FORTUNE — Ed Anderson and Rich D’Amore will not be listed as general partners on the next fund raised by North Bridge Venture Partners, the VC firm they co-founded 20 years ago, Fortune has learned. Also stepping back will be Jeff McCarthy, who has been a partner with NBVP since 1998.
North Bridge Venture Partners was once considered a top-tier venture capital firm, thanks in large part to Anderson’s successful telecom and networking deals (Arrowpoint, Sycamore, Starent, etc.). But its performance has stumbled a bit in recent years, and the bi-coastal firm already had begun to shed partners. There even had been rumors that some of the younger investors may try spinning out on their own, but that no longer seems to be in the cards.
Instead, a group of remaining partners has been on the road over the past couple of weeks, meeting with prospective investors for an eighth early-stage fund. The firm had raised $527 million for its seventh fund in the summer of 2008, but expect this vehicle to be significantly smaller. Team members are expected to include NBVP veterans like Paul Santinelli, Jamie Goldstein and Michael Skok, plus relative newcomers like Jonathan Heiliger (ex-VP of tech ops at Facebook, who joined in 2012) and Ric Fulop (founder of A123Systems, who joined in 2010). Anderson, D’Amore and McCarthy all would serve as advisors to the fund.
Recent NBVP transactions have included participation in rounds for Lytro, Sharethrough and Confer Technologies.
Both Anderson and D’Amore will continue to be partners on North Bridge’s second growth equity fund, which closed on $580 million last fall. Late last year, early-stage partner Jim Moran formally moved over to the growth equity side.
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