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Walden Venture Capital has raised Fund VIII with $107 million of total capital to pursue Sprout Stage™ investments in digital media and cloud services. Based in San Francisco and Woodside, CA, the team has been investing together for over twelve years: Managing Directors Larry Marcus, Matt Miller, and Art Berliner; and Venture Partners Bill McDonagh and George Sarlo. The firm is also pleased to announce Ms. Aditi Rajaram has joined as an Associate from Google.Walden seeks to invest in those companies whose seed has “sprouted” to demonstrate customer traction or breakthrough technology. Walden has a highly product-centric approach to deal screening, requiring a demo of the product or technology before taking meetings. “We are looking to see a real ‘wow’ factor in the product or core technology as well as mass market potential and a founding team that can manifest their vision,” commented Larry Marcus.
Walden continues to focus on investing in digital media and cloud services, including the consumer and enterprise sectors. “With the adoption of billions of connected devices, and with successive generations possessing an increasing set of breakthrough capabilities, the pace of innovation and disruption is staggering,” commented Matt Miller. “We are seeing a broad range of opportunities in infrastructure, services and content for consumers and enterprises, including mobility, productivity, social, advertising, search, games, music, eCommerce and more.”
Walden is usually a lead investor, writing $1-4 M initial checks in priced rounds that are typically $3-5M in size, reserving capital for follow-on rounds. The fund targets 20-25 investments over its lifecycle, resulting in a highly curated portfolio. “We are not trying to sprinkle seeds broadly, but rather build a concentrated portfolio that lets us focus our attention to be helpful,” commented Art Berliner.
In addition to the support of its private investors, Walden Venture Capital VIII is one of the only funds screened and accepted by the Small Business Administration’s new Early Stage SBIC program, which provides capital from the US Government directly to the fund in the form of leverage. With the SBA’s commitment, the fund is focused on early stage US-based companies.
About Walden Venture Capital
Founded in 1974 and based in San Francisco and Woodside, CA, Walden has delivered top performing funds for its investors for over 40 years. Walden is proud to have backed many successful early stage companies over its history, including Gymboree, Niku, Vitalstream, Pandora, SoundHound, Aarki and Blue Lithium among others. The firm has consistently delivered top quartile performance by investing in Sprout Stage™ companies in digital media, cloud services and eCommerce. Learn more at www.waldenvc.com
CONTACTS:
Larry Marcus
larry@waldenvc.com
@larrymarcus
Matt Miller
matt@waldenvc.com
@mattmillertweet
Release ID: 73893
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