Bain Ventures, the Boston-based venture capital arm of private equity firm of Bain Capital, has recently opened a Palo Alto office, the firm’s first presence on the West Coast.
The new office is being led by Bain partner (and former Trilogy alum) Ajay Agarwal. “We needed to be part of the ecosystem out here, and we want to build a business out here for the long term,” he explains. Agarwal says that the Palo Alto office will focus on sourcing Series A opportunities and growth capital for startups, in the range of $3 to $5 million. The fund will be investing out of Bain’s $525 million fund.
The firm will invest in mobile, commerce, social, software and infrastructure. Past investments include Color, Skyhook, and Inrix.
Agarwal says that because of Bain’s connection with the private equity world, the firm has a lot of relationships with financial institutions and is looking to help startups leverage these connections and broker these relationships. “While many venture firms have a great network up and down the 101 and 280 highways, we have relationships with large companies outside of Silicon Valley.
For now, the Palo Alto office has 6 employees but will be building out the team to a staff of 10 to 12 professionals.