Seed-stage VC Root Ventures Targets $250M for Fourth Fund

Root Ventures is looking to raise $250M for its fourth flagship fund as it aims to grow the capital it uses to support early-stage hard technology companies.

The San Francisco-based seed-stage venture capital firm is yet to start the sale of Root Ventures IV but indicated in a January 10 filing with the SEC that the subscription period for the investment vehicle is not planned to surpass a year.

At the target amount, the fund would surpass the $150M goal set for its predecessor, Root Ventures III. Lee Edwards, a general partner at Root Ventures, said in a LinkedIn post announcing the the third fund that it would go to support seed and pre-seed rounds for technical founders, and the firm says it focuses on “deep tech” seed investments of typically $2M to $3M. Since its establishment, Root has built a portfolio that includes Esper, Superconductive, Privacy Dynamics, nTopology, Stellar Pizza, Dusty Robotics and ApolloShield.