BlackBerry Partners Fund II touts broader international mandate

BARCELONA, Spain--Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) is making a lead financial commitment to BlackBerry Partners Fund II, a new $150 million venture capital initiative targeting the mobile computing segment. A sequel to the first BlackBerry Partners Fund-- founded in mid-2008 with capital commitments from limited partners including RIM as well as Thomson Reuters and the Royal Bank of Canada--the new fund is expected to launch in June 2011, promising a broader international mandate than its predecessor.

The original BlackBerry Partners Fund, also valued at $150 million, was founded to invest in applications and services for the BlackBerry OS as well as rival mobile platforms. The fund has made 13 investments to date in startups including buzzd, Digby, SocialDeck and Transpera. In October 2010, BlackBerry Partners Fund announced that co-managers RBC Venture Partners and JLA Ventures would merge their investment teams, a move to boost efficiency and trim duplication.

For more:
- read this release

Related articles:
BlackBerry Partners Fund co-managers merge investment teams
BlackBerry Partners Fund launches $100 million Chinese venture
BlackBerry Partners Fund leads $10 million Aepona investment