This 55-year old VC firm just raised its third $1.2 billion fund in a little over 6 years
On Wednesday, Norwest Venture Partners announced that it closed a new $1.2 billion fund called Norwest Venture Partners XIII. That's the third $1.2 billion fund the 55-year old VC firm has closed since 2009, and brings the total capital under management to over $6 billion.
The new fund comes on the heels of a strong 18-month period for the firm, during which it was able to cash out 22 of its portfolio companies, including Lending Club, the online lending platform that had one of the biggest tech IPOs in 2014, and Elemental, the mobile video startup acquired by Amazon for $296 million.
And it shows Norwest plans to continue being one of the most active VC investors in the Valley, despite signs of a general pullback in the later stage and public market investments.
"You get some great opportunities when markets cool off, so you can also look at it as an opportunity to pick up good companies at better valuations," NVP's managing partner Jeff Crowe told Business Insider.
Part of what makes that possible is NVP's diversified approach, which tends to be broader than some of its peers who focus on a specific industry or size of companies. NVP's portfolio companies are spread across all sectors, including enterprise, e-commerce, and healthcare, and vary in size, as it goes from seed to later stage rounds.
For example, it's investors in more mature consumer upstarts like Uber and Spotify, while it's also invested in business software used by large companies, like Adaptive Insights and Blue Jeans Network.
"Our diversified strategy allows to stay productive, and that success allows us to continue to raise capital," managing partner Matt Howard said.
One big reason NVP is able to raise such large rounds on a consistent basis is that almost all of its capital comes from Wells Fargo, who's always been its primary investor. Wells Fargo merged with Norwest Bank, where NVP was first created, in 1998, but the two firms are managed entirely separately.
NVP last raised $1.2 billion in May 2014, after closing another $1.2 billion fund in late 2009. The firm is headquartered in Palo Alto, but recently opened an office in San Francisco, and expanded to Israel and India, as well.