University Ventures hits halfway mark for second fund

University Ventures (UV), a venture capital firm backed by Germany-based media corporation Bertelsmann and the University of Texas Investment Management Company (Utimco), has passed the halfway mark for its second fund, according to a regulatory filing seen by news provider AltAssets.

University Ventures Fund II has received commitments of $188m from six investors, called limited partners, towards its $350m target, the filing showed.

The firm’ $100m first fund received a $50m anchor investment from Bertelsmann, at the start of 2012, while, in its latest financial reporting to end-August 2013, Utimco said it held University Ventures Fund I at $11.5m of fair value, with a co-investment vehicle at $2.2m.

The first fund focused on partnering with universities to develop innovative higher education programs across the US and Europe, particularly those which address pressing social and economic needs. It planned to make between six and 10 investments over three years.

Deals so far have included: Synergis Education, which partners with non-profit traditional colleges and universities to help expand their student bases and raised $33m in September’s series A round from a syndicate including Bertelsmann and Utimco;

online course provider UniversityNow, a network of universities, including Patten University and New Charter University, that has raised more than $40, including $19m in last year’s C round led by Bertelsmann;

Ameritas Educational Services, which provides programmes for the Hispanic community to higher education institutions, including Ameritas Pathways, a 30-credit dual-language English immersion pathway to associates and bachelors degree programs, and launched in May 2012 as part of Brandman University, a private, non-profit institution with 26 campuses in California and Washington;

Educational Excellence Corporation (Edex), a higher-education company in the European Union that runs the first British accredited medical school outside the UK in a partnership with another UV portfolio company, St. George’s University of London;

New Engineering University, which is affiliated with the University of New Haven to offer a one-year master’s of engineering in big data;

Arist Medical Education Corporation, a global health sciences university that incorporates art, science and technology of medical and health professions education; and

UV Labs, an incubator led by Satish Menon, former chief technology officer of Apollo Group, which owns for-profit education provider University of Phoenix, and which has incubated TrueNorth.