprising that he did not get to New Hall before the Edwards’ – Murray Lynch College has a good sound about it.Jenny Chapman also features Qasara which came out of TTP Comms and is develping “4G” technology which will come to the market in a couple of years. Qasara is expected to move into profit by 2011.  With a team of nearly twenty highly paid experts it is not clear from the article who is fronting the costs.  When Qasara was set up “we got talking to one of TTPComm’s old customers and were able to get funding”.  What does this mean?  A development contract or equity funding?  If the latter, Qasara will be dependent on the investor to keep funding the company as it is not a normal pattern for a VC to come in.  Has Michael Barkway, CEO, and his team thought through the Equity Fingerpint as part of their business plan? How much of Qasara do they own and do they have options?  What are their equity plans?