Bessemer closing in on new $1.5 billion fund?

Ronny Kerr · March 4, 2011 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/17c6

After Greylock Partners and Summit Partners, LinkedIn investor raising giant fund

Bessemer Venture Partners, a New York-based investment firm, is raising between $1.2 and $1.5 billion for a new technology startup fund, according to two unnamed persons close to the deal.

The firm has not yet commented on the report.

First completed in 2007 and expanded in 2009, Bessemer’s last fund raised $1.35 billion in total.

Here are three startups that have raised money from Bessemer this year:

Mobile advertising platform Millennial Media raised a $27.5 million round from Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital, Charles River Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA).
Flat World Knowledge, a provider of online and open-source textbooks, secured $15 million in Series B funding led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI) and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Cirtas Systems, a company making cloud storage work like onsite enterprise storage arrays, closed a $22.5 million Series B funding round led by Shasta Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners. Around the same time, Bessemer “Entrepreneur in Residence” Gary Messiana replaced Dan Decasper as Cirtas’ chief executive.

All of the above funding rounds took place in January.

Some of Bessemer’s more impressive technology exits include Skype (acquired by eBay in 2005 for $2.5 billion), Gracenote (acquired by Sony in 2008 for $260 million) and Playdom (acquired by Disney last year for up to $763 million). The firm is about to get another big exit with LinkedIn, which filed for its initial public offering at the end of January. Bessemer owns a 5.1 percent stake in LinkedIn.

It’s been a big week for new startup funds.

Today’s report comes just a few days after another VC giant, Greylock Partners, announced that it has increased the size of its current fund, Greylock XIII, to $1 billion. Originally, the fund had closed at $575 million in November 2009. The firm, which invests in businesses at all stages of growth, has most recently added 1000memories, One Kings Lane and Groupon to its portfolio.

Besides Bessemer and Greylock, Boston-based private equity firm Summit Partners is also reportedly raising new money--$500 million in venture capital and $3 billion in growth equity.

Ronny Kerr

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Bessemer Venture Partners

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Joined Vator on August 5, 2008

In 1911, Henry Phipps founded Bessemer Securities to reinvest the proceeds of his sale of Carnegie Steel for the benefit of his descendents. The start-up investment operations were spun out into Bessemer Venture Partners, which now operates out of seven offices around the globe.

Greylock Partners

Angel group/VC

Joined Vator on November 1, 2010

Greylock partners with entrepreneurs to help them build market-leading businesses. Over the past 45 years the firm has worked with hundreds of companies, 150 of which have gone on to IPOs and 100 of which have gone on to profitable M&A events. Such companies include Ascend Communications, CheckFree, CipherTrust, Constant Contact, Continental Cable, Decru, Data Domain, DoubleClick, Farecast, Internet Security Systems, Ikanos, Legato, Media Metrix, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Openwave, Open Market, OutlookSoft, Polyserve, Red Hat, RightNow Technologies, Success Factors, Sun Edison, Tellabs, Trilogy and Wily Technology. Current Greylock portfolio companies include Cloudera, Data Robotics, Facebook, Imperva, LinkedIn, Palo Alto Networks, Pandora, Picarro, Redfin, Workday and ZipCar. For more information about Greylock Partners, visit our Web site (www.greylock.com) or blog (www.greylockvc.com) or follow us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/greylock) or Twitter (@GreylockVC).

Cirtas Systems

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on January 14, 2011

Cirtas solves the challenges associated with storing data in the cloud, making cloud storage work like onsite enterprise storage arrays. Deployed in the data center, its Bluejet Cloud Storage Controllers simplify storage management and vastly reduce data storage TCO, while addressing the long-standing challenges associated with data backup and disaster recovery for medium and large enterprises. Cirtas supports a variety of cloud provider platforms, including Amazon S3, Iron Mountain, EMC Atmos and AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service^SM. Founded in 2008, the company is headquartered in San Jose, California and backed by NEA, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Amazon. For more information, visit www.cirtas.com.