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MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - One year after entrepreneur Mel Baiada started BaseCamp Ventures with a $7.5 million contribution, the firm is looking to take on limited partners and boost its size to $25 million.
"The large-term view is to become a pre-eminent venture business in the region where we have the opportunity to contribute to hopefully getting 100 or more companies off the ground," said Tom Drury, who runs the fund with Baiada.
Both Baiada and Drury are seasoned developers of businesses.
Baiada developed Bluestone Inc. into two companies - a software firm that went public and was bought by HewlettPackard Co. and an e-business consulting firm that he owns called Sengen Inc.
Drury was president and chief executive officer of Sensar Inc., which licensed iris-recognition technology developed by Marlton-based IriScan Inc. and eventually merged with IriScan to create Moorestown-based Iridian Technologies.
Drury said he and Baiada wanted to run BaseCamp like a startup during its first year of existence. They wanted to see how their investment focus would be received, what type of deal flow they'd get, how they'd be received by other VC firms and entrepreneurs and similar things.
Judging by the firm's track record, the reception has been good. Drury said BaseCamp has seen close to 1,000 business plans, interviewed about 100 companies and invested about $3.4 million in seven companies so far.
One of the seven is Fortera Inc., a King of Prussia, Pa.based firm that provides insurance for information-technology projects so companies contracting them don't have to worry about them going too far over budget.
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