Last week, I went to a party celebrating the 10th anniversary of Jeff Clavier’s SoftTech VC. What I didn’t know was that the partners were also likely celebrating the close of the firm’s $85 million fourth fund for investing in startups.
Clavier began investing as an angel back in 2004, but was catapulted to so-called “super-angels” status in 2007 by raising his $15 million SoftTech II fund. In 2011, the SoftTech team — which expanded to include Charles Hudson and Stephanie Palmeri — raised a $55 million Fund III.
Those funds have produced a number of big exits over the years, including Mint, which was acquired by Intuit in 2009; Mashery, which was acquired by Intel, WildFire, which was acquired by Google; and Gnip, which was acquired by Twitter. Other notable portfolio companies include Brightroll, Eventbrite, Fitbit, Sendgrid, Zefr, Poshmark, Coin, Postmates, Kahuna, and August.
With its new fund SoftTech VC has raised $85 million, which brings the total amount under management to $155 million and should give the firm the flexibility to do more follow-on investments in startups.
In a phone conversation, Clavier said the firm plans to write checks of between $500,000 and $1 million for between 7 percent and 10 percent of a company, and invest in 50 companies over the next three years. As a result, it expects to commit about $35 million in the new fund to initial investments, and then use the additional $50 million for follow-on rounds.
The firm has already been making investments out of the new fund, including DocSend, Panorama Education, Halo Neuroscience, Niche, Stitch, Soldsie, and Sapho.