Fundraising

Kindred, new London seed firm, offers companies carried interest

Ripple invests $25 million of its cryptocurrency into Blockchain Capital fund

San Francisco-based Ripple, which provides blockchain solutions for the payments industry, announced it invested $25 million of its own cryptocurrency, XRP, in Blockchain Capital's fourth fund. Blockchain Capital, which focuses on the blockchain technology sector and crypto ecosystem, announced in March it closed its fourth fund with $150 million in commitments. Ripple's investment is part of the $150 million total. Ripple is a portfolio company of the San Francisco firm.

TCV, Spark, Polaris lead mid-decade portfolio for LA pension

Conductive Ventures raises $100 mln fund for expansion stage investing

Conductive Ventures said it raised $100 million for a maiden venture capital fund aimed at expansion stage investing in hardware and enterprise software.

Silicon Valley Data Capital raises $59 mln toward venture capital fund

Silicon Valley Data Capital said it has added more capital to its venture-capital fund with a total of $59 million raised, according to a filing with the SEC.

EU launches new venture funds of funds program

The European Commission said it launched Venture EU, a program to encourage venture investing backed by about $506 million of funding.

Yorktown Partners appears to raise $49 mln venture capital fund

Yorktown Partners appeared to have raise a $49 million venture capital fund, according to a filing with the SEC.

Brightspark to tap more investors via Richardson GMP deal

Brightspark has struck a deal with Canadian wealth manager Richardson GMP Ltd to give more domestic accredited investors an opportunity to participate in the venture capital asset class. Brightspark, a Canadian early-stage venture capital firm, operates a software platform that allows thousands of high-net-worth individuals to select technology investments online. As a result of the deal, Toronto-based Richardson GMP is the first wealth management firm to provide its clients with access to the platform. Brightspark, profiled by PE Hub Canada in February, aims to extend its strategy through similar agreements with other financial services firms.

Steve Jurvetson raising new frontier tech venture fund: source

Unusual Ventures targets $160 mln for debut fund

Unusual Ventures is launching a maiden fund targeting $160 million, according to a regulatory filing. The new firm is led by John Vrionis, who left his role as partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners in December 2017 to launch his own seed-stage venture fund, according to his LinkedIn profile. The new firm does not appear to have a website, and Vrionis has not yet updated his LinkedIn profile with information on the new fund.