WELLESLEY, Mass. – Ampersand Ventures, founded in 1988 as a spin-off from PaineWebber Inc., focuses exclusively on investments in the specialty materials and chemicals (SMC) industry. The firm invests in a variety of sectors, including health care, telecommunications, electronics, industrial process control and building materials, and has no geographic or stage preferences. Ampersand seeks to […]
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Kingsbury Associates, L.P., founded in 1994, focuses on early-stage health care investments in the San Diego and Orange County regions. Preferring to take the role of lead investor, the firm looks for companies whose products help solve problems in the health-care industry and that have a strong management team, General Partner […]
John Barry, managing general partner of Prospect Street Ventures, recently lost a few promising Internet deals just because he couldn’t snag the hot companies quickly enough. Sprout Group’s Patrick Boroian, who reviews information technology companies, occasionally finds himself running into the same problem. It’s been almost three years since VCs got swept up in the […]
SOQUEL, Calif. – Al Shugart, founder of disk drive manufacturer Seagate Technology Inc., in early January was preparing to launch the Shugart Venture Fund, his new seed- and early-stage private equity vehicle. The 45-year veteran of the technology industry plans to begin marketing the fund, targeted between $50 million and $100 million, by the end […]
ST. LOUIS – Intertech Management Group, a maker of software solutions, closed a $26.9 million growth capital investment in late December. Behrman Capital led the equity financing, committing $26 million for an approximate 33% stake in the developer of billing and customer care software, said Managing Partner Grant Behrman. A strategic investor from the company’s […]
The California Institute of Technology (CalTech) institutionalized and reorganized its alternative investment program in May 1997 when its investment committee adopted a five-year plan to raise the pension’s allocation for alternatives to 25% from 2%. The plan now targets $100 million annually for the asset class, with two-fifths of the investments geared toward private equity […]
Distribution of appreciated stock to limited partners is the venture industry’s definition of winning, the equivalent of a happy ending in the movies. Most of the time, the sooner the stock distribution occurs, the better for all involved. However, everyone loses if the stock is so thinly traded that limited partners can’t find buyers for […]
PALO ALTO, Calif. – Accel Partners’ last health-care specialist is planning to leave the firm sometime in the first half of the year because Accel has all but completely turned away from the medical sector. But while Gene Hill will resign from Accel, Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corp., will be settling in as […]
NEWARK, N.J. – Venture capitalists in the United States raised a record $22.2 billion last year, beating 1997’s figure by about $9.4 billion, according to preliminary data compiled by Venture Economics Information Services (VEIS), a sister company to VCJ. It is important to note, however, that $5 billion of last year’s take came from Warburg, […]
NEW YORK – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in early January launched a debut European fund targeted at $2 billion and capped at $3 billion. If it exceeds its target, KKR potentially will control the largest buyout partnerships in both the United States and in Europe. The firm is trying, not for the first time, […]