Renaissance Venture Capital Fund, a US-based venture capital fund-of-fund manager, closed its third fund at $81m yesterday with commitments from several corporate limited partners.
The LPs include energy utility DTE, which supplied $10m, and insurance providers AAA Michigan, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Burns & Wilcox, as well as furniture producer La-Z-Boy and big-box retail chain Meijer.
The corporates are all headquartered in the state of Michigan, where Renaissance intends to focus. They were joined by unnamed universities, foundations and pension funds.
Renaissance Fund III will continue to pursue its parent’s existing strategy of investing in VC funds across the US with the express aim of attracting them to Michigan and supporting the state’s startup ecosystem.
The firm’s first fund, which it said this week was closed at $45m in 2010, was backed by 10 corporates including DTE, fellow utility CMS Energy, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, AAA Michigan and financial services firm Huntington Bank.
DTE, Meijer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, CMS and fellow corporates Roush Industries, Whirlpool Corp, Ford Motor and Wolverine World Wide were among the LPs for Renaissance’s $60m second fund in 2012.
Chris Rizik, CEO and fund manager at Renaissance, said: “Through our Renaissance Funds, we have created a unique vision for how financial capital could grow a new economy in Michigan, and how our expanding network can increase connectivity in that new economy.
“Renaissance’s strong financial returns have substantially beaten national benchmarks for performance, while it has also been a national leader on impact on its community.”
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.