76 venture capital funds from the US raised the combined amount.
A total of $7.4bn has been raised by 76 venture capital funds in the US during the second quarter of 2014. Nearly half of that amount, 48%, was raised by five funds alone.
Among the top five funds are Bain Capital, which raised $650m, and GGV Capital, bringing in $622m. Oak Investment Partners secured $400m, while Iconiq Strategic Partners attracted $393m.
The clear winner however is Tiger Global Management, who towers over the other four at $1.5bn, more than Bain Capital and GGV Capital combined. This is the firm’s eighth fund, bringing its total to $7.5bn since 2001. The firm has had stakes in major companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and Apple, although it sold all its shares in the latter two in 2013. It has also invested in companies such as Comcast, Intel, Dell, Sun and Microsoft in the past.
Tiger Global Management was set up in 2001 by Chase Coleman, one of the so-called Tiger Cubs. These people are hedge fund owners who once either worked with or received funding from Julian Robertson. Robertson ran Tiger Management from 1980 until he shut it down in 2000, retiring from the industry. During those two decades, he became known as “the wizard of Wall Street”.
Robertson still serves as an advisor the Tiger Cubs and has set up the Robertson Foundation, through which he donated $10.2m to Duke University in 2010. The gift allowed the university to create its Translational Cell Therapy Centre. The foundation has also actively supported oncology research at Rockefeller University.
