From the Press Release:
Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), a global investment firm, has announced the closing of Bessemer Venture Partners VIII. BVP VIII is a $1.6 billion venture capital fund that will sustain the firm’s focus on investing in and partnering with innovative, high-growth companies across multiple industries and geographies. Alongside existing BVP limited partners, Bessemer welcomed a select number of leading university endowments, corporations and family offices into BVP VIII as new LPs.
“With BVP VIII, we continue our mission of finding and funding the highest growth startups, wherever they operate,” said BVP partner Ed Colloton. “And we have clearly benefited from an on-the-ground presence in a number of key markets to identify the most talented entrepreneurs. Bessemer is among the first venture capital firms to have built a truly global platform.”
Bessemer, which actively invests in North America, India, Israel, Europe and Latin America, expects to invest roughly a quarter of the new fund in the fast-growing Indian market. BVP opened its offices in Mumbai seven years ago and has since invested in 31 Indian companies, including Shriram EPC, Orient Green Power, IL&FS Transportation Networks and Applied Solar Technologies. As in other markets where BVP is investing, BVP’s India strategy has been to select great entrepreneurs and actively help them build enduring businesses.
Since raising BVP VII in 2007, Bessemer has continued to add talented partners globally, including Steve Kraus in Cambridge, Mass.; Umesh Padval in Menlo Park; and Vishal Gupta, Siddharth Nautiyal and Subramanya “Subu” S.V. in Mumbai.
Bessemer is one of the oldest venture capital firms in the U.S., growing out of steel magnate Henry Phipps’ family holding company, Bessemer Securities, which was founded in 1911 and is still an anchor investor in BVP VIII.
Throughout its history, BVP has backed some of the world’s most talented early stage entrepreneurs, helping them to build their businesses and dominate growing markets. In the last three years, BVP has realized 27 portfolio-company exits, including initial public offerings for BroadSoft, Orient Green Power and Cornerstone OnDemand and M&A exits for Quidsi (sold to Amazon.com), Playdom (Disney), Alnara (Eli Lilly) and Vertica (Hewlett-Packard).
About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm with offices in Silicon Valley, Cambridge, Mass., New York, Mumbai and Herzliya, Israel. One of the oldest venture capital practices in the United States, BVP has partnered as an active, hands-on investor in Ciena, LinkedIn, Celtel, Blue Nile, Skype, Staples, VeriSign and Yelp. More than 100 BVP-funded companies have gone public on exchanges in Canada, India, the U.K. and the United States. Learn more at www.bvp.com and www.bvp.com/india