Greycroft Raises New Fund Amid Tough Industry Conditions
The National Venture Capital Association earlier this week declared that the first quarter of this year was the slowest for venture-capital firms trying to raise money since 1993. Despite such conditions, venture-capital firm Greycroft Partners has just closed a new fund.
The firm, founded by private-equity investor Alan Patricof in 2006 to invest in digital media startups, has raised a new $130.7 million fund following a $75 million fund in 2006. Rounding up the cash for the new fund wasn’t an easy process, however.
Ian Sigalow, a partner at Greycroft, says the firm started raising money more than a year ago in March 2009. In total, the firm had 160 first meetings with potential investors and dealt with many months where no investors committed, he says. “The first quarter of 2009 was miserable,” Mr. Sigalow says, recalling the deep-freeze that followed the stock market meltdown in late 2008. “It was cold. (Some investors) were saying why would we invest in a new fund?”
