Ignition's bad luck continues as another company hits the wall

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BAD NEWS

Ignition's bad luck continues as another company hits the wall

John Cook on Thursday, July 30, 2009, 9:40am PDT

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It's been a rough year for Ignition Partners -- a really rough year. Between the Entellium scandal, the Sotto Wireless closure and the elimination of jobs at what was formerly known as Jobster, the Bellevue venture capital firm has suffered more bad news than most during the past 12 months.

Now, a report comes via VentureWire that Ignition-backed Blowtorch Entertainment -- a film company that raised some $50 million from Ignition and others-- is on the ropes due to the credit crunch.

“I’m still hopeful,” CEO Kelly Rodriques told VentureWire. “But I’d be wrong if I told you I wasn’t disappointed.” The Web site is down, and the company is now holding out hope that it can make some money on two films that are in post-production.

If Blowtorch fails, it could be a big loss for Ignition which provided the equity portion of the company's financing. It led the first round in the San Francisco/LA-based company in late 2007, with partners Jon Anderson and Rich Tong taking board seats.

They declined to comment in VentureWire's piece, which also points out some of the problems that Ignition has faced recently. Ignition was created by former McCaw Cellular and Microsoft executives in 1999.

Despite the troubles and the fact that Ignition has yet to see one of its companies go public, the firm continues to invest money. It led the state in venture investments last quarter with four, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.

Ignition also remains one of the biggest venture funds in the Pacific Northwest with about $1.8 billion under management.

And given the partners' Microsoft heritage -- a company that is legendary for clawing its way back against huge odds -- it's probably way too early to count Ignition out.

But the firm sure could use a little good news.

[Hat tip to paidContent.org]

About John Cook

John Cook is co-founder and executive editor of TechFlash. He has been covering the technology beat for nearly a decade, writing about startups, entrepreneurs and venture capital, most recently serving as a reporter/blogger at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

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