Baird Venture Partners closes fund after raising $170M for capital deployment

Chicago, Ill. - Baird Venture Partners, a venture capital arm of Baird Private Equity, has announced close of its third venture fund, which raised a total of over $170 million in capital.

BVP III exceeded the company's target of $150 million, and was raised with support from institutions, foundations, and family offices.

Contributing to the fund were institutional (and returning) investors like the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, Lurie Investments, the A. O. Smith Retirement Plan, Northwestern Mutual, and Marshall & Ilsley Corp., and new investors like American Family Insurance, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Sentry Insurance, and the Illinois State Treasurer's Technology Development Account.

While much of the money was raised from Wisconsin institutions, Baird Venture Partners has a global investment strategy; it invests in companies beyond Wisconsin and the Midwest.

The fund already has made two investments - Latin Vest Investment Co. in Atlanta and Inside Track, Inc. of San Francisco. LatinVest, a transaction processing company, provides funds transfer services that allow consumers to wire money to friends and family worldwide. CEO Mario Trujillo has been a member of BVP's advisory board since 2005.

Before investing in Inside track, a provider of student coaching services to colleges and universities, BVP followed the company's management team as part of a proactive sourcing effort in the education services sector.

Pete Shagory, a partner in BVP, said the company's experience in the medical devices and research tools/diagnostics spaces has enabled it to become a more significant investor the “sub-sector industries that LatinVest and Inside Track operate in.

When the company makes a commitment, it typically invests up to $10 million in equity over the life of an investment.

Its recent exits include Madison research tool-maker NimbleGen, which was sold to pharmaceutical and diagnostic giant Roche for $272.5 million, and TomoTherapy, the Madison-based developer of the Hi-Art radiation treatment systems. TomoTherapy's May 2007 initial public offering, which netted $180 million, was one of the largest U.S. venture-backed medical device IPOs in history.