Catalyst Labs Fund I, a US-based venture capital fund in which networking equipment producer Cisco is lead investor, has filed to raise $500m, CNBC has reported, citing a securities filing.
The fund is being set up by Cisco but will operate independently from the corporate, Bloomberg reported in May this year, adding that it will concentrate on seed and early-stage investments in enterprise software developers.
The Wall Street Journal reported the same month that it will be headed by Jon Sakoda, a former general partner at VC firm New Enterprise Associates.
The fund will be managed by Catalyst and will reveal an official name when it emerges from stealth, though it will nevertheless invest in the meantime, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Although Cisco has been confirmed as the lead investor in the fund, it is unclear how much of its capital will be provided by the corporate or how much if any will be sourced from external limited partners.
Cisco has been investing through its existing corporate venturing unit, Cisco Investments, since 1993. Its most significant exits include Akamai, which has a market cap of $10.6bn, and MuleSoft, which floated in early 2017 before being acquired by Salesforce for $6.5bn earlier this year.
