Four partners from the Bellevue venture capital powerhouse Ignition Partners have set up offices in downtown Seattle, operating under the name of Ignition Capital. The partners -- Jon Anderson, Robert Headley, John Zagula and Rich Tong -- will continue to focus on later-stage investments while the remaining team at Ignition Partners invests in early-stage deals.
Ignition Partners' Brad Silverberg said that Ignition Capital is not new, with the growth fund established in 2007 with $275 million as part of the firm's larger fundraising efforts. The office was established several months ago, in part to reduce the commute times for some of the partners, said Silverberg.
The partners continue to work a few days each week from Bellevue, where they participate in investor meetings and other functions.
"I don't think we see any less of them than we did before," said Silverberg, who downplayed the significance of the news reported today by Xconomy. Citing an unnamed source, Xconomy reported that the new office is part of a larger reorganization at the firm.
Silverberg said the four partners in the downtown Seattle office -- all of whom are still listed on Ignition Partners' Web site -- continue to work together on investments with other partners in the firm. "It is all complementary stuff," said Silverberg. "I don't think of it as a split."
There is one overall management company, with each fund administering investments, he said.
Ignition Capital's office and Web site does create more definition between the firm's various entities, which include the traditional early-stage venture capital funds, the growth fund for later-stage deals and a Chinese fund known as Qiming Venture Partners.
"It is one firm -- three funds," said Silverberg. He said there's a 90 percent overlap in limited partners between Ignition Capital and Ignition Partners.
Ignition Capital's portfolio includes later-stage companies such as Mercer Island-based Liberty Dialysis and Miramar, Florida-based SeaMobile, as well as Chinese companies like eHi Car Rental and Oriental Cambridge.
Tong, Zagula and Headley all have spent time in China as part of Ignition's efforts there. Zagula and Tong could not comment immediately when reached today on their cell phones, with Zagula involved in a meeting and Tong boarding a plane.
A source familiar with Ignition said that Tong and Zagula have not been involved with early-stage companies for some time. In addition to the partners, the team at Ignition Capital includes Shawn Bohnert, Rennie Coit and Ty Graham. According to the Web site, Bohnert is involved in the creation of a new Australian energy investment business called Ignition Energy. Coit is involved in health care sector, while Graham focuses on telecommunications.
Having a separate fund to manage different types of portfolio companies is not unusual. Large Silicon Valley firms such as Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins and Draper Fisher Jurvetson operate various funds for different geographic regions and styles of investment.
Ignition, which has encountered a rough patch in the past six months after dealing with the Entellium fraud case and layoffs at portfolio companies such as Jobster, manages $2.5 billion.
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