BOSTON & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Battery Ventures, a global, technology-focused investment firm, has closed Battery Ventures Select Fund I, a new, $400 million vehicle designed to deliver additional capital to a small subset of the firm’s later-stage companies.
Battery, a 38-year-old firm, closed the new fund almost exactly a year after raising two larger funds, Battery Ventures XIII and Battery Ventures XIII Side Fund, capitalized at a combined $2 billion. Battery continues to make new investments across stages, from seed-stage to buyout, out of those funds.
It plans to use the new Select Fund to allocate additional capital mainly to a small number of established portfolio companies.
“The new Select Fund is an acknowledgement that funding dynamics in the private markets continue to evolve,” said Michael Brown, a Battery general partner. “Technology companies are raising more money from investors during their lifecycles to fund organic growth as well as acquisitions—so we felt we needed an additional pool of capital to continue to back our larger, established companies and help them continue to grow.”
According to Pitchbook, as of Sept. 30, 2020, the number of late-stage financing rounds greater than $100 million has increased 8.5 times over the past 10 years. The average time from a company’s first venture-capital investment to an exit has gone up 20% during the same period.
Going forward, Battery will continue to make new investments in core sectors including business software; enterprise IT, including cloud computing, data, DevOps and cybersecurity; online consumer marketplaces; financial technology; healthcare-IT; and industrial technology. The firm also will continue to execute its differentiated strategy of backing companies at all stages of development.
In the six months ending Jan. 31, three Battery portfolio companies have staged initial-public offerings: DevOps company JFrog; data company Sumo Logic; and fin-tech company Affirm.
About Battery Ventures
Battery partners with exceptional founders and management teams developing category-defining businesses in markets including software and services, enterprise infrastructure, online marketplaces, healthcare IT and industrial technology. Founded in 1983, the firm backs companies at all stages, ranging from seed and early to growth and buyout, and invests globally from six strategic locations: Boston; San Francisco and Menlo Park, Calif.; Herzliya, Israel; London; and New York. Follow the firm on Twitter @BatteryVentures, visit our website at www.battery.com and find a full list of Battery's portfolio companies here.
