Austin Ventures Provides $25 Million Commitment to Fund New Orthopaedics Venture Heads of Marketing, Sales and R&D create Path4, LLC
Former Centerpulse Executives will Lead New Investments in Musculoskeletal Field in Partnership with Austin Ventures

Austin, TX - October 14, 2004

Austin Ventures announced today that it has committed $25 million to fund two new ventures in the orthopaedics market. Three senior executives have left Austin-based Centerpulse Orthopedics to form Path4 LLC, and have partnered with Austin Ventures to identify and manage promising new musculoskeletal companies. Austin Ventures and Path4 made the first investment earlier this month in an undisclosed company delivering early-stage intervention for lower back pain.

Jerry DeVries, Jim Rogan and Steve Whitlock, formerly vice presidents of marketing, sales, and research and development, respectively, were part of the Centerpulse management team that led the company to become one of the fastest-growing orthopaedic companies in the U.S. During this time their passion, experience and success fostered strong recognition within the surgeon and industry community. Together, this team represents combined industry experience of over 50 years and provides a well balanced and strong trio of skill sets that will allow them to identify, assess and then manage opportunities in the orthopaedic field.

"Austin Ventures has committed tremendous time and resources to assessing the opportunity of entering the orthopaedics market with us as partners and we are excited about working with them," said DeVries, Rogan and Whitlock. "With their support, both from capital and management expertise, we believe they make us a stronger company that will have the resources and skills to help young companies and promising ideas grow and prosper. Ultimately, this will increase the opportunity to create value for all of our investors."

Joe Aragona, a General Partner of Austin Ventures comments further, "We often are asked to support industry executives as they seek out investment opportunities but what makes this situation unique is that we have three executives with strong complementary skills that have proven themselves as a high-performance team. They are passionate about orthopaedics and have a strong sense of the many orthopaedic opportunities that will be emerging in the coming years. We look forward to working with and supporting them."

About Austin Ventures
Austin Ventures has been working with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies since 1979. With $2.4 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital firm in Texas, and one of the most established in the nation. With a focus on enterprise software, computer and communications hardware, and business services, Austin Ventures invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 "planned experiments" to $50+ million investments in management buyouts.

SOURCE: Austin Ventures

CONTACT: Austin Ventures, Austin

Kim Paschall, 512-485-1955 or 512-657-9840

About the Company
Founded in 2004, Path4 LLC is a privately held company based in Austin, Texas. The company identifies, creates and develops opportunities in the healthcare industry. As a strategic consulting firm to companies and physicians in the orthopaedic sector, Path4 is focused on strengthening clients’ competitive position and increasing revenue potential. More information is available at www.path4.com.

SOURCE: Path4, LLC
Media: Jerry DeVries, +1-512-437-2582
jerrydevries@path4.com
www.path4.com
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