BV Investment Partners eyes final close this summer for Fund VIII

A lengthy fundraising may be coming to an end.

BV Investment Partners, which was founded in 1983 as Boston Ventures and re-branded in 2010, has collected $262 million for its eighth fund. Fund VIII has been in the market since 2012 targeting $400 million.

BVIP Fund VIII could be at its hard cap sometime this summer, according to a person with knowledge of the fundraising. The hard cap on Fund VIII is unclear, and the firm did not respond to requests for comment. Evercore Partners has been working as placement agent on the fundraising.

This week, the Arkansas Teachers’ Retirement System committed $30 million to the fund.

Fund VIII has made two investments—completing the recapitalization of the Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing Co, a marketing services and data providing business. That investment was made in July.

The firm also invested in INetU, which provides hosting and cloud services for businesses, in January 2013, according to BV Investment Partners’ website.

BV Investment Partners has had some turnover. Catherine Bird , the firm’s former chief financial officer, left last summer and joined Coppermine Capital as CFO. Also, principal Marco Ferrari left last year to join Providence Equity Partners.

BV Investment Partners focuses on lower middle market information and business services, communications and media investments. Vikrant Raina is the managing partner of BV Investment Partners.

The firm’s prior fund was closed under its old name, Boston Ventures Fund VII, which closed between $400 million and $500 million in 2008. Performance information for Fund VII could not be located by deadline.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.