Boston venture capital firm Spark Capital, an early investor in Twitter Inc. and Tumblr Inc., has closed its fourth investment fund totaling $450 million, the firm said Monday. The latest round is Spark’s largest fund and brings the total amount the firm has raised to $1.42 billion. It closed its last round of $360 million in 2010.
“When we started nobody really knew who we were. We were this VC firm above a shoe store on Newbury Street,” said Bijan Sabet, a general partner at Spark. “We’ve just tried our hardest to build our reputation with founders.”
The firm specializes in investing in early-stage social media and consumer technology start-ups and has backed such local companies as online shopping site Wayfair LLC and tuition payments start-up peerTransfer Corp. One of its portfolio companies, OMGPOP was sold to online game company Zynga last year for $180 million.
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Spark’s latest round is among the largest funds raised recently by a venture capital firm.
Last year, only 10 other firms closed funds that exceeded $450 million, according to the National Venture Capital Association in Arlington, Va.
Michael B. Farrell can be reached at michael.farrell@globe.com.