Merus Capital raises new commitments

Merus Capital has raised some $50 million across two new funds, Merus Capital II and Merus Capital Opportunity Fund. Merus Capital’s first fund has recorded a 4.0x net multiple of investment so far.

PRESS RELEASE

Merus Capital today announced that it has closed over $50 million in new commitments across two new funds, Merus Capital II and Merus Capital Opportunity Fund. Merus Capital II follows the tremendous success of the firm’s first fund, which is marked at a 4.0x net multiple of investment. The fund’s Total Value to Paid in Capital (TVPI) of 4.0 places it at the top of 2008 vintage venture capital funds, according to Cambridge Associates’ U.S. Venture Capital Benchmark Statistics for Q3 2013. The firm plans to use the funds to continue investing in early-stage iEnterprise companies.

“We founded Merus with a team approach to venture capital investing,” said Sean Dempsey, Partner at Merus Capital. “We’ve implemented a style of working that allows us to capitalize on each other’s experience, knowledge and network. We bring broader support to our portfolio companies than any of us could do as an individual. We are firm believers that venture capital is a team sport and that this approach benefits all involved — our firm, our investors and our companies.”

Merus focuses on what it calls iEnterprise companies. These are startups building hybrid platforms — enterprise-class software coupled with a consumer grade user experience. Through this hybrid approach, these businesses can scale from the consumer all the way to the enterprise.

One of the firm’s early investments was in ad retargeter AdRoll, which recently announced a $70 million round of financing. Other investments include Authentic8, Chai Labs (acquired by Facebook), IO Turbine (acquired by Fusion i-o), Perzo, and Runa (acquired by Staples).

About Merus Capital
Founded in 2008, Merus Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California. Prior to founding Merus, the principals led the Corporate Development and Strategy teams at Google and Microsoft.