New Firms to Invest in Health Care, Technology
Principals from Brentwood Venture Capital and Institutional Venture Partners said they are forming two venture capital firms to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in information technology and health-care companies over the next two years.
The information technology fund will dole out $500 million to companies developing technologies for the Internet, electronic commerce, broad-band communications and digital television, said Brad Jones, a general partner with Brentwood’s Los Angeles office. The health-care fund will invest $200 million in companies focusing on medical devices and biotechnology, he said.
The two companies--which have not yet been named--will begin operations in the coming months after Brentwood and IVP invest the last of their venture capital. All of Brentwood’s partners and nearly all of IVP’s partners will be redistributed among the two new firms.
The new funds’ narrow focus reflects the degree of specialization that is now required to make high-tech investment decisions. “Fifteen years ago in venture capital you could be a generalist, but today the technologies are more complicated and the decisions require more detailed knowledge of the business,” Jones said.
The firm administering the information technology fund will be based in Menlo Park, but will include some partners from Los Angeles. The firm running the health-care fund will split its operations between Orange County and Silicon Valley.
