Icon Ventures Raises $265 Million Fund
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Most venture capital firms like to invest early or late in a startup. Icon Ventures, however, goes for the “Valley of Death,’’ that middle stage of a company’s existence where some serious money could be at stake but the path to success is unclear.
Palo Alto, California-based Icon, formerly Jafco Ventures, likes the strategy because it offers the chance for outsize returns, but with less competition from other investors compared with the very earliest stages. Icon just raised $265 million for its sixth fund. A previous backer of cyber-security company FireEye Inc. and network security firm Palo Alto Networks Inc., Icon looks across all sectors; some of its largest current investments are in social gaming companies.