VC Firm Raises $240M To Push Tech Investments

In a sign that all might not be lost in the venture capital world — and in California as a nexus for investment — March Capital Partners said that it has closed its first VC fund with a $240 million tally.

VentureBeat reported on Tuesday (May 24) that the firm, which is based in Santa Monica, will be global in scope when it comes to sourcing its investments and, thus far, has put $100 million to work in 15 companies. The focus, according to interviews conducted with the fund’s four partners, will be Internet-based consumer engagement initiatives, with virtual and augmented reality among technologies gathering interest, as well as Big Data and analytics.

One cofounder of the fund, Sumant Mandal, stated: “We think the next decade will see a lot of innovation, and Southern California will be the epicenter of it. This is a natural progression for us, and we know the area really well. As millennials enter the workforce, every enterprise application is being rewritten. Internet infrastructure powers all of this, with cloud, virtualization or storage technologies.”

Virtual reality, said the investor, along with a few other markets, should hit growth points within the next year to year-and-a-half, especially as hardware prices slide and new market entrants enter the fray.

At present, the firm has a portfolio built across 10 Series A investments and another four Series C investments, with a third of the total holdings in Los Angeles-based companies and future plans to invest $8 million to $10 million in each holding.

Mandal’s fellow investors include, alphabetically, Jim Armstrong, Gregory Milken and Jamie Montgomery. They have experience in other tech platform investments, including PayPal and Internet Brands, among others. March Capital’s holdings include AppCito, BillDesk, CarTrade, Pensa Networks and others.