Venture fund punts $US100m on iPhone & iPod apps

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 11 March 2008 03:39

IT Industry - Market

Venture capital fund, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) has launched iFund: $US100M of funding for "market-changing ideas and products that extend the revolutionary new iPhone and iPod touch platform," with Apple providing market insight and support. KPCB says the fund will "back innovators pursuing transformative, high-impact ideas with an eye towards building independent durable companies atop the iPhone / iPod touch platform" and will be "agnostic to size and stage of investment"

KPCB says individual investments could be from as little as $US100,00 to as much as $US15m and "if we need more than $US100m, we'll find more money." The fund is prepared to fund investments from around the world.

It will invest in companies building applications, services and components. Key areas of focus will be location based services, social networking, mCommerce (including advertising and payments), communication and entertainment.

According to KPCB partner, John Doerr, "A revolutionary new platform is a rare and prized opportunity for entrepreneurs, and that's exactly what Apple has created with iPhone and iPod touch. We think several significant new companies will emerge as this new platform evolves, and the iFund will empower them to realise their full potential."

iFund will be managed by KPCB Partner Matt Murphy in collaboration with partners Chi-Hua Chien, John Doerr, Bill Joy, Randy Komisar, Ellen Pao and Ted Schlein. Details at http://www.kpcb.com/initiatives/ifund/index.html