Ignition closes $200 mln sixth fund

Ignition Partners has closed a $200 million sixth fund with a determination to stick with its “boutique” style of Series A enterprise-focused software investing.

The firm said the new fund was $100 million oversubscribed and held tight to its cap. Still, it is 25 percent larger than the firm’s previous 2013 fund of about $160 million.

The firm, led by managing partners, Frank Artale, John Connors and Nick Sturiale, has seen more than $800 million in liquidity over the past three years from more than 25 exits, including the IPO of Splunk and the sale of Zenprise, Topsy Labs and Whiptail. It holds investments in Cloudera, Docusign and Xamarin.

Sturiale said the new fund – Ignition Venture Partners VI – will stick with the firm’s first-check strategy of $2 million to $8 million, but may have a slightly longer investment period. It will likely avoid investments that have large capital requirements.

“I think a correction is coming,” said Sturiale. “Hopefully, you’re going to see a reset on valuations.”

The fund will zero in on market segments that include the mobile enterprise, industrial Internet infrastructure, and cloud oriented productivity services.

Sturiale said the success of the new fundraising appears to reflect LP interest in domain-focused funds.

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