Silicon Valley-based VC Rocketship raises $100 mn for its second fund

Venture capital firm Rocketship.vc has raised $100 million for its second fund. Founded by data scientists and entrepreneurs from companies like Amazon and Walmartlabs, the fund has so far invested in 44 start-ups including NoBroker, Moglix and Yulu.
 

The launch of Fund II will enable the VC to continue investing globally across sectors and company stages and increase the firm’s number of follow-on investments, said the Silicon Valley-based VC.
 

Rocketship uses machine learning and data science to identify and invest in startups around the world. The firm’s algorithm tracks companies globally using a series of metrics to indicate the probability that a startup will be successful.
 

“Recently, our algorithms identified companies in fintech, education as well as Cloud-based B2B,” said Sailesh Ramakrishnan, partner at Rocketship. Hence, the company is looking at investing in these segments from Fund II. It is planning to invest between $1 million and  $5 million with a median check size of $3 million in 10-12 investments in the next one year from the new fund.
 

“Our deep data expertise allows us to take a different approach, leveraging data science, technology and analytics to find the best companies anywhere, at any stage, in any market. We’re excited to be at the forefront of this shift and use our experience to help founders successfully build their companies, regardless of location,” said Ramakrishnan.
 

The firm closed its first fund in late 2015 at $40 million. It is backed by investors such as Vulcan Capital and Adams Street Partners, as well as the family office of Marc Andreesen and Chris Dixon from A16z.