Tribeca Venture Partners debuts with $100M fund

Faith Merino · October 4, 2011 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/1fd0

The NYC VC firm to invest in seed- and early-stage tech startups

Gird your loins, there’s a new VC fund in town.  Not this town—it’s actually in New York City.  Tribeca Venture Partners (ironically named, since it’s located in Midtown) made its big debut Tuesday with a brand new $100 million fund, following much Web murmuring about a new fund.

The new firm was founded by former managing director of GSA Venture Partners Brian Hirsch and former managing partner at Kodiak Venture Partners Chip Meakem.  Somak Chattopadhyay, previously of GSA Venture Partners, will also join the team as a partner.

 The existing GSAVP fund will be renamed TVP I, and will be managed by Brian and Somak.  The firm also has plans to relocate to a new office in Tribeca in the coming months (at which point it will be more aptly named).

Tribeca Venture Partners will invest in seed- and early-stage tech startups in the NYC area, particularly in the areas of advertising and marketing, e-commerce, financial technology, mobile, healthcare information technology, media and information services, and managed services. While the fund is new, it already boasts an impressive portfolio of some 18 companies, including flash sale site ideeli.com, which raised $41 million in a Series C round to which Kodiak Venture Partners contributed.

Other companies in the firm’s portfolio include rich media eBook production platform Vook, brand influencer network CrowdTap, Web-based content publisher and syndication network iAmplify, which raised $6 million in a round of funding led by Kodiak Venture Partners, and more.  The firm could not be reached for comment, but it claims in its release that its ideal investment is in "a great team with a huge idea." 

Several companies in TVP’s portfolio have already exited, including Ingenio, which was acquired by AT&T in 2007, video game ad network Massive, which sold to Microsoft in 2006, eCredit, which was acquired by Fidelity Ventures in 2006, and more.

NYC is quite the blooming tech hub these days.  Emmanuel Schalit, CEO of stealth startup Dashlane (which promises to streamline your account data entry on the Web) told me last month that there are some definite perks to being a startup in NYC.  “It’s easier to get funding on the east coast,” he said, adding that it can be difficult to grow as a company in Silicon Valley because hiring is so competitive.

Looks like Tribeca Venture Partners is looking to fill the void.

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