Tampa Bay Business Journal: Stonehenge gets $4M investment from Florida Opportunity Fund

The Tampa Bay Business Journal published this article on March 12, 2010.

The Florida Opportunity Fund said it would commit to invest up to $4 million with Stonehenge Growth Equity Fund I LLP, a venture firm with an extensive Florida portfolio and operations based in Tampa.

The Florida Opportunity Fund is a state-funded program sponsored by Enterprise Florida and managed by Florida First Partners to help boost venture capital funding. The latest commitment now brings the Florida Opportunity Fund commitments to $23 million with local, regional and national funds.

The agreement with Stonehenge is the sixth investment for the $29.5 million Florida Opportunity Fund, which focuses on venture firms seeking to finance seed or early-stage companies in the state’s strategic growth sectors such as biotech, renewable energy, homeland security and information technology, according to a release.

Stonehenge has a team in Tampa that has focused on early-stage ventures in the state over the past decade, investing in more than 17 Florida companies. They include Pilgrim Software, which has operations in Tampa and is a global provider of software for the life science, automotive, aerospace and defense industries.

Stonehenge has combined with out-of-state firms for more than $200 million of investments in its Florida portfolio companies.

During the part year, the fund’s announced commitments included early-stage Florida investor Element Partners, Inflexion Partners of Orlando and Tampa, New Enterprise Associates, Harbert Venture Partners and 5AM Ventures III.