Viventures Raises Multi-national Fund –

PARIS – Newly-created Viventures Partners held a second close in late March on its first multinational $100 million-targeted vehicle, Viventures.

Launched in September, the fund held a first close in November on FFr 515 million ($85 million) and is capped at $115 million. Some $14 million already is invested, and a final close is expected at the end of May.

The venture capital firm plans to use its four-member team to invest 50% of the vehicle in European portfolio companies and the remainder in North America and Israel.

First Light Investment, Viventures’ North American office, is located in San Francisco where a separate management team operates as a contact for portfolio companies based in North America.

Viventures prefers to work with incubation- and early-stage companies, investing between $1 million and $6 million per round, but the firm will back later-stage projects with a strong high-tech orientation. Areas of interest include the Internet, information technology, engineering and telecommunications; Viventures will not consider investments in biotech or medical devices.

Viventures recently backed three international portfolio companies in their first round of venture financing: Adauction.com, a business-to-business e-commerce service that sells media ad space in Silicon Valley, and Quixell, an online personal auction company in the United Kingdom, received $1million each, while Point Music, a French online music provider, received $2 million.

The firm’s international limited partners include Vivendi, Societe Generale Asset Management, Mannesmann, Audio Media-Audio Fina, Compagnie Nationale a Portefeuille and Cisco Systems Inc. Benoist Grossman, a partner at Viventures, said his firm believes that international partners help create deal flow, open the door for many business opportunities and permit the firm to use technology from various countries.

Viventures’ staff includes Managing Partner Jean-Pascal Tranie and Partner Benosit Grossman in France and General Partner Jacques Vallee and Partner Edward Colby in San Francisco.