August Capital just closed on a new $650 million venture fund, bringing its total capital under management to just under $2 billion. It is the 14-year-old firm’s fifth fund. The VC firm will continue to invest in early-stage startups, but will also look for opportunities on the other end of the growth spectrum, including spinoffs, buyouts, and PIPEs.
Raising that much money in this market is no mean feat. Now they have to prove they can put it to good use.
The partners at August Capital are Dave Marquardt, John Johnston, Andy Rappaport, Vivek Mehra, Howard Hartenbaum, and David Hornik. Some of their more recent investments include Aardvark, Jaxtr, VideoEgg, Technorati, and Six Apart. The jury is still out on all of those. (Jaxtr lost its CEO last October after going through layoffs, and Technorati is trying to redefine itself). But in the more distant past August Capital’s partners have invested in Microsoft, Intuit, Symantec, Sun, Compaq, Seagate, Adaptec, Grand Junction, Postini, Skype, Evite, Shopping.com, and Rhapsody.
Congratulations guys – good work on your capital buildup.
Money Money Money MOOOONNNEY…
Congrats to August Capital.
wow, thats a huge round to close during this economy. I’d say we should take it as a good sign….
Gents,
Congratulations! I can say it could not have happened to nicer guys. All the best and continued success.
Best regards,
Darren Cleveland
President/CEO
Recall Media Group Holdings, LLC
I’d like to start a tangential discussion:
Where are the customers’ yachts?
I’d rather see a headline that says, “August Capital Succeeds in returning 15% YoY to its investors”
I think if one is to dig a little deeper into the state of the VC industry in the valley, you’d find a lot of mediocre performance, if not worse.
Essentially, a lot of these guys are making mediocre bets (and I chose the word ‘bets’ specifically for meaning) and getting paid richly to do so regardless of the outcome – e.g. do the math of 2% on $650m = $13m/year. Good money if you can get it, regardless of how your ‘investments’ turn out…
I’m not saying VC is dead, I’m just wondering if perhaps it’s become a little bit of a lazy, me-too industry with a weak business model (for its investors).
I look around at some of the things these guys are investing in and SO much of it seems absolutely ABSURD.
Thoughts?
If they couldn’t produce returns that met their investors’ needs then they wouldn’t be able to raise more money. Make sense?
Yeah! Same logic applies to all those Wall Street and AIG types.
And similarly, all those companies that receive VC money must be worth it because, well, they received. Right?
Tautologies are so helpful. They save us from the need to think logically.
a lot of money to spend
Every interaction I’ve had with Howard Hartenbaum has been valuable. I wish more VCs were like him. Good luck Howard!
Congrats to David Hornik and the rest of the August team! (and glad the deck parties will continue for years to come now)
Foolish Limited Partners! Next economic expansion phase will see a majority of exits in the <$50M range. PIPES should be left to Hedge Funds and Private Equity Funds. Spinouts and unit divestments should be left to Private Equity.
The yearly management fee alone will make the VC’s filthy rich at the expense of the teachers, union workers that contribute to their pensions.
Who are the LP’s for this new fund? I’d like to see a list of them.
most funds have trouble “spotting” and harnessing game changer talent. exciting stuff. will be interesting to see who they invest in.
CapitalDomain.com – landrush locator
I’m a huge fan of August, both Howard Hartenbaum and David Hornik are first class…
Congrats.
ps, if you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding you’re a fool for not considering them..
Peter Pham
CEO
BillShrink
I second Peter Pham’s comments. I have really enjoyed working with Howard Hartenbaum and David Hornik. David sits on the board of our company, ohai. They have been supportive, judicious in their involvement, and they work their asses off for us. These guys are wise, incisive and savvy people.
If you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding, you would be a fool for not considering them!
my 2 cents.
Susan Wu
CEO
ohai
Congrats to David Hornik and team!
Nice post! Check out my website as well http://macmaniapodcast.com.