PLAINVIEW - Considering the rash of job cuts and dismal outlook for the telecommunications industry, it might seem like the wrong time to pour money into telecom startups.

The leaders of NextLevel Venture Partners don't think so.

The 8-month-old Plainview-based firm, which said it is "well on its way" to raising the full $60 million to $100 million to complete the fund, plans to announce its first investments in telecom and other high tech startups next month.

Managing Director Joe Heller said the firm's efforts to find solid investments have been buoyed by the downsizings, mergers and acquisitions and business failures that have indirectly created a new crop of tech firms.

"There are companies coming out with some good technologies, smaller start-ups in Long Island and the New York metropolitan area," said Joe Heller, a founding managing director. "There are a lot more opportunities for us on Long Island to take advantage of new technologies being developed."

NextLevel, said it is set to announce its first investments within weeks.

The fund plans to invest $2 million to $5 million in about a dozen start-ups each over the next three years, then add follow-up investments.

About 85 percent of all venture capital investments in recent years have poured into Silicon Valley, according to the fund, leaving an East Coast gap.

That imbalance is starting to change, according to Venture Capital Journal, which earlier this month said the New York City area for the first time in a decade beat out Silicon Valley in raising capital.

About $4.8 billion was raised during the first quarter of 2001 by New York City-area funds, while Northern California funds raised $4.7 billion during that period, according to the Venture Capital Journal.

NextLevel was founded by Rahul Bhandari, former vice president of business development and alliances for Accenture, and Heller, former vice president for investment management firm Arbor Management,

"There are new rules," Bhandari said. "We look for companies with a core management team, product, or beta product and paying customers or beta customers."

Larger funds often focus on larger companies, in some cases propping up big investments, leaving a gap among smaller companies, according to NextLevel, which is targeting companies as far north as Massachusetts and as far south as North Carolina.

"We're interested in technologies that have been developed and have some customer base," Heller said. "Not a huge amount of revenues. But we like to see they had some customers."

NextLevel plans to be actively involved in management, shepherding companies toward acquisition, often by larger telecom and software players.

"VCs and entrepreneurs are adjusting their expectations," Bhandari said. "What I'm hearing are back to basics. Not that you can build and flip a company in 90 days. Now you're trying to build to last rather than building to flip."