Lux Capital, a venture capital firm, has raised $245m in its third fund from limited partners that included undisclosed corporations.
Lux Ventures II closed in 2007 at nearly $100m and its deals include Kurion, Transphorm, Cerulean, Genocea, Kala, and Everspin.
Lux recently opened a new office in Palo Alto, California, and added three venture partners: Jeff Kindler, former executive chairman of drugs comapny Pfizer; Jim Woolsey, former director of the US government’s Central Intelligence Agency; and Richard Foster, former senior partner at management consultancy McKinsey.
Lux Ventures III his already invested in Gridco Systems, Kymeta (also backed by media company Liberty Global), Kyruus (also backed by Fidelity) and Shapeways (a spin-out of the lifestyle incubator of Netherlands-based healthcare company Royal Philips Electronics also backed by venture capital firms Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures). Lux makes seed investments from $100,000 up to $15m over a company’s life.
Josh Wolfe, managing partner of Lux Capital, said: “Many of the themes and entrepreneurs we’re excited about—in 3D printing, metamaterials, robotics and breakthroughs in solid-state electronics—are non-obvious, and that’s by design.”