Ever-GREEN pastures.

Where L.A. venture pros are finding willing investors

Despite the widespread collapse of dot-coms and almost total absence of initial public offerings, venture capitalists in Southern California are still raising billions of dollars for high-tech and other endeavors.

So who are these hearty investors that remain willing to keep putting up kings' ransoms on risky VC deals, even in a market that has crushed tech valuations?

Here's where some of L.A.'s top venture capital firms are getting their money:

RedPoint Ventures

Much of this Santa Monica firm's $1.25 billion derives from the endowment funds of such schools as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, the University of Chicago and the UC system. RedPoint has also raised money from Adams Street Capital, Citi Group and HarbourVest Partners LLC.

Zone Ventures

This downtown Los Angeles firm, which focuses on information technology companies, closed its most recent fund last summer. Partner David Cremin said that, despite the harsh environment, the company had only a few problems raising $100 million. Zone Venture's capital partners include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Wasatch Venture Fund, Draper Atlantic Fund, Draper Triangle Ventures and Timberline Venture Partners.

Trident Capital Partners

Based in Santa Monica, the firm specializes in information and business services companies. Todd Springer, Trident's managing director, says the firm was able to recently close its fifth fund. The $700 million fund came from a mix of old and new institutional investors.

Mellon Ventures Inc.

Jeffrey Anderson, managing director of Mellon Ventures in Los Angeles, says the company just closed its fifth fund for a little over $700 million. It's not much of a challenge raising capital, though, since all the firm's funding is supplied by its parent company, Mellon Financial Corp. of Pittsburgh. Mellon specializes in all stages of financing for Internet and communication companies.

Pacific Venture Group

According to Pacific Venture managing partner Layton Crouch, a large portion of the $210 million the firm has raised since its founding six years ago has come from banks, insurance companies and pension funds. Other limited partners include Thousand Oaks-based Wellpoint Health Networks Inc. and Premier Inc.

Allegis Capital/Media Technology Ventures

With more than $700 million raised from partners worldwide, this firm has gotten its funding from such established industry giants as Siemens, Sun Microsystems, Telecom Italia, Hearst New Media and General Electric. John Funk, the firm's managing partner, says the firm will consider investments from other entities in the United States and Western Europe. It focuses on funding early to mid-stage companies.