Investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), which has offices in the United States (US), India and Israel, has announced a $1.6 billion fund – BVP IX- to invest in innovative companies around the world.
The company, which manages more than US$4 billion of venture capital invested in over 130 companies around the world, has previously invested in the likes of Twilio, Pinterest, Yelp, Skype, Shopify, LinkedIn and Box.
It is now looking for the next generation of BVP-funded companies, focusing on sectors such as consumer internet, enterprise technology, mobile, cyber security, cloud computing, developer platforms and infrastructure, and healthcare IT.
“We love to find great teams and support them as they grow. Writing that first cheque is just the beginning,” BVP said.
“We continue to support BVP-funded companies through follow-on investments and network relationships, and operational support from experts in business and corporate development, talent acquisition and marketing and communications.”
BVP stressed that it made these investments all over the world, though it is yet to invest in an African company. Partner Felda Hardymon, however, was a previous investor in African telecommunications provider Celtel.
“This is an exciting time. In almost every sector of technology, we see disruption as whole categories are reinvented and new categories born. As investors, we are believers in the transformative power of technology. Our mission is to back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs to help them build big businesses and dominate markets,” the firm said.
In 2014, BVP made 35 new investments and successfully exited 21 previous investments, which included the acquisition by Amazon of Twitch, and Google buying DropCam and Skybox.
