Merus Capital has raised over $50 million in new commitments for two new funds, Merus Capital II and Merus Capital Opportunity Fund.
The VC firm says its first fund was marked as 4.0x net multiple of investment. One of the firm’s early investments was in ad retargeter AdRoll, which recently announced a $70 million round of financing. Other investments include Authentic8, Chai Labs (acquired by Facebook), IO Turbine (acquired by Fusion i-o), Perzo, and Runa (acquired by Staples).
Merus focuses on what it calls iEnterprise companies. These are startups building hybrid platforms of enterprise-class software coupled with a consumer-grade user experience, possibly scaling from the consumer through to the enterprise.
Sean Dempsey, one of the co-founders of Merus, was previously a Principal of Corporate Development at Google, responsible for acquisitions and investments including Android, YouTube, and Postini. Prior to Google, he spent over six years at Microsoft in the Corporate Development team. At Microsoft, he led over 40 acquisitions and investments. The firm’s other founders include Peter Hsing, the former Managing Director of the Corporate Strategy Group at Microsoft, and Salman Ullah, a former corporate development exec at Microsoft and Google.
You can check out Dempsey’s interview with TCTV here, where he talks about how he applies his skills in working in corporate development in the VC world.