Canaan Partners raises large $650M venture fund

updated
Silicon Valley venture firm Canaan Partners has raised its latest venture capital fund, at $650 million — relatively robust when compared to most venture capital firms these days.

The firm said it is focusing on seed and early stage deals, and seeks to target digital media, in an effort to draw in the younger entrepreneur.

Last year, by comparison, big-name firm Kleiner Perkins raised a more modest $600 million fund.

One reason for the relatively large size is that the firm is investing abroad. Many other venture capital firms create separate funds for regional investing. But Canaan is investing from a single pool of money. The firm said it will commit a quarter of its funds to international investments.

It has targeted India and Israel (see our coverage of Canaan’s first moves here), backing companies such as Consim, formerly known as BharatMatrimony, which it says is the world’s largest consumer site for matrimonial services, based in India; and LiveU, an Israeli provider of mobile video broadcasting technology.

[Update: Consim, in fact, has just raised $11.75 in a second round of funding led by Mayfield Fund, joined by Yahoo and Canaan Partners (it had raised $8.65 from Yahoo and Canaan in 2006). Consim has 15 million registered users, and also runs other sites that include Clickjobs.com, IndiaProperty.com and IndiaAutomobile.com, according to a piece about the funding in VentureWire this morning.]

The fund will focus on both technology and healthcare companies. The firm also promoted Dr. Stephen Bloch to general partner.

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