(Bloomberg) -- Canaan Partners closed its 12th fund, raising another $800 million to invest.

The venture firm, which invests across health care and technology, also raised $800 million in its last fund in 2017.

Canaan invested in grocery delivery business Instacart Inc. in 2012, when the food-delivery company was just a seed-stage startup worth a few million dollars. Instacart is now valued at $17.7 billion, Bloomberg News has reported. The company is preparing for an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information was private.

Other early investments by Canaan have included consignment business The RealReal Inc., Ideaya Biosciences Inc. and biopharmaceutical company NextCure Inc., all of which went public last year.

Canaan says it expects to net favorable returns for other startups in its portfolio including home rental platform Apartment List Inc. and car rental business Turo Inc. It’s also making other investments and incubating startups across health, e-commerce and enterprise categories.

Now is a great time to invest in venture, despite sky-high valuations, said general partner Maha Ibrahim.

“These are probably the highest prices that we’ve seen in at least 20 years in venture, but at the same time the exit environment is incredibly strong right now,” Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim, who’s been at Canaan since the dot-com bubble, said things are different this time compared with two decades ago. Now, more of the companies going public are on track for profitability, she said.

The surging popularity this year of special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, is providing a new liquidity option for startups.

It’s “the new gold rush,” said Hrach Simonian, a general partner at Canaan. A merger with a SPAC, also known as a blank-check firm, is an easier path for going public for some of companies seeking to take advantage of the current market enthusiasm, he said.

Canaan has offices in San Francisco and Menlo Park, California, as well as in Manhattan and Westport, Connecticut.

One reason Canaan stands out in the venture capital world is that women make up almost 40% of its investment team, roughly four times the industry average. The firm’s partners emphasized that it remains dedicated to hiring a diverse team.

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