Sienna Ventures III Set April Close –

SAUSALITO, Calif. – Kicking off its fund-raising efforts last April at the height of the economy’s perpetual downward slide, Sienna Ventures has managed to secure $75 million for its third venture fund, and expects to hold a final close at the end of this month. If it hits its target of $100 million to $150 million, Sienna III will be the firm’s largest fund to date.

Thus far, Sienna III has attracted the support of both institutional and individual investors, including the California Institute of Technology, First Union Corp., PON Holdings, the Simons Foundation, Phil Quiqley, the retired chief executive of the Pacific Telesis Group and Richard Rosenberg, who retired from the helm of Bank of America.

Although Sienna III is modeled after its predecessor, it deviates slightly from the beaten path in that it is exclusively a seed- and early-stage investment vehicle, whereas Fund II’s strategy ran the gamut from early- to growth-stage deals. Sienna I was primarily a growth and acquisition fund with no specific industry focus, said Nicol Davis, an associate with Sienna Ventures.

Both of Sienna’s previous funds are fully invested, she added.

Sienna III will likely do as many as 12 deals and pump between $7 million and $10 million into each portfolio company. As in the past, the firm will also reserve capital for follow-on rounds.

Thus far, the new fund has brought six new companies into the fold including: Epana Networks, a metropolitan area network communications company; mobile Internet hosting service M7 Networks; Plansponsor.com, an online information resource and industry exchange focused on pension and retirement issues; Web site infrastructure products developer Ranch Networks; SecurityPortal, an online enterprise security solutions provider; and AdFlight Inc., which has developed a proprietary ad-serving technology for business-to-business e-commerce exchanges.

Sienna Ventures Founding Partner Daniel Skaff will manage the fund with Senior Partner Robert Conrads. The firm is currently considering adding a third partner if the fund exceeds its target, Davis said.