Internet incubator idealab Capital Partners Inc has closed its second private equity fund with more than $350m. The Pasadena, California-based firm said the closing represents Southern California’s largest venture capital fund to date. ICP has accepted capital from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, HarbourVest Partners, Horsley Bridge, California Institute of Technology, Invesco Private Capital, Mellon Ventures and others. The firm said it also received new investments from its own principals and several equity fund investors.
ICP’s first fund amounted to $105m raised last year that was invested in 25 internet businesses. Several of the portfolio companies have since had successful public offerings including GoTo.com Inc, eToys Inc and MP3.com Inc. Two others, Tickets.com Inc and NetZero Inc, have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public in the near future. ICP also has investments in CarsDirect Inc, Free-PC Inc, Jobs.com Inc and RealNames Corp.
Meanwhile, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners said it has raised a new fund, HWVP Fund IV, with $310m in the kitty. The firm says the closing of the new fund comes on the 10th anniversary of their creation of the first software-only venture fund in 1999. With the creation of Fund IV, the firm’s partners now manage over $500m, targeted solely for software and internet companies. Hummer Winblad claims to have provided the seed capital for more than 50 such companies to date.
