Investors

Val E. Vaden

Co-Founding Partner of Benchmark Capital / Vector Capital

 

Val E. Vaden personally invested his own capital to become our largest individual outside stockholder. He also serves on our Board of Directors, and we have retained his consulting services to further accelerate the growth of FTEN.

Val E. Vaden is a co-founding partner of Vector Capital (www.vectorcapital.com). Val concentrates on investments in e-commerce and enterprise software. Prior to forming Vector Capital, Val was a founding general partner of Benchmark Capital, a leading e-commerce startup venture capital firm best known for its early stage investments in eBay, Ariba, and RealNetworks.

Chess Ventures

 

Chess Ventures (www.chessventures.com) is a private equity firm that invests in technology companies that have direct application to the financial services industry. The firm is headquartered in San Francisco, with an office in London, and it is funded in part by the Schwab family.

Chess Ventures, Ltd., is the investment vehicle used to conduct the strategic investment activities of the firm. The investment team is led by Charles Schwab, Jr., and the shareholders include both the Schwab family and large financial institutions located outside of the United States. The strategic goal is to provide the Fund's shareholders with the ability to access and adopt new technologies that will provide competitive advantage and direct financial benefit.

Equitec Proprietary Markets

 

Equitec Group (www.eqtc.com) was our first outside investor. Equitec Group is a holding company for a number of diversified trading and technology businesses, and is recognized as a branded leading national liquidity provider in listed securities. Equitec's CEO, Steve Tumen currently serves on the FTEN Board. Prior to Equitec, Steve was a market maker on the CBOE for 15 years and is the founder and managing member of an NASD member firm specializing in private equity transactions.