Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), a US-based venture capital firm, has closed its eighth fund at $1.6bn by including corporations as investors – called limited partners (LPs).
Alongside existing LPs and corporate venturing units, Bessemer added university endowments and family offices into BVP VIII.
BVP had reportedly begun fundraising in January with a $1.2bn target and fund VII closed at $1.45bn in 2007.
Bessemer invests in North America, Israel, Europe and Latin America and expects to invest roughly a quarter of the new fund in India after opening its offices in Mumbai seven years ago. BVP has invested in 31 Indian companies, including Shriram EPC, Orient Green Power, IL&FS Transportation Networks and Applied Solar Technologies.
Bessemer is one of the oldest VC firms in the US, 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.
In the past three years, BVP has exited 27 portfolio companies, including flotations for BroadSoft, Orient Green Power and Cornerstone OnDemand and trade sales of Quidsi (sold to Amazon.com), Playdom (Disney), Alnara (Eli Lilly) and Vertica (Hewlett-Packard).
Separately, DBL Investors, another US-based VC firm, has closed its second fund at $140m. The firm spun out of investment bank JP Morgan in 2008 and was formerly known as Bay Area Equity Fund.