Industry Private equity Website www.oakvc.com Founded 1978 | Products Venture capital Founder Edward Glassmeyer | |
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Headquarters Norwalk, Connecticut, United States Type of business Private Equity Investment Firm Profiles | ||
Oak Investment Partners is a private equity firm focusing on venture capital investments in companies developing communications systems, information technology, new Internet media, healthcare services and retail.
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History
The firm, founded in 1978, is based in Greenwich, Connecticut with offices in Norwalk, Connecticut, Minneapolis and Palo Alto, California. Since inception, Oak had invested in more than 480 companies and had raised more than $8.4 billion in investor commitments across 12 private equity funds.
In May 2006, Oak raised its 12th fund, at $2.56 billion reportedly the largest venture capital fund ever raised.
In 2015, Indian-born employee Iftikar Ahmed was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on suspicion of stealing US$65 million from the firm. Ahmed was believed to have fled to India. In August 2015, Fortune reported that Mr. Ahmed had been detained in an Indian prison from May 22 until July 23 and that his passport had been confiscated.
Investments
Oak invests across a range of stages: funding startup companies, funding spinouts of existing divisions and assets, and providing growth capital to later-stage companies. Oak also selectively invests in public companies through PIPE investments.
In December 2008, Oak invested $25 million in the online media outlet Huffington Post.
Other notable Oak investments include eVoice, Dick's Sporting Goods, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Office Depot, Petsmart, Polycom, nLIGHT, Sandisk, and Seagate.