The newest member of the Tech Confidential Network, The Creative Connnector, has a
good interview with Jason Mendelson, a managing director at a newly launch venture capital firm in Boulder called Foundry Group. The firm was born out of Mobius Venture Capital and raised a $225 million fund a few months ago from
investors such as Morgan Stanley, Parish Capital Advisors, and University of Texas Investment Management Co.
The founders' track record at Mobius was mixed but they had some big hits highlighted by Postini and Sling Media. I consider Foundry to be one of the most promising new firms to be established in recent years based in part on investments into companies such as Medium and Lijit.
Here is what
Mendelson told Creative Connector author David Isserman about the Foundry Group's investment approach:
Instead of looking at the world in sectors, like semiconductors,
medical devices, storage, B2C and SaaS, the group of us has always
looked at themes. We call ourselves "thematic investors." Historical
themes include things like email or RSS. New themes could be implicit
web or human computer interaction. We like to engulf ourselves into a
particular theme and learn everything about it, regardless of where it
might fit into a traditional sector analysis. If it works in the RSS
or implicit web theme, we'll invest in any sector underneath that theme.
I'm waiting for the firm to add a portfolio tab on their
web site so I can suss out what their current investment theme is.
- Joshua Jaffe
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