ATV Closes $800M Fund

Bi-coastal venture capital firm Advanced Technology Ventures took the wraps off its new, $800 million fund this week, announcing investments in two Internet startups, Redline Networks and Bergana Communications.

ATV, which has offices in Waltham, Mass. and Palo Alto, Calif., invested $10 million in Redline, a Campbell, Calif.-based Internet infrastructure company that offers a product that optimizes Web performance for content delivery firms and data center operators.

The venture firm did not disclose its stake in Minnetonka, Minn.-based Bergana, which designs and supplies semi-conductor software for wireless communications applications. With ATV’s investment, however, the firm’s first-round investments total $12 million. Other investors include Mobius Venture Capital (formerly SOFTBANK Venture Capital) and Blueprint Ventures.

Twenty-two year ATV, which specializes in U.S.-based Internet infrastructure, communications, software and healthcare investments, said its new fund was its largest to date, and twice the size of its previous fund — suggesting, perhaps, that the dry spell for venture capital could be receding.

“While the climate for raising new venture capital funds has deteriorated substantially over the past year, we are very gratified by the enthusiastic response to our new fund among the institutional investor community,” said Jos Henkens, a general partner at the firm.

He added that more than 90 percent of the fund’s previous investors returned for the current fund, ATV’s seventh.

“In addition, a number of new, high-quality investors have joined and represent approximately 40 percent of Fund VII,” Henkens said. “The commitments from both our existing and new limited partners serve as strong validation of the value of our hands-on investment philosophy and history of success.”

In addition to Redline and Bergana, ATV also currently holds stakes in Docent, Peakstone, Ardais, Xevo and others.

ATV recently announced that it has expanded operations into Canada, through the appointment of a partner, Brian Hanson. ATV made its first investment in Canada late last year in Innovance Networks, an optical networking company.