Atlas Venture To Break Into Two Firms

Tech and life sciences venture capital firm Atlas Venture of Cambridge, Mass., is set to split next year as its two investment teams look to further refine their resources.

Jeff Fagnan, a partner in the technology group, told CRN the firm is not commenting beyond a blog post by life sciences partner Bruce Booth and a Forbes article, both published Thursday, but said it will be "business as usual."

The technology team -- which will no longer operate under the Atlas Venture brand when the split is completed next year -- will not change its investment strategy either, Fagnan confirmed.

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Past tech investments by the firm include cloud-based app maker DataRobot, Cambridge, Mass., and big data company Hadapt, also of Cambridge, which was sold to Teradata in July on undisclosed terms.

Forbes reported the decision was not prompted by investment returns and pointed out the firm's changes since its 1980 founding, including the most recent shift to investing in the Boston market along with some moves in the Silicon Valley, among other areas.

Fagnan, however, told CRN the company does not have a regional focus.

Confirmation of the move appears a formality as Atlas had apparently been operating on what Booth called in his blog post a "two franchise, one firm" model that had been called into question by some partners after Atlas Venture closed last year on its ninth fund totaling $265 million.

"It became clear to us that evolving towards two independent, sector-focused funds was the best configuration going forward for lots of reasons: focused pools of capital with greater critical mass and scale in each franchise; clearer and more nimble governance allowing sector-specific agility and adaptation; and greater clarity around our message and mission with regard to both internal and external constituencies," Booth wrote in his blog.

PUBLISHED OCT. 2, 2014