Atlas closes eighth fund at $283m

01 February 2009

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Fund

Atlas Venture has closed its eighth fund, launched in May 2008 with a target of $400m, at $283m. The GP decided to close the fundraising at a lower but critical amount due to the adverse conditions in the global economy. Atlas Venture VIII has a 10-year lifespan. Financial details on the terms and conditions have not been disclosed. Kari Harris and Elissa Port of Ropes & Gray provided legal advice to the fund.

Investors

The fund's institutional investors include a mix of funds-of-funds, foundations, pension funds and family offices, predominantly based in the US and in Europe. Kisco Management, The Kresge Foundation and Paul Capital are among the fund's existing investor base, while new limited partners include Franklin Park, Industriens Persionsforsikring and Meketa Investment Group.

Investments

Atlas Venture VIII aims at investing approximately two thirds of its capital in early-stage companies and the rest in selected expansion deals. It will concentrate its investments on the technology sector and drug discovery companies in the US and Europe. In Europe, it is currently looking at deals in the UK, Spain and France but is considering investments all over Europe. Generally, Atlas Venture can make investments from $300,000-15m, but expects the majority of deals to be between $3-10m. On average, the fund wants to acquire a 25% stake in companies, but would be flexible for the right deal. Atlas Venture anticipates a total of 20-30 deals over a three year investment period and would consider co-investing with others.

The first investment from the new fund was made in January 2009 in technology company CloudSwitch, which will enable enterprises to take advantage of cloud computing. Atlas co-led the $7.4m investment round and provided 50% of the funding. The pipeline has been described as healthy with further deals expected to close in the first quarter of 2009.

People

Fred Destin is the main manager of the fund at Atlas Venture.

Name: Atlas Venture VIII

Target: $400m

Closed on: $283m

Focus: Early-stage, US, Europe

Contact: Fred Destin

Address: Atlas Venture London

55 Grosvenor Street

London W1K 3BW, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 20 7529 4444

Fax: +44 20 7529 4455