Menlo Ventures Raises $450 Million Fourteenth Fund To Invest In Early Consumer, Enterprise, And Frontier Technologies

MENLO PARK, Calif., May 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Menlo Ventures today announced the closing of Menlo Ventures XIV, a $450 million fund dedicated to investing primarily in early-stage consumer, enterprise and frontier technologies. The funding brings the firm's total capital to more than $5 billion under management.

"Menlo's emphasis on early-stage investing in our main funds is a strategy that's working," said managing director Mark Siegel. "Our focus is on deep, analytical research in fast-moving core areas like Marketplaces, Cloud Infrastructure, SaaS, Fintech and Cybersecurity. We are also digging into new frontier areas that will create massive technological shifts such as artificial intelligence, computational biology, robotics and drone technology."

Menlo's latest fund coincides with the firm's unveiling of a San Francisco office, where the entire team splits time together between the new office and its Menlo Park headquarters.

"Our core team is dedicated to operating within this hub for talent as we expand our Fuel services program, host events, and work together more flexibly and collaboratively than a traditional venture capital firm," said managing director Venky Ganesan. "The expansion to San Francisco will strengthen our partnerships with the next generation of entrepreneurs."

Menlo begins the new fund with strong momentum in its current portfolio including iconic consumer companies like Machine Zone, Uber, Stance, Rover.com, Poshmak, Roku, eero and Warby Parker, cybersecurity companies like BitSight, SaaS companies like Heap, Overops and Signifyd, and fintech fast movers like Betterment, Bluevine, and RealtyShares.  Early bets on frontier technologies include Clarifai in the AI sector, Dedrone in cybersecurity, and Synthego in computational biology.

"The Menlo team immediately understood our market and strategy which allowed them to act quickly and decisively. First meeting to funding was a matter of weeks," said Matt Zeiler, founder and CEO of Clarifai. "Working with them has been fantastic. The entire team is involved and in the trenches with us, which is a true hallmark of a value-add venture firm," he added.

Menlo's fund was oversubscribed with both new and existing limited partners.  

"Menlo has a long term track record, outstanding reputation among entrepreneurs, and proven ability to identify trends and invest in iconic early stage companies," said Erik Lassila of Peakview Capital.  "We're proud to partner once again with this smart, innovative group of partners."

Menlo will invest 80% of the fund in core thesis areas and 20% in frontier technologies, targeting early-stage investments with 50% of the fund going toward Series Seed and Series A deals.  Menlo will continue its allocation of $15 million for the Menlo Talent Fund, aimed at promising seed-stage ideas.

Menlo XIV's investment team consists of four managing directors: Mark Siegel, Venky Ganesan, Matt Murphy and Shawn Carolan.  Talent Partner Jordan Ormont rounds out the team, along with investment professionals Tyler Sosin, Steve Sloane, Jayni Shah and Croom Beatty. Menlo will continue to expand its EIR, Venture Partner, and Fuel team; the latter provides assistance to companies in the early go-to-market stage of their evolution and currently includes team members Jenny Saling (marketing), Jordan Ormont (talent), and Kayla Hinderscheid (customer development).

Menlo's history of successful investing includes the funding of more than 440 companies with an aggregate market value exceeding $250 billion. In the last five years alone, Menlo's 33 exits have a combined market value of $5.4 billion. Menlo is currently investing in Menlo XII, a $400 million early-stage fund, and the $250 million Menlo Opportunity Fund, aimed at early growth investing.

About Menlo Ventures
Menlo Ventures provides capital for multi-stage consumer and enterprise technology companies. Since 1976, the firm's market-driven analysis has led to the identification of opportunities and successful investments in innovative technology markets. Notable areas of investment include Marketplaces (Uber, Rover.com, Breather, RealtyShares, Getaround), Consumer services (Machine Zone, Tumblr, Betterment, Poshmark, Roku, Siri), Smart cloud infrastructure (Dropcam, 3Par, Avi Networks, Avere Systems, eero), SaaS (Carbonite, Signifyd, Clarifai, Overops, Usermind), Fintech (Betterment, Bluevine, RealtyShares) and Cybersecurity (Cavium, IronPort, BitSight, vArmour, Dedrone). Menlo's portfolio includes more than 70 public companies and more than 100 mergers and acquisitions. Menlo Ventures has $5 billion under management and is currently investing Menlo Ventures XII, a $400 million fund with $15 million allocated to the Menlo Talent Fund for fast seed funding, and the Menlo Opportunity Fund, a $250 million fund that targets solely early growth investments. For more information, visit www.menlovc.com.

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SOURCE Menlo Ventures

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