On Tuesday, IVP, a silicon valley venture capital firm announced the closure of its $1.5 billion fund, the latest signs of new venture capital companies moping up funds as global investors race to grab a piece of the tech boom.
Founded in 1980, IVP plans to channel the new cash for investments in cloud computing, high-growth startups enterprise software, cyber security and social media markets, said Jules Maltz, the company’s general partner.
“This gets us back to doing what we love doing, which is backing late-stage companies,” said Maltz. “We can celebrate a little bit but then we have to get back to business and finding new companies.”
With the closure of this fundraiser, its 16th, IVP has raised $7 billion in cumulative venture capital. The company has earlier channeled its funds into companies, including Snap Inc, Twitter, Slack and Dropbox.
Earlier this year, venture capital companies, including Greylock Partners, Sapphire Ventures and New Enterprise Associates, have raised more than $1 billion in their respective funding rounds.
As per Maltz, IVP chose to limit the size of the fund so it could continue to focus its investments on companies that have about 50 employees and are generating more than $10 million in revenue but are yet become “unicorns,” - startups who have valuations of more than $1 billion.
“We don’t want to get too big as a fund that we have to do $50 million-minimum investments,” said Maltz. “We’ve seen other firms raise so much capital that it changes their investment strategies.”
He went on to add, IVP is hoping to spend more capital on female entrepreneurs and bring more diversity to venture and tech.
“More diverse teams and more diverse boards lead to better company performance,” said Maltz. “Our returns are based on performance. We believe investing in diversity will enhance our returns.”
