Arthur Ventures raises $155 million to invest in software startups

Two new funds are the biggest yet for the venture-capital company.

December 19, 2019 at 11:54PM
Arthur Ventures homepage.
Arthur Ventures homepage. (Evan Ramstad/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Arthur Ventures Management LLC, a venture-capital firm in Minneapolis and Fargo that has backed numerous local tech startups, said Thursday it raised $155 million for two new funds.

In a statement posted on the firm's website, the firm's partners said they will use the money "to continue investing in the fastest-growing B2B software companies located outside Silicon Valley."

The firm raised $125 million for what it calls a "core fund" that will be used to invest in new firms. It raised another $30 million to put additional investments into firms in which it already owns a stake.

The new round of fundraising, the third in Arthur's history, relies on a different group of investors from those in previous rounds.

"Our prior funds were largely made up of individual investors. These funds are 75% institutional investors," Patrick Meenan, a partner in the firm, said via e-mail.

Arthur Ventures raised $45 million for its first fund in 2013. It raised $72.5 million for two funds in 2017.

With the latest funds, the firm's assets under management rose to $270 million from $116 million, Meenan said.

Meenan and the firm's other partners, James Burgum and Ryan Kruizenga, spent about five months to raise money for the new funds.

"The number will get a lot of attention, but we raised the exact amount we set out to at the beginning of the process," Meenan said. "It's just the natural progression of our firm."

The company's previous investments include the Minneapolis tech firms Nomics, Zipnosis, Total Expert, Drip (formally called Leadpages) and When I Work.

Evan Ramstad • 612-673-4241

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Evan Ramstad

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Evan Ramstad is a Star Tribune business columnist.

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