Highland Capital
Highland preps $400 million VC fund
November 13, 2012: 11:38 AM ET
Highland to begin raising ninth fund.
FORTUNE -- Highland Capital Partners this week is expected to send out offering documents for its ninth venture capital fund, Fortune has learned. The target is likely to be $400 million, which is the same amount Highland raised for its eighth fund back in 2009.
Since 2009, however, Highland has undergone a number of senior personnel changes. As we've previously reported, Highland co-founders Bob Higgins and Paul Maeder have scaled back their activities and are not expected to be listed as general partners on the new fund. Partner Dan Rosen departed earlier this year to form his own commerce-focused fund, while former Apple (AAPL) ad boss Andy Miller joined in 2011 only to leave this summer for portfolio company Leap Motion. Highland also has made several additions in the junior ranks, including former Google (GOOG) exec Manish Patel.
Moreover, Highland's European team last fall began raising an affiliated fund that will focus largely on growth-stage tech opportunities. It had a €200 million target, and held a first close last week on an undisclosed amount. Expect the new Highland general fund to consider early-stage opportunities in Europe, but its focus will remain on North American startups.
Highland partner Sean Dalton declined to comment on fundraising, citing SEC marketing restrictions. The firm is based in Cambridge, Mass., and also has offices in Menlo Park, Geneva, London and Shanghai.
Sign up for Dan's daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers: GetTermSheet.com
-
Commerce-focused VC firm raising first fund
New micro-VC firm to focus on retail technologies.
FORTUNE -- Venture capitalist Dan Rosen has left Highland Capital Partners after a six years, in order to form a firm focused on the intersection of mobile, payments and retail. The new effort will be called Commerce Ventures, and hopes to raise $20 million for its debut fund (with a hard cap of $30 million).
"I believe that I understand this ecosystem," Rosen says, MORE
Dan Primack - Aug 1, 2012 11:38 AM ET -
Exclusive: Big changes for Staples founder's VC fund
Retail is in, consumer goods are out.
FORTUNE -- In 2007, Staples (SPLS) founder Tom Stemberg partnered with Highland Capital Partners to raise $300 million for a venture capital fund that would invest in retail and packaged consumer goods companies. It has not gone according to plan, and the strategy is about to undergo some major renovations before Stemberg attempts to raise a successor fund.
The first big change is that Stemberg's co-managing MORE
Dan Primack - Jul 30, 2012 10:31 AM ET -
Exclusive: Highland Capital co-founders to step back
Veteran venture capitalists turning over the reins.
FORTUNE -- Bob Higgins and Paul Maeder plan to reduce their roles with Highland Capital Partners, the Cambridge, Mass.-based venture capital firm they co-founded in 1988, Fortune has learned.
The pair will not be listed as general partners for Highland's next fund, which is expected to be raised next year. The Cambridge, Mass.-based firm currently is investing out of a $400 million vehicle that closed MORE
Dan Primack - Jun 1, 2012 11:51 AM ET -
Apple mobility ad boss leaves for VC
Andy Miller, head of mobile advertising for Apple (AAPL), is leaving to join VC firm Highland Capital Partners. Miller is the former co-founder and CEO of Quattro Wireless, a Highland-backed company that Apple acquired early last year for $275 million. He currently reports directly to Steve Jobs.
The news was first reported by All Things D, and confirmed by Fortune with Highland partner Peter Bell.
"We were going to do a formal MORE
Dan Primack - Aug 17, 2011 12:02 PM ET -
The venture capital surprise
New research on the VC industry turns conventional wisdom on its head.
In the world of venture capital, tech is the movie star and life sciences the second banana. The champion and the also-ran. Just look at the most recent Forbes Midas List, in which the first life sciences investor doesn't appear until #16 (Bryan Roberts of Venrock).
But new research suggests that this hierarchy has quietly reversed itself over the past MORE
Dan Primack - Jul 11, 2011 9:19 AM ET -
Will solar in 2011 look like automobiles in 1911?
How many of the 217 solar start-ups today will be around in 10 years? Not many. A look back at the automobile industry in the early part of the last century explains why.
By Alex Taussig, contributor
The automobile traces its roots back to Europe — first to France in 1860 with the invention of the internal combustion engine, and then to Germany in 1876 with the invention of the 4-stroke gasoline MORE
Oct 7, 2010 9:33 AM ET
