645 Ventures Closes on $160 Million Fund for Tech Investments

(Bloomberg) -- 645 Ventures, a Black-owned venture capital firm backed by Princeton University’s endowment, completed fundraising for its third and largest fund.

It closed at $160 million, four times more than a previous fund, co-founders Nnamdi Okike, 40, and Aaron Holiday said Wednesday in an interview. The firm began raising money for the third fund at the beginning of the year and it was oversubscribed, they said.

“Several investors tripled or quadrupled their commitment to the fund based on performance,” said Holiday, 38. More than 60% of 645’s portfolio companies have subsequently raised additional money from top venture capital firms, they said.

New York-based 645 has invested in startups in sectors including software infrastructure and security, cloud-based software and consumer technology.

The firm is attracting capital as institutional investors including college endowments seek diversity in their ranks of asset managers. David Swensen, Yale University’s chief investment officer, has asked firms who manage its money to take a more systematic approach to the problem of the lack of women and minorities in the industry.

Firms owned by women or minorities oversaw 1.3% of the money-management industry’s $69.1 trillion in assets as of 2016, according to a Knight Foundation and Bella Research Group report.

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