Balderton Capital Raises $430 Million for New Fund

LONDON, January 12: The European venture-capital firm Balderton Capital, whose investments include Setanta Sports, has raised $430 million for its new technology and media fund.

This is the company’s fourth fund, after having raised $550 million in December 2006, $375 million in July 2004 and $500 million in May 2000. The London-based firm manages about $1.8 billion in committed venture capital. Since 2000, it has invested in 70-plus companies, among them bebo (the social-networking site sold to AOL) and Setanta Sports.

Barry Maloney, the general partner at Balderton, commented: "This is a great start for the year for Balderton in what is clearly a difficult economic environment. Our first fund was completed at the height of the dot-com bust and we went on to invest in some of the strongest companies in our portfolio today. Each economic cycle provides opportunities for the best entrepreneurs and we are excited to be able to invest in tomorrow’s success stories in this our fourth fund."

—By Mansha Daswani