# Steve Tomlin

> Steve Tomlin is a Series B investor at Avalon Ventures (San Diego) backing Video and Mobile. See 2 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Avalon Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/avalon-ventures)
- Location: San Diego, United States
- Total investments: 2
- Last investment: Apr 2013
- Lead investor: 50%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/esstee

Steve Tomlin is a Series B investor at Avalon Ventures in San Diego focused on Video and Mobile. Steve Tomlin has been an entrepreneur, senior executive and investor in the wireless technology, biotechnology and Internet industries for over 20 years. He joined Avalon in 2001 to lead Avalon’s wireless technology investment activities. Mr. Tomlin is a co-founder and Chairman of chumby industries, a Director of E-Band CommunicationsCorporation, MOGL, Clustercorp, CardApe, and a board observer at Ortiva Wireless and Vocera Communications.From 1994 to 1998, he was a co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of PersonaLogic, Inc., a Web-based e-commerce navigation company that was acquired by AOL in November 1998. He remained with AOL through 2000. During 1993 and 1994, Mr. Tomlin was Vice-President and General Manager of QVC Interactive for QVC, Inc., where he reported directly to QVC’s Chairman and CEO, Barry Diller, and was responsible for all aspects of creating and managing QVC’s interactive shopping business. From 1991 to 1993, he was the Director of New Business Development for Walt Disney Computer Software.Mr. Tomlin’s previous work experience includes investment banking at Shearson Lehman Brothers, Inc., strategic planning and business development for Castle & Cooke, Inc. and several new business start-ups. He earned his M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University.Mr. Tomlin is active and well known in San Diego’s high technology and telecommunications community. He was Chairman of the San Diego Telecom Council’s CEO Roundtable and a member of the Board of Directors of CommNexus and is a member of the San Diego Venture Group.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Video | 1 | 50% |
| Mobile | 1 | 50% |
| Software | 1 | 50% |
| Wireless | 1 | 50% |
| Intelligent Systems | 1 | 50% |

7 industries tracked in total.

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Proximal Data | Proximal Data is the leading provider of server-side caching solutions specifically designed for virtualized environments. Proximal Data's AutoCache software can dramatically increase virtual machine density by eliminating I/O bottlenecks with adaptive I/O caching. When coupled with PCIe flash cards or SSDs from their partners,Proximal Data's fast virtual cache significantly improves the efficiency and performance of virtualized servers without disrupting IT operations or processes. | $2M | Series B | Apr 01, 2013 |  |
| Ortiva Wireless | Ortiva Wireless, Inc. offers solutions for the management of mobile video. It offers mobile video optimization gateway, a server-based optimization solution, which provides asset preparation, transcoding, and streaming for live and video on demand content. The company’s product also optimizes multimedia content for delivery to mobile subscribers.It serves mobile network operators and managed service providers. Ortiva Wireless, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is based in La Jolla, California. | $15M | Series B | Jun 25, 2007 |  |

2 of 2 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Artiman Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/artiman-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Divergent Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/divergent-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Mission Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mission-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Avalon Ventures

VC Fund · La Jolla, United States

Avalon Ventures is an early stage venture capital fund focused on information technology and life sciences.

5 contacts available at Avalon Ventures.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Court Turner | Venture Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/court-turner |
| Kevin Kinsella | Founder and Managing Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kevin-kinsella |
| Steve Tomlin | Managing Member | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/stephen-tomlin |
| Brady Bohrmann | Managing Member | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/brady-bohrmann |
| Richard Levandov | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/richard-levandov |

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## FAQ

### What does Steve Tomlin invest in?

Steve Tomlin invests primarily in Video, Mobile and Software startups, most often at Series B stage. Most of the 2 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Steve Tomlin last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Steve Tomlin closed in Apr 2013. Shizune tracks 2 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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