A former corporate venturer and pension fund investor-turned venture capitalist lays bare the questions to ask before committing to an independent's fund.

Mitsui Ventures - the investment wing of the centuries-old Tokyo conglomerate - led a $14m extended Series C round of funding for GMZ with the new backer providing a further $4.5m.

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus will invest up to $355m in First Green Partners, a newly-formed early-stage venture capital (VC) company.

RTI, Sistema's subsidiary specializing in innovative and high-tech sectors, has committed the money to the fund, which will back participating companies at Skolkovo during 2012 to 2015.

UK-based medical foundation Wellcome Trust, and US peer Michael J Fox Foundation, along with Dutch state-backed Agentschap, provided the money to help Sapiens develop its technology for treating Parkinson's disease and other brain disorders.

Maneesh Goyal is general partner of the fund after leaving venture capital firm Miramar Venture Partners, where he led investments in healthcare IT for five years.

The fund is looking to back 15 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and is managed by a team based in Beirut, Lebanon, supported by the broader Red platform.

AMD is investing in InContext through its Fusion Fund set up to find the next generation of graphics and computing companies.