The Canvas Venture Fund Closes at $175M, Exceeds Target of $150M

MENLO PARK, Calif., Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Morgenthaler Technology Investment Company, a newly formed management company, today announced that it has closed a new fund called the "Canvas Venture Fund" (www.canvasvcfund.com) at $175M, which is above their private placement memorandum target of $150M.

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Managing Directors Gary Little, Rebecca Lynn, and Gary Morgenthaler will continue their focus on early-stage companies (primarily Series A & B) in the software and services area. The Canvas Venture Fund, which was formed at the end of August 2013, is the first in a series of early-stage tech funds expected to be raised by Morgenthaler Technology Investment Company (Morgenthaler Technology).

The Canvas Venture Fund's investment criteria include:

• Sector: Software & services
• Stage: Series A & B
• Investment size: $5-15M per company
• Geography: US, with a concentration on Silicon Valley
• Vertical focus: Fintech, big data, health IT, enterprise

Gary, Rebecca, and Gary have worked together and continue to be Partners at Morgenthaler Ventures, which raised its most recent fund, Fund 9, in 2008. Fund 9 is a $400M early-stage venture capital fund that invests in both information technology and life sciences companies. They created a separate and independent management company, Morgenthaler Technology, to launch funds focused exclusively on information technology investments. The managing directors have branded their first fund, the Canvas Venture Fund.  

Over the course of their venture capital careers, the three managing directors have invested in companies such as Evernote, Lending Club, Siri, MuleSoft, NexTag, Nuance Communications, Illustra Technologies, NuoDB, Doximity, Check, Socrata and more.

Key investment themes for the Canvas Venture Fund in the coming years include:

• Enterprise, cloud & big data
• Fintech
• Health IT
• Mobile

Team

Managing Director Gary Little was named twice to the Forbes Midas List in 2008 and 2009, and focuses on software and technology-enabled services. Managing Director Rebecca Lynn was named a "Top Women VC" and "Midas List Hot Prospects" by Forbes in 2013 and focuses on mobile, financial services, healthcare IT, SaaS, and consumer investments. Managing Director Gary Morgenthaler has co-founded two notable database companies, Ingres Corporation and Illustra Information Technology, and focuses on big data and enterprise software. Other members of the team include Ching Wu, Partner, marketing & investor relations; Scott Walters, Partner, COO & CFO; Alex Nigg, Venture Partner; and Missy Krasner, Executive in Residence.

Promotions

Ching Wu was promoted to Partner, marketing & IR, in the Canvas Venture Fund. She was previously a vice president in the same function at Morgenthaler Ventures for twelve years. The promotion is in recognition of her ability to help portfolio companies generate brand awareness, form business partnerships and recruit. Ching will continue to assist portfolio companies with press, events, and agency selection. She also spearheads networking forums including an annual CEO Dinner and mixers to network functional managers across portfolio companies. Ching has held a number of director-level roles at high-tech startups including Marimba and Illustra. In addition, Ching is in charge of investor relations and was responsible for raising the Canvas Venture Fund, which took a period of six months.

Alex Nigg was promoted to Venture Partner in the Canvas Venture Fund. Alex joined Morgenthaler Ventures as an Executive in Residence in 2012. He currently focuses on Fintech and software & services for SMBs (small and medium businesses); in the past, his investments have spanned consumer Internet to enterprise software. He has worked at Bain & Company, Telecom Italia's corporate venture fund, and led North American investments for Europatweb, a global venture fund. While at Europatweb, the teams which Alex managed generated three exits with market caps in excess of $1 billion. These include a Series-A investment in Betfair, one of the most successful European venture-backed companies to date. Alex is also a co-founder of Walkwire, a provider of business centers to the hospitality industry, which he managed through a decade of profitability and successfully sold in 2012.

About the Canvas Venture Fund & Morgenthaler Technology
The Canvas Venture Fund is the inaugural fund from Morgenthaler Technology Investment Company. It is focused 100% on early-stage, software & services investments. The fund was formed by the managing directors who led or serve on the boards of Evernote, Lending Club, Siri, MuleSoft, NexTag, Practice Fusion, Nuance Communications, Illustra Technologies, NuoDB, Doximity, Ingres, Check, Socrata and more. The firm is based in Menlo Park, CA. For more information, visit www.canvasvcfund.com.

SOURCE Canvas Venture Fund