Private Equity
TVM Capital has launched a Shari’a-compliant growth equity fund focused on healthcare companies in the MENA region. It already has $40 million in founding commitments from Saudi Health Investment Co. (SHIC), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and GE Healthcare. The fund is led by managing director Marios Fotiadis, who previously was a general partner with TVM in Munich and Boston. Other investment pros include Youssef Haidar, formerly managing director with Unifund Capital.
6 min read · 16 February 2010
Sequoia Capital's Heritage program has had more stops and starts than a game of Mother May I. Now it seems to be taking another giant step forward. For the uninitiated, Sequoia Heritage is an outsourced investment management platform for college endowments and other small institutions. Private equities, private equities, fixed income, absolute returns and real estate. Kind of like a baby Makena Capital. Actually, the Makena ties go deeper than just investment strategy. The original head of Sequoia Heritage was Eric Upin, former chief investment officer for Stanford University's endowment. The founder of
2 min read · 12 February 2010
Florida-based H.I.G. Ventures is in the market with a new venture capital fund focused exclusively on life sciences companies. The firm had allocated around half of its $300 million second fund to life sciences investing, according to managing director Aaron Davidson, but now feels that the strategy deserves a dedicated vehicle. The fund will focus primarily on companies developing therapeutic drugs or medical devices across sectors and stages, Davidson said. Specifically, “capital efficient businesses with large market opportunities in underserved geographies, and products with shorter development.”
2 min read · 02 February 2010
Tucker Twitmyer of EnerTech Capital Partners said during yesterday’s PEA Outlook conference that LPs have successfully pressured certain VC/PE firms to abandon new cleantech investment efforts. Basically a gripe against firms that "stray from their knitting." Twitmyer declined to name specific firms (you should feel encouraged to do so in the comment section), but he did expand on his thoughts via email. I’ve posted them in full after the jump...
3 min read · 28 January 2010
New York angel investor Roger Ehrenberg is raising up to $25 million for a venture capital fund focused on "big data" startups. It will be called IA Venture Strategies, and is expected to hold a final close within the next two months. At first blush, this is a surprising development. Ehrenberg has long said that the traditional VC fund model is broken. In fact, he and I discussed that very subject during a panel discussion at Columbia Business School, nearly one year ago to the day (we were in basic agreement). So is this an about-face? No, says Ehrenberg, pointing out several structural differences between IA Venture and typical VC funds. First, and most important, he is not seeking capital from traditional VC funding sources (pensions, endowments, etc.). Instead, he's raising money from people who either are within the "big data" space, or those who could help make valuable introductions to IA Venture portfolio companies. To be very cliche about it, these would be "value-added" limited partners.
2 min read · 28 January 2010
Sofinnova Partners, a Paris-based venture capital firm, has closed its sixth fund with €260 million in capital commitments. MVision served as placement agent, while limited partners include CDC Entreprises, Industrial & Financial Investments Co., JP Morgan Asset Management, Partners Group and Skandia Life Insurance Company.
2 min read · 26 January 2010
As VCs around the country schlep their way from pension fund to pension fund, family office to family office in search of commitments, another firm that had already closed on a whopping billion dollars has yet another $300 million to invest, according to SEC filings uncovered by the Earth2Tech blog. (Filings are here and here.) As Katie Fehrenbacher reports, Khosla Ventures now has one billion dollars for Khosla Ventures III, a traditional, stage-agnostic venture fund. His firm has an additional $300 million for Khosla Ventures Seed Fund for the highest-risk, presumably highest-reward investments.
1 min read · 22 January 2010
2 min read · 22 January 2010
In October, I wrote the following after returning from the Quebec City Conference: “Terry McGuire of Polaris Venture Partners said in Quebec that the future of venture capital would be smaller funds and smaller partnerships. He declined to say if that applied to Polaris itself – methinks it does, as the firm is expected to fundraise next year.” Yup, it does. Polaris is targeting $500 million for its sixth fund, after raising $1 billion for its fifth fund in 2006. I know of at least one current partner who isn’t part of the new effort, but will
1 min read · 20 January 2010
One year ago next week, I wrote about how Atlas Venture had slimmed its personnel roster after a disappointing fund-raising drive. Now, the firm is making additional changes. Atlas has opted to consolidate its deal-making and operational activities within its Waltham, Mass. office (which could soon relocate closer to, or within, Boston). That means no more deals coming out of London, even though Atlas will maintain a few staffers on the ground there for portfolio management and investor relations purposes. London-based partner Fred Destin will relocate to the U.S. (he’s already bought a house in Brookline), while fellow London-based partners Graham O’Keefe and Regina Hodits will become venture partners (i.e., continue to work with their existing portfolio companies). Chris Spray will continue to serve as a partner focused on LP relations and portfolio management, but is not expected to make new deals nor stay on when Atlas eventually raises its next fund. There also are a few junior/backend layoffs in London, while Waltham-based venture partner Jeff Andrews is leaving to become head of strategy for an Atlas portfolio company.
2 min read · 19 January 2010
