Tucson real-estate developer Diamond Ventures Inc. has formed a new venture-capital entity to invest in early stage, emerging technology companies across the Southwest.
DVI Equity Partners will be led by principal and managing partner Robert Griffin, former CEO of University of Arizona spinoff Knowledge Computing Corp., which developed criminal-data processing software widely used by police agencies.
Diamond said DVI will be actively seeking investment opportunities, with an emphasis on “disruptive technology” and companies founded and led by women and minorities, in technology areas including national security, enterprise software, artificial intelligence and data analysis.
Diamond Ventures President David Goldstein said the formation of DVI and Griffin’s hiring “underscores our desire to expand our venture capital investments and services to the Southwest region’s technology sector.”
Diamond Ventures was an early investor in Knowledge Computing, which under Griffin’s leadership merged with a British company in 2009 and was sold to IBM in 2011 for a reported $500 million.
