Charlie O’Donnell ventures into Brooklyn.
Charlie O’Donnell announced this morning that he has stepped down as a principal with First Round Capital, in order to launch a new seed-stage firm called Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. O’Donnell is always worth watching, since he’s the only guy I know who has been a venture capitalist (with FRC and Union Square Ventures), institutional limited partner (with GM’s pension fund) and entrepreneur (Path 101).
BBV will look to lead or co-lead seed rounds for IT startups in the “greater Brooklyn area,” which likely will include Manhattan on certain occasions. From O’Donnell’s post:
It is the first venture capital fund based in Brooklyn–the city’s most exciting and creative borough. It is home to cool startups like Etsy, Makerbot, Pontiflex, HowAboutWe, Energyhub, and Loosecubes. Gilt Groupe maintains a significant presence there, as does scores of creative agencies and design firms. By some estimates, 50-60% of New York’s startup community lives in Brooklyn–and at Etsy it’s as high as 80%. It has grown to be a dynamic place to build a company–and has the potential to be the very best place in the world to start a technology business. I will be working hard to help it reach that potential, while continuing the work I’ve been doing for NYC’s tech community as a whole for the last seven plus years.
Fortune has learned that the one-man shop already has closed on nearly $2 million for its debut fund, which is targeting between $7 million and $10 million. O’Donnell declined to discuss fundraising, citing SEC marketing restrictions.
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