Syncom Venture Partners

Syncom Venture Partners, originally founded as Syndicated Communications Inc. (SYNCOM) in February 1977, is one of the oldest and most prominent minority-focused venture capital firms in the United States, headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was created with a mission to diversify the ownership of media in the US and has focused for more than four decades on early- to mid-stage investments in underserved urban segments of the media and communications industry, more recently extending into digital media, mobile technology and web-based services. The firm has managed roughly $400 to 410 million of private equity capital across multiple funds, including Syndicated Communications Venture Partners V LP, with a targeted investment range of about $5 million to $15 million along the growth-stage continuum, and it acts as a lead investor. Over its history Syncom has invested in more than 150 companies with aggregate market value exceeding $10 billion, and played an integral role in establishing some of the most successful African-American- and Hispanic-owned media and communications businesses, including BET, Radio One, TV One, XM Satellite Radio, Z Spanish Radio Network, Buenavision Cable and Iridium Satellite. The firm is led by Managing Partner and owner Terry L. Jones, a venture investor with over three decades of experience and participation in more than 125 investments; its first president and CEO, the late minority-VC pioneer Herbert P. Wilkins Sr., remained a longtime adviser. With a pioneering legacy in media ownership diversity, Syncom continues to back growth-stage media and communications companies.