BRM Group Hires Principal

In an effort to bolster the management and marketing support it provides to its portfolio companies, venture incubator BRM Group earlier this month hired Steve Mann as a principal.

Mann comes to BRM after serving as vice president of Internet marketing and product strategy for Computer Associates International Inc. In his new position, Mann will identify investment opportunities and help manage the firm’s portfolio companies which are developing the Internet infrastructure.

“We will invest in technologies that are the foundation of the Internet,” Mann said. “I joined BRM because I was looking to become an entrepreneur in residence and I didn’t want to stay with just one firm.”

BRM has allocated $100 million of its own capital to fund developing companies.

Mann said the firm will contribute additional capital to the fund as returns from earlier investments are realized. BRM’s portfolio companies include publicly traded Checkpoint Software Technologies and BackWeb, which is expected to go public June 8.

While BRM has no minimum investment size, Mann said his firm’s investments can range between $500,000 and $15 million. He added that BRM will likely make four to five investments each year. BRM will occasionally co-invest with other venture firms, Mann said.

BRM, which was founded in 1998, has offices in Fort Lee, N.J. and Israel. It is the first incubator to develop and manage portfolio companies in both the United States and Israel.

Prior to joining Computer Associates, Mann was a strategic planner for Infinium software.