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The raise marks the San Francisco-based venture firm���s third fund since it was founded in 2009. Bee Partners closed on its first fund, worth $8 million, in 2011. And it closed its second fund, which raised $30 million, in 2014.

Its latest capital has interesting stakeholders. Eleven of Bee’s portfolio company founders are now limited partners, according to the firm, along with a “large Boston-based endowment,” and , among others.

In announcing the new fund, Bee also disclosed it has promoted advisor �� to partner.

Future Plans

I hopped on the phone with Bee���s founder, this morning and he shared some more details on Bee Partners��� history and future plans.

���We like to use the phrase inception investing,��� he said, ���since we like to participate in and lead rounds at the inception stage of capital.���

Bee���s average deal size is $750,000 but the firm has put in amounts as small as $150,000, and how much the firm puts in a company is ���case dependent,��� he said.

���Sometimes founders only need a few hundred thousand dollars to drive a specific model to unlock the next round of resources, including capital.���

Money In, Money Out

Bee Partners has had a couple of impressive exits since its inception starting with , an enterprise software company that went public in 2014 and was for $540 million in 2016. Another portfolio company, , was for $275 million in December 2018. The sale of that construction tech startup provided Bee Partners with a ���14x return��� on its initial investment, according to Berolzheimer. The firm currently also has ���a few pending exits,��� he added.

Bee Partners��� second fund is close to fully deployed, with some additional capital left for follow-on investing, according to the firm.

So far, Bee has backed nine companies with its third fund, with two shortly to join the portfolio. The companies already funded by Bee III include , which aims to allow businesses to build business apps from a matched library of components and a network of on-call experts; , which uses plant-based sensors in an effort to make farming more efficient; and , a cloud-based platform for aggregating geospatial data.

InnerPlant and Geosite are both led by women founders and CEOs, Berolzheimer notes. In fact, he says, 30 percent of Bee���s portfolio since its inception is made up of female-founded and/or female-led companies.

Another statistic Berolzheimer is proud of is that 65 percent of his firm���s portfolio companies have reached a Series A. (This is a figure that is often called a ���graduation rate.���)

���Companies that are on the route of venture type of growth are hungry for capital,��� he told me. ���It���s not easy to move from pre-seed to Series A. They need a product market fit, some traction and a great idea fundable by top tier investors. For our companies to get to that phase is a very important milestone as they turn into foundational businesses.���

Bee operates with a ���machines will win��� thesis,�� Berolzheimer said, with the view that ���machines will win, and win big.���

Over the years, the definition of pre-seed may have changed. But the need for it has not. Despite Series A, B and C rounds being bigger than ever, there are always going to be startups that need that early-stage funding to get to that point where they can raise bigger rounds. Bee, therefore, should stay busy as a, well, you get the idea.

Illustration:

Photo Courtesy of Bee Partners