More money for more startup seed-stage investments: SV Angel, one of the more prominent early-stage investment firms in the Bay Area, has closed its latest (sixth) fund at $53 million, according to an SEC filing (via Dan Primack). The firm had originally targeted $46 million for the fund, according to a previous filing in March of this year. Prior to that, the firm had said it would raise even less, only $40 million.
Father and son Ron and Topher Conway (Topher pictured above), managing partners of the firm, have talked about how the firm wants to focus more on smaller, early-stage investments, perhaps in contrast to more recent events. Its previous fund was $75 million, allowing for larger investments, like this one.
But raising $53 million, more than SV Angel originally targeted this time around, seems to indicate that there is a bigger-than-expected appetite from investors to back SV Angel’s team in going after those early-stage opportunities.
It could also be related to the fact that the average size of seed-stage rounds is on the rise, implying that more money is needed to make the same amount of investments as before.
One thing for certain is that SV Angel is not talking too many specifics, except to say this: “We’re not commenting on fundraising,” said Topher Conway in an emailed response to my questions. Later, he followed up to confirm that the fund is closed at $53.125 million, and that “We’ll continue to focus on early stage opportunities, keeping in line with our previous funds.”
SV Angel, started in 2009, is one of the more prolific early-stage investment firms in tech, with no less than 695 investments listed in CrunchBase. The portfolio list reads like a who’s-who of the startup world, and some of the more notable of them include Airbnb, Pinterest and Dropbox. It’s also seen 11 IPOs and some 200 acquisitions from its portfolio.
The firm is currently managed by Topher Conway, who is the only name listed in this latest SEC filing. General partners are Brian Pokorny, Kevin Carter, and Robert Pollack. Earlier this year, David Lee, who helped found SV Angel with Ron Conway, started his own investment firm out of LA. Refactor Capital, as it is called, is targeting a fund of $50 million.
Updated with comment from SV Angel.