Venture capital firm Venrock, which has offices in Silicon Valley, Cambridge, MA, New York, and Israel, announced today it has closed a new $350 million fund that will be focused on early-stage technology, healthcare, and energy companies. This is the firm’s sixth venture fund, and it follows a $600 million fund raised in 2007. Venrock started in 1969 and was originally established as the venture-capital arm of the Rockefeller family. It has $2.2 billion under management and is known for its early investments in companies such as Intel, Apple, 3Com, Genetics Institute, Idec Pharmaceuticals, and Gilead Sciences. Its current investments include Boston-Power, Sapphire Energy, and Adify. Venrock has had a number of exits this year, including IPOs for Alimera Sciences, AVEO Pharmaceuticals, and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, and the acquisition of PGP by Symantec.
Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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