Nokia Ventures Launches $500 Million Fund II –

MENLO PARK, Calif. – Confirming previous reports, Nokia Venture Partners announced last month that it is marketing a second global venture capital fund with a target capitalization of $500 million.

“In the venture capital world, it’s not actually a lot of money,” said John Malloy, partner with Nokia Venture Partners.

Unlike its $150 million first effort, the new early-stage fund will be marketed to third party investors. Thus far, a number of limited partners have already signed on, including Goldman, Sachs & Co., BMC Software Inc. and CDBWebTech. A final close was anticipated before year-end.

In keeping with its independent third party structure, Nokia Venture Partners will not limit itself to opportunities within the Nokia’s core markets. Overall, it plans to focus on start-up companies in the mobile Internet.

The new fund will continue to invest in leading edge wireless technology companies targeting high growth market opportunities. Together, the new fund and the old fund have backed over 25 portfolio companies from the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Finland, including such as Evoice, Covigo, Categoric, Digital Transit and fusionOne.

The fund will also have an increased focus on Israel and the Asia Pacific region given the tremendous potential these areas have in the mobile Internet sector.