Blumberg Capital is announcing the close of its fourth fund. The team will be managing $200 million, an increase from the $150 million in the prior fund.
Blumberg plans to use the money to invest in early-stage startups, particularly in the enterprise, security and fintech categories. Known as the first investor in Nutanix, the Blumberg crew also remains enthusiastic about IT companies.
They are willing to look at opportunities that are just in the idea stage and will write checks “even in companies with no product,” explained David Blumberg, founder and managing partner. He likes focusing on seed- and early-stage startups because of the potential for bigger returns.
They plan to use some of the fund to make follow-on investments, to double down on some of their best portfolio companies. Blumberg says the decision to stay involved came after they looked back at some of their best outcomes and realized they “could have invested a lot more in those companies even though the valuation ended up going up very substantially.” It will also help them take advantage of “pro rata” rights, where they can maintain their ownership percentage in startups.
Although based in San Francisco, Blumberg has a history of looking all over the world for investment opportunities, including Israel, the U.K., Canada and Germany.
Their venture partners “take the time to travel,” said Blumberg. He emphasized the importance of being global in the search for the best startups.
Blumberg claims that what sets them apart from some of the other early-stage firms is that they are very hands-on with their portfolio companies. They usually take board seats and try to help with everything from decision making to recruiting.
He’s particularly interested in “helping the little guy do better,” and that guides some of his investments in the personal finance category. One of the startups he’s enthusiastic about is Lendio, which makes it easier for small businesses to get loans.
Blumberg often invests in syndicates. They’ve co-invested with well-known venture teams like Khosla Ventures, Intel Capital, Bessemer Ventures and First Round Capital.
In addition to Nutanix, notable previous exits include Checkpoint Software, Creo and DSP Group. They also invested early in Hootsuite and were able to sell some shares through secondaries.