Alta Berkeley, one of the UK's oldest venture capital houses, appears to have called time on the downturn in the early stage technology sector with the appointment of Kevin Fielding as its sixth partner.

Fielding was formerly chief executive of ParthusCeva, a semiconductor design company listed on Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange. He has a twenty-year track record in the technology industry including ten years spent in the US at a number of microprocessor companies.