US-based venture capital firm Romulus Capital unveiled its third fund yesterday with more than $75m in commitments from investors including several undisclosed Asia-based conglomerates.
The fund has also attracted the interest of three royal families and assorted private individuals with ties to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Romulus was founded by students at MIT in 2008 and has backed a range of artificial intelligence and machine learning spinouts from the university.
The third fund doubles the firm’s assets under management to $150m. The firm focuses on seed-stage technology startups in a wide range of verticals such as real estate, healthcare, hospitality, construction and automotive, though it also supports research-based businesses.
Krishna Gupta, founder of Romulus Capital, said: “We understand entrepreneurs, because we are entrepreneurs (and not just former entrepreneurs), which means we bring a passion and ingenuity for building great companies, since we are in the trenches building our company at the same time.
“We have a proven track record for successfully launching technology-driven companies and offer a powerful alternative over traditional funds with traditional thinking.”