Funds: TL Ventures New Fund, Office –

WAYNE, Pa. – TL Ventures in late April launched the $750 million-targeted TL Ventures V, and is opening a new office in Los Angeles to expand its reach for the new vehicle, said Robert Keith, a managing director at the firm.

TL Ventures will invest the new fund in around 50 to 60 early-stage companies with average initial investments of $5 million to $10 million, Keith said. The firm backs software, Internet, information technology services, communications and life sciences companies.

In order to expand its West Coast presence, the firm is opening a new office in Los Angeles that will be staffed with two managing directors and a principal. Based in Wayne, Pa., TL Ventures also has offices in Austin, Texas, Addison, Texas and Paradise Valley, Ariz. The firm selected Los Angeles rather than San Francisco because it is an emerging market and the competition is less stiff than in the Silicon Valley area, Keith said. Additionally, one of the managing directors tapped for the position is based in Los Angeles. The firm was not prepared to release his identity at press time.

The firm’s previous vehicle, the $250 million TL Ventures IV, which closed at the beginning of 1999, is almost completely invested in about 30 companies, Keith said.

The firm’s portfolio includes Internet Capital Group Inc., an Internet holding company based in Wayne that manages a network of business-to-business e-commerce companies, which held an initial public offering in August 1999; eMerge Interactive Inc., a developer of thermal imaging based in Sebastian, Fla., which went public in February; and Pac-West Telecomm Inc., a Stockton, Calif.-based telecommunications provider which went public in November 1999.

TL Ventures has received positive feedback from its previous limited partners – primarily a mix of pension funds and high-net-worth individuals – about joining the new fund, Keith said. The State of Michigan Retirement System, California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), Safeguard Scientifics Inc. and the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) have all invested with TL Ventures in previous funds.

Keith declined to comment on the carry and management fee for the new fund.