Promotes Bruce Booth to Partner; invests in CloudSwitch

Boston and London – January 29, 2009 – Atlas Venture, an early-stage international venture capital firm, has closed its eighth fund at $283M.  Atlas Venture VIII will continue the firm’s proven strategy of funding early-stage technology and life sciences start-ups in the US and Europe.  Atlas Venture remains focused on partnering with talented entrepreneurs at the founding stage to build companies from the ground up based on compelling innovation.

“The new fund is the right size for our early-stage focus and organizational structure,” said Jean-Francois Formela, partner at Atlas Venture.  “We feel fortunate to have a fresh pool of capital to invest at a time when we see steady innovation coupled with a return to capital efficiency. This is a good environment in which to fund new companies.”

With the launch of Atlas Venture VIII, the firm has promoted Bruce Booth to Partner in the life sciences group.  Bruce joined Atlas Venture in 2005 and has helped form several portfolio companies.  He currently sits on the Boards of Ivrea and Zafgen, and is chairman and co-founder of Miragen.

Investors in Atlas Venture VIII include existing limited partners, such as Kisco Management, The Kresge Foundation and Paul Capital; and new limited partners, including Franklin Park, Industriens Pensionsforsikring A/S and Meketa Investment Group.

“We are pleased with our investment in Atlas Venture VII, an internationally diverse portfolio of innovative technology and life sciences companies. The fund has shown strong early performance and continued momentum,” said David York, managing director at Paul Capital. “We remain excited about the team and its early-stage focus, and look forward to our continued partnership in Atlas Venture VIII.”

The first investment in Atlas Venture VIII was made in CloudSwitch, a technology start-up currently in stealth mode.  The company’s unique solution will enable enterprises to take advantage of cloud computing.  CloudSwitch was founded by entrepreneurs Ellen Rubin, formerly of Netezza, and John Considine, formerly of Pirus Networks (acquired by Sun Microsystems).  Atlas Venture co-led the $7.4M investment.

About Atlas Venture

Atlas Venture is a leading early-stage international venture capital firm that invests in technology and life sciences businesses in the US and Europe. Since inception in 1980, its partners have helped build over 350 companies in more than 16 different countries. In the past decade, 44 portfolio companies have been acquired and 47 are now public companies with an aggregate market capitalization of over $15 billion. Atlas Venture manages over $2.5 billion in capital through offices in Boston and London. For more information, visit www.atlasventure.com.