Boston Roundup: Sigma Prime, ATV, Venrock, iRobot

A trio of venture capital news bits, and an international patent lawsuit in this roundup of Boston-area news briefs:

—Sigma Prime Ventures, the new early stage venture fund formed after the bicoastal split of Sigma Partners, has raised about $115 million of a fund that could grow to $125 million, according to an SEC filing. In November, managing director John Simon told us that Sigma Prime was already investing out of a portion of the fund that had been raised.

—Fortune’s Dan Primack, a well-sourced VC and private equity reporter, reports that two partners from Advanced Technology Ventures are spinning out to raise their own fund. And that throws the future of the long-tenured ATV into question, he says. Official comments are scarce, but tellingly, ATV representatives tell Primack and the Boston Business Journal that ATV will continue working with its current portfolio companies.

—Aaron White, a co-founder of e-textbook startup Boundless, is joining VC firm Venrock as a vice president. White left Boundless in March, the second of three co-founders to leave the Boston startup, which has battled established textbook publishers in court. Venrock is an investor in Boundless.

—iRobot has sued several companies in a German court, alleging that a product sold there infringes on five European patents issued for the technology behind iRobot’s Roomba robotic vacuum. The company says one of its units holds more than 100 patents, “many of which cover the Roomba.”

Author: Curt Woodward

Curt covered technology and innovation in the Boston area for Xconomy. He previously worked in Xconomy’s Seattle bureau and continued some coverage of Seattle-area tech companies, including Amazon and Microsoft. Curt joined Xconomy in February 2011 after nearly nine years with The Associated Press, the world's largest news organization. He worked in three states and covered a wide variety of beats for the AP, including business, law, politics, government, and general mayhem. A native Washingtonian, Curt earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. As a past president of the state's Capitol Correspondents Association, he led efforts to expand statehouse press credentialing to online news outlets for the first time.