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Nokia Venture Partners changes its name to BlueRun Ventures
February 7, 2005
MENLO PARK, Calif. -- BlueRun Ventures (www.brv.com) today announced the first close of a third venture fund focused on early stage companies in the IT, mobile, and consumer electronics markets. Formerly known as Nokia Venture Partners, BlueRun Ventures will continue its close relationship with Nokia Corp., which continues as limited partner (LP) backing the new fund and is joined by world-class institutional investors. A second closing is anticipated in the first half of 2005.
Targeted to reach $350 million by mid-year 2005, the new fund brings the total amount under BlueRun Ventures management to $1 billion. Like its predecessors, the new fund provides start-ups with the capital, contacts, and guidance necessary to leapfrog rivals and reshape their markets. BlueRun Ventures' proven approach is to invest globally as a single fund in best of breed technologies, and teams with the drive and ability to build leading global companies. Over the seven-year history of the firm, BlueRun Ventures has built a global platform, with offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, that has enabled successful global market leaders to emerge. As an early stage fund, BlueRun Ventures will invest mostly in Series A and B financing, with an initial investment ranging from $2 to $8 million.
"While branded as Nokia Venture Partners, we helped to build emerging market leaders such as Airgo, Bitfone, Cornice, PayPal, Wavemarket and WiderThan," said John Malloy, Managing Partner for BlueRun Ventures. "Besides great innovation and entrepreneurial leadership, all of those companies had the drive to become global leaders in their respective markets. It has become increasingly clear to our firm that start-ups need specialized resources and expertise to compete on a global scale earlier than in the past. This need is particularly acute in the three high-growth markets we target - IT, mobile, and consumer technologies."
"The global technology market is gearing up for several exciting years," Malloy continued. "The pace of innovation is only accelerating and distributing globally. We look forward to helping passionate entrepreneurs build global leaders in 2005 and beyond."
BlueRun Ventures
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