Hedge fund scores on YouTube

Artis Capital Management, a hedge fund in San Francisco that specializes in public and late stage private technology companies, stands to see significant returns on Google’s $1.65 billion stock purchase of video sharing site YouTube.

Artis co-invested in YouTube with Sequoia Capital in the startup’s $8 million Series B this spring, according to a regulatory filing. In two rounds of funding, YouTube raised $11.5 million. YouTube has not publicly disclosed Artis’ involvement.

A spokesperson for Artis would not discuss how much money the firm made on the investment, but said it came to the deal through its relationship with Sequoia. The spokesperson said the firm prefers not to talk about its investments.

Artis has invested with Sequoia in other startups, such as fables semiconductor company Open Silicon. Artis has also invested in public tech companies, such as WiMAX product maker Alvarion (Nasdaq: ALVR) and software company Synplicity (Nasdaq: SYNP)

Other winners in the YouTube purchasel include Stephen Welles, a lawyer with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, who participated in the Series B round.

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) closed the day at $429 per share after climbing 2% in trading.