VC fund briefs, week of Sept. 22, 2008

By
Brad Meikle
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True nails down second fund

True Ventures has closed its second fund with $195 million in capital commitments.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm raised $155 million, plus a $9 million side vehicle, for its inaugural fund in 2006.

The firm had set a cap of la little less than $200 million for its second effort, since it wanted to stay small enough to make seed and early stage investments.

“Fund II for us is a continuation of our core business,” says True Ventures Partner Jon Callaghan. “We have a great core team and expect to change very little.”

That means more deals in sectors like software, mobile and digital media. The final new deal from its first fund was TextDigger, a provider of semantic search technology. True also has made its first investment from fund II, but has not yet disclosed it.

The firm is not making any personnel additions in conjunction with the fund closing, although tech blogger Om Malik recently joined as a part-time venture partner. Malik’s company, GigaOm, is a portfolio company of True.

Chrysalis revises fund close

Last week, Chrysalis Ventures announced that it has revised the final close of its fourth fund, which is called Chrysalis Ventures III. It now totals $175 million.

The Louisville, Ky.-based firm, which invests primarily in early stage health care services and technology, media and communications, and business services, announced in the new spring it had raised $163 million in capital commitments, exceeding its $150 million target. The firm raised $143 million for its previous fund, which closed in 2001.

Limited partners in the fourth fund include Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System and Health Evolution Partners.

The firm focuses on early-stage companies in the Midwest and South.

Ascent aims for $200M

Ascent Venture Partners is raising $200 million for its fifth fund, according to a regulatory filing. The Boston-based firm raised $140 million for its fourth fund, which closed in 2003.

MMV Financial adds $25M

MMV Financial Inc., a Toronto, Ontario-based debt-financing provider, has raised $25 million as part of a revolving senior credit facility from ROI Capital, increasing the facility to $100 million, according to VentureWire.

Past backers of MMV include CCP Equity Partners (which invested $60 million in 2004), Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, HSBC Bank Canada, NewStar Financial Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.

MMV Financial is the successor to MM Venture Partners, a debt firm founded in 1998 to invest in early stage Canadian life science and IT companies. The firm relaunched in 2004.

Covington assumes control of Genesys Capital Funds

Covington Capital has taken over management of two venture capital funds—New Generation Biotech Equity Fund and New General Biotech Balanced Fund—from Genesys Capital Partners.

No financial terms were disclosed. In related news, New Generation Biotech Equity has sold portions of its positions in Affinium Pharmaceuticals, Epocal and NeurAxon to “an institutional purchaser,” according to a press release last week.

Both Covington and Genesys are based in Toronto, Ontario.

Founded in 1995, Covington manages about $400 million in venture capital assets on behalf of 140,000 retail investors.

Lumira shoots for up to $300M

Lumira Capital is planning to raise between $250 million and $300 million for its second fund, according to VentureWire. The Toronto, Ontario-based venture firm was previously known as MDS Capital Corp., and focuses on the life sciences sector.