Amazon has long been criticized as a retail killer, the bane of big-box stores and mom-and-pop shops everywhere. Even President Donald Trump recently weighed in, tweeting that Amazon is “doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt – many jobs being lost!” But as this president has […]
Russian venture investing into U.S.-based companies has risen in the past decade, according to a VCJ report last week, but the picture is much grimmer for U.S. firms investing in Russian companies. In the past two years, not a single U.S. venture firm has invested in a Russian company, Thomson Reuters data shows. And the dearth of VC […]
Distributions from Sequoia Capital to the University of California are down this year, but the investment value of Sequoia holdings in the portfolio has climbed to a five-year high, according to data from the university. The limited data on the investments, which includes accumulated distributions, capital calls and the present value of Sequoia’s assets as […]
Private equity is best known in the tech sector for big deals with the likes of Dell, Seagate Technology, EMC and Freescale Semiconductor. Now a new type of deal flying lower on the radar is drawing welcome attention from the venture capital industry. The companies involved peddle enterprise software, and the private equity firms eyeing […]
Real Ventures has raised $180 million for its fourth early-stage fund with the help of an expanded LP base, including two powerhouse Asian investors won over by the firm’s artificial-intelligence strategy. The Montréal venture firm this week announced the close of Real Ventures IV at its hard cap. It is backed by more than 60 LPs, among them new LPs Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Boston-based HarbourVest, Singapore sovereign-wealth fund Temasek and Chinese tech giant Tencent. They join returning LPs Teralys Capital, BDC Capital and Investissement Québec.
Funds from OrbiMed Advisors, Canaan Partners and W Capital Partners top a portfolio of maturing venture funds at the University of California. The portfolio of 2007 to 2010 vintages is made up largely of mid-sized funds with an early-stage approach to investing. Five of the seven funds range from $300 million to $750 million in […]
This year has been eventful for Lumira Capital. The Toronto life-sciences investor held a first close for Fund IV, completed the fund’s debut deals, tied up investing by prior funds, and took a portfolio star public. One milestone was met in this week's announcement of the Series A financing of Kalgene Pharmaceuticals, a developer of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Lumira led the undisclosed round and was joined by Anges Québec, Anges Québec Capital, Accel-Rx and family offices. Kalgene is the final deal of Merck Lumira Biosciences Fund, an early-stage vehicle managed by Lumira, which together with the later-stage Lumira Capital II raised $167 million over 2012-2013. With both funds now fully invested, Lumira is positioned to bring Lumira Capital IV to a final close in 2018 and back a new series of North American biotech financings.
Impact Venture Capital has a first fund target of $100 million and a big-name general partner. Dixon Doll, a three-decade VC who co-founded DCM Ventures, is one of three managers at the early-stage firm, which unveiled itself last year. “Yes, he is off the bench and back into the game,” said fellow General Partner Jack […]
Funds from the Column Group, Darwin Ventures and OrbiMed Advisors head a portfolio of end-of-life venture funds at the University of California. The portfolio of 2003 to 2006 vintages is largely made up of mid-sized and small-scale funds and reflects a diversified approach to investing. Three of the 8 funds range from $450 million to […]
Russian venture investments in U.S.-based startups have climbed in the past decade, despite heightened political tensions between the two countries. Since 2007, firms with offices in Russia have invested $1.7 billion in nearly 270 deals, according to VCJ’s analysis of Thomson Reuters data. Equity invested by firms with Russian offices into U.S. companies spiked from […]