Re-opens latest fund to address the opportunities and challenges of today’s venture capital industry
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Icon Ventures, a Palo Alto and San Francisco-based venture capital firm, today announced an expansion of its most recent fund, Icon Ventures VI, from $265M to $375M, a fund size increase of over 40 percent. Recognizing the emerging new world of venture capital with investment opportunities requiring more capital and the impact of mega-funds affecting financings at all stages, Icon chose to re-open its last fund, which had its previous final closing in the fall of 2017.
The fund expansion came together between July and September of this year with the support of current investors and new investors, which included Lexington Partners and the George Kaiser Family Foundation. Lexington Partners also completed a separate deal with Icon, acquiring all the remaining assets of Icon III and IV in a large secondary transaction.
“He not busy being born is busy dying.”
The reference to Bob Dylan’s quote comes from Icon’s managing general partner, Joe Horowitz, a veteran venture capitalist and member of the board of the National Venture Capital Association. According to Horowitz, “we are clearly in a new age of venture capital where larger check sizes are required to address some of the more compelling opportunities, yet we are equally committed to best practices and being disciplined VC investors, for at the end of the day it is all about fund performance.”
Originally branded as Jafco Ventures, Icon Ventures rebranded after the firm added over 20 new LPs to its fifth fund in 2014. The firm has kept a low-key profile for most of its 15-year history. With a small team of experienced venture investors, Icon Ventures has produced an amazing track record, with 32 portfolio company exits out of 82 investments representing an aggregate market capitalization of over $42 billion today. Included in the firm’s notable success stories are security giants Palo Alto Networks, FireEye and Proofpoint. Their most recent IPO, Teladoc has more than quadrupled in value since its IPO three years ago. The deeply integrated Icon team members pride themselves on punching above their weight class.
Adding to its list of successful exits, News Corp just announced the acquisition of Opcity, an Icon VI portfolio company which will result in the expanded fund’s first distribution.
For more information on the announcement and state of the venture capital industry, read Joe Horowitz's perspective here: https://iconventures.com/news/busy-being-born/
About Icon Ventures
Icon Ventures believes that great companies start with extraordinary entrepreneurs. Based in Palo Alto and San Francisco, Icon Ventures is a venture capital firm specializing in Series B and C financings. With well over $1 billion under management, Icon leads financings alongside the most successful early-stage venture firms in companies that are category winners. Over the last 10 years, Icon Ventures has had 32 portfolio companies go public or successfully acquired. These investments today exceed over $42 billion in exit value. They include market-leading companies such as Aster Data (Teradata), FireEye (FEYE), 41st Parameter (Experian), Infinera (INFN), MoPub (Twitter), Opcity (News Corp), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Proofpoint (PFPT) and Teladoc (TDOC). For more information visit: iconventures.com and follow @iconventures.
Contact Information:
Email: info@iconventures.com