Alsop-Louie to close

Alsop-Louie Partners is expected to hold the final close on its inaugural fund in December, pending approval from its limited partners regarding an increase in its fund size, PE Week has learned.

The firm secured its $75 million target but one of its LPs wanted to up its allocation by as much as $10 million. A final close higher than the target would require approval from the other limited partners.

The firm has made one investment so far. It backed Duality, a Mountain View, Calif.-based startup developing mobile communications services for businesses with a $2 million first round.

Stewart Alsop left New Enterprise Associates at the end of 2004. He had joined the firm as a venture partner in 1996 and was promoted to partner in 1998. H led the firm’s investments in TiVo and Xfire. Alsop wrote in a memo to his colleagues that he wanted to “see if I can design a working life for myself that is focused entirely on working with a few early stage companies.”

His plan, as early as May 2005, was to raise a fund under the firm name “Agenda Capital.” But his plans changed when Gilman Louie left In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s investment arm, at the end of 2005. The two partnered up and launched Alsop-Louie Partners in February 20006. The firm is based in San Francisco.

The firm operates a weblog, where its partners have reviewed mobile phone products and solicited improvements on consumer Internet services.