Comments (0)

By admin, March 11, 2010 8:56 pm

The venture capital industry may be shrinking, but Battery Ventures is growing. Waltham-based Battery Ventures has finalized $750 million in commitments for its ninth venture fund. The firm casts a wide net for deals—it’s stage-agnostic, global (with most of its money going to North America, Israel and India) and almost sector agnostic (within technology). The firm says it wants to help companies focused on “Internet and Digital Media, financial and information services, clean tech, software, enterprise IT, communication services, semiconductors, and industrial technologies.”The new fund is the latest evidence that Silicon Valley, which was moving in slow motion last year, is feeling revived.

Battery has had a pretty good run recently, with two exits already in 2010. The firm’s investment in Healthvision paid off when the company sold to Lawson for $166M in January. Its portfolio company Nova Analytics, which Battery helped buyout in 2003, was bought by ITT in February for an undisclosed amount, though Battery says they did well on the exit.

Many venture firms have either gone out of business or taken in less money in the last two years, as the venture industry hits hard times. The fact that Battery’s new fund is the same size as its preceding one, BV VIII raised during the heyday of 2007, is impressive. Eighty-five percent of the limited partners in BV IX were repeat investors.

Battery’s recent investments include marketing technology startups BlueKai, LiveIntent and Pursway, and education platform eduFire, which pairs up teachers and students online.

Comments (0)

By admin, March 3, 2010 9:39 pm

The long-time fixture in Greater Boston’s private equity community, Battery Ventures, has raised at least $709 million for its latest investment fund, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Waltham, Mass.-based firm is targeting another $40 million in funds for the investment vehicle, per Tuesday’s filing. The new investment fund, Battery’s ninth since its founding in 1983, has drawn money from at least 107 investors, according to the SEC filing.

Battery last raised a fund in 2007, a $750 million effort. With the new fund under its wing, Battery has raised nearly $4 billion since its inception.

Battery built its franchise on early-stage, venture capital investments that materialized into big paydays for the firm. At various points in its history, Battery’s portfolio has included a littany of companies that have since been acquired or gone public, including Cambridge’s Akamai Technologies Inc.  and Waltham’s BladeLogic Inc. The firm has branched out in recent years to target larger, later-stage private equity investments.