Forté Ventures, a venture firm designed to invest and partner with corporates, has raised $30m for its first fund.
The group is looking to partner actively with corporations in all its deals. Tom Hawkins, managing partner of Forté Ventures, who worked in corporate venture capital at Siemens Venture Capital, said: “We are seeing a lot of dealflow which meets our criteria of collaborating and co-investing with corporate partners, be it through a strategic equity investment by the corporate or a strategic partnership.”
Hawkins added the fund is closing four new transactions and one follow-on investment making for “a busy May”.
Hawkins said: “We share our deal flow with them and they in turn share their deal flow with us, which provides visibility into deal flow across a broad network.” Hawkins said corporations with which it had co-invested included US-based pharmaceutical company Merck, US-based software company Citrix, US-based media companies Liberty Global and Comcast.
Forté Ventures had initially looked to raise its fund from corporations. Hawkins said the firm raised its fund “mostly from individuals and family offices. There were a few venture firms although that was not originally what we intended, as we originally planned to raise the money from corporates.”
Forté Ventures has offices in Atlanta and Menlo Park and is actively investing across North America. The firm’s other partners include Louis Rajczi (formerly with Siemens Venture Capital), David Nagel (former CTO of AT&T) and Paul DiBella.