Our Story

Founded by Wall Street Veteran Gary Shields, Avtech Ventures was founded in 2001 to manage all of the VC and P/E investments of Ted Waitt, Founder of Gateway Computers, and his family office, Avalon Capital. Starting as one fund, the firm expanded to three funds that have achieved outstanding returns among all US based venture capital firms.   Since its formation in 2000, the firm has invested directly in more than 50 companies, has served on more than 20 boards of directors, and has provided advisory services to dozens of companies. Leveraging our Founder's senior investment banking experience with major firms including LF Rothschild in New York and Robertson Stephens in New York and San Francisco, we provide comprehensive experience and deep expertise to every one of our portfolio companies. Our direct investments and advisory transactions through the years comprise hundreds of transactions totaling billions of dollars at every stage from seed to exit. In addition to running Avtech, Gary serves as Chairman and Managing Partner at Nassau Street Partners, where he and his partners provide world class M&A and institutional capital formation services to that firm's clients.