Capital Chaos

 BlueRun Ventures (Menlo Park, CA) recently raised $200M for its fourth fund.  The company which was initially backed by Nokia, is now on its own has been pretty aggressive in the past year (Slide).  This new fund was originally targeted at being $350M according to an earlier article by Venture Beat back in October, 2007.  It seems from both the VentureWire updates and the fact that the firm hasn’t raised the full amount that they may be struggling to raise the capital the expected to.

This new fund is designed to help fuel both consumer and mobile investments - both of which have seen their fair share of pretty high valuations (Slide - $550M valuation just last month which BlueRun did invest in).

BlueRun is very keen on investing in emerging markets which help to establish new trends.  They love to invest in disruptive technologies whether it be in wireless, internet, media, consumer or enterprise solutions.  Even though they are in Menlo Park, they dont have the “30 mile rule” and are geographically agnostic.  They also have offices around the world in Shanghai, India, Helsinki, Israel and Korea.

There are some very  mixed reviews on BlueRun as a VC and depending on which of their offices you pitch and how you got to them could affect your experience. If you try pitching Nokia directly and end up at BlueRun, that may not be the best course of action.  Sujit Banerjee seems to be the standout in the firm that you want to get the attention of.  He is a highly networked partner who really understands semiconductor, material science and energy space.  He understands the needs of the early stage entrepreneur and can be very helpful even if he doesnt invest in your company.

Contact:
545 Middlefield Road
Suite 210
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Telephone: (650) 462 7250