Private Equity
Mantella Venture Partners has formed a C$20 million fund to focus on early-stage technology companies in Ontario, Canada. The fund is a joint venture between tech accelerator Basecamp Labs and real estate developer Mantella Corp.
3 min read · 03 March 2010
Expect that Battery Ventures will announce a final close on its ninth fund within a week or two. I spoke to several of its LPs yesterday, who say they believe it’s effectively closed, but have not yet received formal notification. Another LP emails this morning to say that a second, and final, close is slated for this week. He adds that the firm appears to have stuck to its $750 million target, rather than succomb to the temptations borne of oversubscription.
1 min read · 02 March 2010
ETF Venture Funds, a West Conshohocken, Penn.-based firm that makes early-stage investments, has changed its name to SeventySix Capital.
4 min read · 01 March 2010
Correlation Ventures, a San Diego-based firm that wants to use algorithms to passively invest in VC deals led by other firms. Basically a quant approach to venture capital. Someone was kind enough to send over one of the firm’s recent decks, and we’ve learned a bit more information:
1 min read · 01 March 2010
Stage1 Ventures is raising $250 million for a new platform that will invest in hybrid venture deals, with a first close is expected to occur by the end of June. Hybrid venture deals typically include both a primary and secondary investment. The former is used for working capital and other corporate purposes, while the latter is used to provide liquidity to early company employees and/or shareholders. Such transactions have been dubbed "DST deals," after Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian investment house that has used the model for later-stage investments in Facebook and Zynga. Earlier practitioners included Advanced Equities and Technology Crossover Ventures, while Elevation Partners recently got in on the action with its $100 million deal for Yelp ($25m primary, $75m secondary). David Baum, who co-founded Stage1 four years ago as an early-stage investor, says that the past year's liquidity crunch caused his firm to become inundated with direct secondary dealflow. Its $25 million debut fund, however, had neither the capital nor strategic flexibility to pursue such deals. The result was a new barbell strategy, in which Stage1 Ventures will be complimented by the platform, called S1 Capital Partners (yes, the "S1" is supposed to reference an IPO filing).
2 min read · 28 February 2010
ErGo Media Capital, an entertainment and media investment firm headed by former Cinetic Media co-founder Matt Littin. Based in New York, the firm is backed by ErGo Ventures, a private investment vehicle.
2 min read · 25 February 2010
Did you catch some of yesterday's headlines: * NY Times: "A $3.5 billion effort aims to help tech startups" * SF Chronicle: "Alliance to boost startups, hire more grads" * WSJ: "Intel, Venture-Capital Firms To Make $3.5B In US Investments" peHUB: "Puh-leeze" Tuesday's announcement that Intel Capital and 24 venture capital firms would invest billions into U.S. startups is akin to me announcing that I'm going to write about private equity. It's what they do. The only "news" here is that Intel managed to sucker so many news organizations into giving them accolades.
1 min read · 25 February 2010
1 min read · 24 February 2010
OrbiMed, an investment management firm focused on the healthcare sector, launched Caduceus Private Investments IV, LP, a venture capital fund, with $550 million in commitments. pproximately 80% of the new fund’s capital is from returning investors. The fund will invest primarily in venture-stage biopharmaceutical and medical device companies located in North America and Europe.
2 min read · 23 February 2010
1 min read · 19 February 2010
