M/C Venture Partners Close on $550M –

BOSTON – M/C Venture Partners held a final close on its $550 million venture capital fund, M/C Venture Partners V LP, which launched in June and held an initial close in August, said James Wade, a general partner at the firm.

M/C Venture Partners will use the vehicle to back about 30 companies with average initial investments ranging between $15 million and $20 million, Wade said. The firm will target early-stage communications services and information technology services companies, splitting capital evenly between the two sectors, he added. The firm will invest about one-third of the fund’s capital in European-based companies and the remaining two-thirds in domestic entities, Wade said.

The firm prefers to lead deals, positioning itself as the first institutional investor in a company, Wade said, adding that the firm has made an undisclosed number of commitments out of the fund, but had not closed on any deals at press time, he said.

M/C Venture Partners’ investor base includes Abbott Capital Management LLC, California Public Employees’ Retirement System, California State Teachers’ Retirement System, J.P. Morgan Investment Management, Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System, and the endowments of Cornell University, University of Notre Dame and Yale University. Newcomers to the list of LPs are The Government of Singapore Investment Corp., Bank of America and Salomon Smith Barney. Wade would not disclose the firm’s carried interest structure and management fee.

The firm’s previous vehicle, the $230 million M/C Venture Partners IV LP, which closed in 1998, is completely committed to 15 companies, Wade said. An entrepreneurs’ fund and an affiliate fund, together totaling $40 million, accompanied that vehicle. The firm established an additional entrepreneurs fund and affiliate fund to invest alongside Fund V as well, he said, making total new capital under management about $600 million.

The general partners at the firm are Peter Claudy, David Croll, Matthew Rubins and Wade. They invest the fund together with Partners Peter Schober, John Ward and Neil Sheth.