NEA is closing in on the largest ever venture fund

The firm has already reportedly raised $2.57 billion, on its way to $2.75 billion

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There's been a lot of talk lately about whether there is a private bubble going on right now, with more capital than ever going into venture capital and valuations going sky high. Now comes a piece of news that will likely spur that conversation even further. 

Venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is about to raise yet another giant fund, as the firm has already secured approximately $2.57 billion in capital commitments for its fifteenth fund, according to a report out from Fortune on Tuesday.

At least one of the backers is known: Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana committed $50 million to the fund in March, according to Bloomberg.

And the firm isn't done yet: when all is said and done, NEA hopes to have raised a total of $2.75 billion.In case you were wondering, that would make it the largest VC fund of all time. So this could wind up being some pretty big news.

NEA is no stranger to huge funds in the billions of dollars. In 2010 it raised $2.5 million for its thirteenth fund, followed by another $2.5 billion for its fourteenth fund in 2012. The firm has around $16 billion in committed capital, including the new fund.

Founded in 1977, NEA was an early backer of some of the largest tech companies around, including Groupon, 23andMe, Buzzfeed and Evernote. 

Some of its more recent investments include participation in the following rounds: a $2 million seed round in meeting management startup Do; $38 million in Collective Health, a self-insurance platform provider; $30 million in Series B funding for FiftyThree, the company behind drawing app Paper; $750,000 in a seed round for hopOn, a social travel booking site; a $13 million Series B round for Swiftype, a company that sells search engines for websites and mobile apps; $15 million in Series A funding for mobile software firm Branch Metrics; and a $22.2 million round of Series C funding for GuideSpark, an employee communications and engagement platform.

The firm typically invests in both early and late stage deals in technology, health care and energy companies. It has nine offices in total, which includes two offices in China and two offices in India.

NEA is raising this fund as the venture capital space is in a big upswing. In 2014, venture capital firms raised a total of $29.8 billion, from 254 funds. That represents a 69% increase by dollar commitments from the $17.7 billion raised in 2013.

The last time VCs raised more was back in 2007, right before the great recession hit, when it raised $30 billion. When it came to the number of funds, 2014 was the busiest year for U.S. venture capital fundraising since 2001, when 324 funds were raised.

Vator was unable to contact NEA for confirmation at this time. We will update this story if we learn more. 

(Image source: huffingtonpost.com)