500 Startups Closes Its Newest Fund with $85 Million

500 Startups, the five-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based venture firm, has closed its third global fund with $85 million. The nearly 500 investors in the vehicle include Tokyo-based Dentsu, Yahoo Japan and Malaysia Venture Capital Management Berhad, a venture firm backed by the Malaysian government.

Venture Capital Dispatch published a report about the fund earlier today.

500 Startups is already in the process of raising its fourth global fund, as well as a growth fund it would use to invest more resources into some of its breakout investments, sources told us earlier this summer.

The outfit had closed its second global fund with $44.1 million in July 2013. It was a meaningful jump up from its $29.4 million debut fund but fell short of its $50 million target.

According to 500 Startups, it had originally targeted $100 million for its newest fund.

500 Startups has now invested in more than 1,200 companies, often taking a stake of no more than 1 or 2 percent. Among its many portfolio companies are the privately held businesses Twilio and Credit Karma, which were most recently valued by their investors at $1.1 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively.

500 Startups was co-founded by Dave McClure, an outspoken former marketing director and conference organizer for outfits including PayPal, Simply Hired, and O’Reilly Media; and Christine Tsai, a former product marketing manager at Google.