Ascent Venture Partners

Ascent is a venture capital firm that invests in early stage, emerging B2B technology companies, backing over 110 companies from 1985 to 2019. They have a firm-wide commitment to backing companies that have ideas about how technology can transform business and create market-leading companies along the way. Their partners, funds and extensive network are dedicated to supporting companies in the enterprise IT arena.

Ascent Venture's roots go back to the 1990s, when its founders worked for Pioneer Group, a mutual fund and investment management company. Fund III targeted $125 million in 1999, its first independent pool after spinning out from Pioneer Group, Venture Capital Journal reported. That spinout was backed by secondary shop Landmark Partners, which acquired Pioneer's interests in the venture funds Ascent managed.

Ascent invests in early stage companies in the east coast with initial investment ranging from $2 million to $5 million. Ascent Venture Partners has made 84 investments. Their most recent investment was on Jul 30, 2019, when Connected2Fiber raised $5.3M. Ascent Venture Partners has had 23 exits. Ascent Venture Partners's most notable exits include Synchronoss Technologies, Fidelis Cybersecurity, and CloudLock. Ascent Venture Partners has raised a total of $407.8M across 4 funds, their latest being Ascent Venture Partners VI. This fund was announced on Aug 15, 2016 and raised a total of $71.1M.

As of 2019 three GPs from Ascent Venture Partners had begun raising their debut fund, targeting $125 million for early-stage growth investments in a new shop called Pulse Ventures, a person with knowledge of the firm told Buyouts. Oblak, Fates and Burns still have a relationship with Ascent VP and will continue to manage out the portfolio, the person said. Whether Ascent will raise another fund is unclear.