Fifty-six U.S. venture capital funds raised a total of $8.1 billion in the first quarter, down 2.3% from the previous quarter and down 22.1% from the year-earlier quarter.
Bessemer Venture Partners IX was the largest U.S. VC fund closed during the quarter, raising $1.6 billion. A February statement on BVP’s website said it will continue to focus on sectors like consumer Internet, enterprise technology, mobile, cyber security, cloud computing and SaaS, developer platforms and developer infrastructure, health-care IT and space.
Insight Venture Partners IX was the second-largest fund raised in the quarter at $1.51 billion. The fund counts Washington State Investment Board, Texas Teacher Retirement System, Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System and Louisiana Teachers’ Retirement System as its investors.
The median U.S. fund size in the first quarter was $121 million.
