Christopher "Kit" Norris

Can't wait to reconnect with the brilliant Amanda Herson and join the discussion with Maciek Gnutek and Iain Martin at Slush about our fund models and what they mean for Founders ❄ 🚀

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Summary: This article discusses various venture capital news, including insights and analysis of VC firms, trends in investments, and the impact of technology on the industry. Key takeaways: The article mentions that Insight Partners is potentially raising over $10 billion for its 13th fund, and OpenAI may be altering its complex corporate structure. There is a growing trend of Silicon Valley companies following China's lead and a discussion of how VC Mike Moritz believes the pace of work in tech companies should be "furious." Y Combinator is expanding the number of cohorts it runs, a new decentralized music streaming service called Tune.FM is introduced, and there is discussion about startups working on addressing climate change. Counter arguments: There may be concerns about the potential drawbacks of following China's lead, and the idea of a "furious" pace of work may raise questions about work-life balance and company culture. Some may argue that expanding the number of cohorts may lead to a decrease in the quality or effectiveness of Y Combinator's program. The article does not mention potential challenges or limitations facing the new decentralized music streaming service or startups working on climate change solutions. #venture #venturecapital #vc

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It’s BOD & AGM season. After 9 BOD meetings and 7 AGMs there is a common theme. “Generally” Emerging Fund 1&2 managers w/o firm building experience; and Founders/ELTs who raised pre-seed generalist and family office party rounds at Seed or crossover/hedge fund capital at Series A. Same general dynamic… experience matters. #venturecapital #emergingmanagers #startups #familyoffices #lps

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The Information just broke the news of the incredible $8B+ #fundraising haul, with General Catalyst nearly doubling its last total. Fund breakdowns include $4.5B for "core venture funds," $1.5B for their "core creation team," and $2B for "multiple accounts." This was a 33% oversubscription to their $6B fundraising target, which surfaced in April 2024 by the Financial Times. While this is great news for the #entrepreneurial founders, the key question /challenge for General Catalyst will be where to place the newly closed funds to deliver the returns expected by their #limitedpartners that entrust them with their hard-earned capital. What do you think? #management #venturecapital #privateequity #capitalmarkets

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Fund manager GP stake investments are one of the most active strategies in private markets with limited partners across the globe committing to GP stakes funds, and fund managers selling stakes to such fund managers, with almost every manager of decent quality entertaining such discussions. As long-standing GP stake and seeding investors, we have experienced several pros and cons which we can discuss later, but this is great data shared by Ed Stubbings and created by leading private capital markets advisor Houlihan Lokey listing GP stakes deals over the past 1 year. More deals to come and I would look forward to catching up with Houlihan Lokey on the market. Thank you for the insights! #gpstakes #alternativeassets #fundmanagers #capitalmarkets #data #fundmanagers #privatemarkets #privateequity #limitedpartners

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Congratulations to our friends at $150 billion+ AUM private markets multi-strategy fund manager StepStone Group on closing on $3.3 billion for its sixth venture capital secondaries fund, far surpassing its target of $2.6 billion. It is the largest VC #secondaries fund raised to date, eclipsing the $1.45 billion that Industry Ventures raised for 10th venture secondaries fund last September. The 2021 acquisition of Baltimore-based venture capital #specialist Greenspring Associates has been a brilliant, complementary and highly successful partnership for both firms. And yes, I really like the fact that Greenspring Associates originated and still has a strong base in the #baltimore area. While GP-led secondaries have been far more common in private equity, it is noteworthy that the firm sees a more balanced set of investments across LP-led, GP-led and direct secondaries deals than its predecessor venture secondaries funds. The limited partner list is also remarkable: #Taiwan-based FUBON LIFE INSURANCE CO., LTD. committed $70 million, UK-based Border To Coast Pensions Partnership committed £45.7 million and the NSIA: Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and Montgomery County Public Schools Pension Fund both invested undisclosed amounts. Yes, #Nigeria has a sovereign wealth fund investing in alternative assets, private markets and venture capital secondaries - amazing! Prior fund limited partners included the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, #Finland’s LUT University, the Memorial Hermann Health System, Mercy Health Foundation, @New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZ Super Fund), #Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System, Samford University, School Employees Retirement System of #Ohio and State of Wyoming Treasury. I am sure many of them re-upped and even increased commitment sizing. A world-class list of global limited partners across allocator categories. Well done StepStone Group and see you again somewhere in the world sometime soon! #fundraising #alternativeassets #privatemarkets #venturecapital #capitalmarkets #sovereignwealthfunds #insurancecompanies #pensionfunds #hospitalsystems #superannuation #endowments #foundations https://lnkd.in/gUdJXRw3

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Interesting read on the new trends emerging with Operating Partner roles @ PE firms accelerating growth strategies and delivering superior returns for their LPs. An intentional shift from advisory to execution driven involvement supporting Portcos with their next stage of growth! #PrivateEquity #OperatingPartner #ValueCreation Traforma Consulting https://lnkd.in/dQ3khWwA

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Co-Heads of Equity, Matt Nord and David Sambur, spoke to Bloomberg about how Apollo’s disciplined private equity strategy has fueled recent dealmaking and strong return of capital. Read more about our approach to sourcing and building stronger businesses: https://lnkd.in/gUwf5qze

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The new quarterly review is live! Each quarter, I dive into the latest trends and shifts in the venture capital market, covering both the broader macro perspective and the unique insights we’re seeing at Florida Funders. Check out my latest article to stay informed on what’s shaping the VC landscape and how we're navigating it at FF. Always eager to hear your thoughts – let’s keep the conversation going! #VentureCapital #FloridaFunders #MarketInsights

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I am a bit delayed posting this but Los Angeles-based middle-market private equity fund manager Truelink Capital has come up today in 3 different conversations. Congratulations on the raise of their inaugural private equity fund of $875 million exceeding its target of $600 million and the original hard cap of $750 million after spinning out of established fund manager Platinum Equity. Limited partners in the market across the globe are seeking middle-market private equity strategies and well-founded emerging managers, not the inundation of "overnight fund-managers" that took place the past decade, and the Truelink Capital Team have the characteristics and track record to building their own successful fund managers after their tenure at Platinum Equity. The Fund received strong support from a diverse group of global investors including #pension plans, #foundations, #insurance companies, financial institutions, #familyoffices and #consultants. Founded by Todd Golditch and Luke Myers, formerly of Platinum Equity, Truelink Capital has brought their well-established, operationally-intensive strategy to the middle market. Truelink Capital pairs deep industry experience in the Technology-Enabled Services and Industrials sectors with a commitment to building partnerships that drive long-term value creation. Looking forward to catching up this fall! #alternativeassets #emergingmanagers #fundmanagers #privatemarkets #capitalmarkets #fundraising #limitedpartners #losangeles #middlemarket #privateequity https://lnkd.in/g6YeqqZD

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The Information broke news that Insight Partners has just secured $10B in funding for their latest flagship fund. This is perfectly timed given their multiple $1B+ companies sold over the past week. This is a clear sight that #limitedpartners still have in their #privateallocations even during the current slow markets for #IPOs and #M&A. This would also appear to be good news for #AIfinancing and #SaaSFinancing. What do you think? #Management #VentureCapital #PrivateEquity #CapitalMarkets https://lnkd.in/gXu_s8Qj

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The latest #SVBHealthcare report found that VCs deployed $7.2 billion to healthcare-focused #AI companies last year. Read FierceHealthcare’s article about the report for an overview of what recent AI investment trends mean for the healthcare innovation space

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For the past year (and then some), I’ve been working closely with my Partner Will Rayner to build and launch something that we’re super excited to now make public - Lookout Ventures: a new seed stage fund, backing infrastructure and B2B software startups outside of Silicon Valley. We’re building on almost a decade spent sourcing and leading deals at TDF Ventures. While there, we saw the majority of the VC industry chasing and bidding up the same set of SaaS deals - based in a few select ecosystems like the Bay Area - and demonstrating the same set of well established go to market benchmarks. We’re not here for those deals. What we are looking for: *Regions*: The days of needing to be in Silicon Valley to succeed are over. Startup culture has spread to many metropolitan areas from Raleigh-Durham to Washington DC to Houston to Chicago. Those cities have a combination of great universities, major corporate headquarters, and local accelerators and incubators, which are the key ingredients for startup creation. We’re particularly focused on the Southeast, Midwest and Texas. *Stage*: Founders are probably sick of big brand investors telling them that their traction is too early but they’d love to stay in touch for the next round. While Lookout won’t often invest pre-revenue, we do invest before product market fit. Whether it’s called a seed, seed prime, or early A, we want to work with founders as soon as they know they have a solution ready to scale. *Sectors*: We’re comfortable investing early because we’re staying focused on topic areas in which we’ve built our expertise and networks during our past decade of investments around infrastructure software and vertical SaaS. Within those areas, we have more specialized interests ranging from MSP (managed service provider) tooling to cybersecurity serving the small business to SaaS focused on field workers in various verticals. We’re actively writing checks and are excited to already be working with great teams from Arpio, hotglue, inforcer, and CloudCapsule. If you’re building or investing in these areas, drop me a line and let’s catch up.

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🚀 The latest edition of Growthink Capital's M&A #Observatory is out. Here's what we're seeing: 📈 Deal Activity: July 2024 saw a 10% #increase in U.S. #mergers and #acquisitions, with 963 transactions (about 60% led by corporate acquirers). The median deal size jumped to $132M. 💰 #Valuation #Multiples: 2.8x #Revenue and 9.4x #EBITDA. 🏆 Biggest Deal: A major $11B acquisition reshapes the global #packaging industry, creating a new leader in paper-based solutions. 🛠 Top Sectors: Commercial Services, #Software, and #Distribution lead the way. Key verticals such as #Manufacturing and #AI show strong activity. 📋 New #Mandate: We're exploring the strategic sale of an #enterprise #SaaS provider with $3M #ARR and strong #margins. Get in touch if interested. 💡 Growthink #Deal of the Month: A public-to-private #LBO of an enterprise mobility systems #integrator strengthens market #leadership. Full report at https://lnkd.in/dgBebGfD ☎ Get in touch with me, Eddie Clay, Anna Vitale, or Jeff Jones to explore the #sale of your company, #liquidity for #shareholders, or growth-by-acquisition opportunities.

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I posted last week about the shift in sentiment from LP's regarding secondaries. It used to be that GP's were told to hold their winners forever but more recently a lot of LP's are recommending pre-seed & seed stage VC's get good at navigating secondary transactions as early as Series B rounds. Obviously a lot of factors go into these decisions such as where you are in the life of the fund, how the rest of the portfolio is performing and the performance of the underlying company in question. But in this new reality, entry price and ownership relative to fund size really matter in order to still generate top decile funds by selling into later stage rounds; and that tends to be at odds with many seed fund strategies I see out there today. According to Carta, the average seed round valuation is $15M and I see some seed funds doing seed deals at $20M - $30M valuations. Many seed funds between $40M - $75M in size (avg of $50M) write seed checks at $15M valuations and probably invest $1.5M into each company to get 10%. The portfolio construction in this scenario is probably 20-25 companies given the check size. Assuming 50% dilution (probably low), you need a company to get to a $1B valuation to return your fund and you have less shots on goal to do that at a time where I think the probability of hitting a winner at seed for any single seed fund is going to go down per my post last week. It also means the opportunities to sell secondaries in later rounds in order to drive meaningful DPI is harder because it likely won't get to that sort of valuation until Series C or later; and you probably don't want to consider selling until the position is worth even more than your entire fund. Alternatively, if you write a $1M check into a deal at a $8M valuation out of a $50M fund, you are getting 12.5% ownership and probably investing in more like 30-35 companies given the initial check size. Higher ownership and more shots on goal. Assuming 50% dilution again, you get there with a $800M valuation. At even lower valuations, $1B outcomes would return multiples on the fund and it really opens up the options when it comes to selling in secondaries in order to manufacture liquidity. Given the current dynamics in the market, I wonder if more funds will start to focus on sub $10M valuation rounds.

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Summary: The article discusses the current challenges faced by VC firms in attracting new capital, but highlights how established firms like Kleiner Perkins are still able to raise large funds. It also touches on the potential impact of AI on investment strategies. Key takeaways: Many VC firms are struggling to secure new capital in a tepid IPO environment. Established, brand-name firms like Kleiner Perkins are still able to raise significant funds. AI is emerging as a potential game-changer in the investment landscape. Counter arguments: It may be premature to attribute Kleiner Perkins' fundraising success solely to AI; other factors could also be at play. The article may overlook smaller VC firms that are also finding success in fundraising. #venturecapital #vc #venture #startups #artificialintelligence

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The last several years have witnessed a significant increase in the use of continuation funds as the capital markets dried up. Now, per PitchBook, there has been a meaningful uptick in exits from those funds. Per the article: "Continuation funds have roughly doubled their quarterly exit activity, enduring as a viable liquidity solution for PE firms." Any uptick in liquidity activity is a hopeful sign that a recovery is underway. While the Pitchbook article specifically addressed activity in private equity, hopefully we will begin to see signs in the Venture space as well. Endeavor Colorado #privateequity #venturecapital #innovation #investing #founders #startups #entrepreneurship https://lnkd.in/gRW6WPNm

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The recently published Institutional Investor Digital Asset Study from Fidelity Investments certainly has some eye opening stats to browse through. Cudos to the team for a clear and concise overview. What stuck out most was the top reason investors cited for their change of view on the space... 💡 increased understanding 💡 This is still a new asset class, demonstrably so in the United States where acceptance has been slow. Increased education and understanding is paramount. Anyone with questions, reach out, always happy to answer incoming messages. Some other interesting tidbits: 1) Price volatility remains one of the largest barriers to entry [more thoughts to share here but at a later date...] 2) 30% of respondents saw digital assets as their own, unique asset class [interesting, what is your allocation to it?] 3) US investors remain the least accepting of digital assets [I think this really goes back to the first point of the post, increased understanding and truly think the tide is turning] If you are curious about the space, here to help through it. As someone who spent a decade working with fintechs and financial companies I get the skepticism. As an investor however, skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been the past twenty years #digitalassets #crypto #blockchain Full Survey (link below) https://lnkd.in/g7h2_Bq8

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ANNOUNCEMENT- I’m delighted to share that Asset Class has partnered with Palantir Technologies to bring AI to the Alternatives and Private Capital Markets. At Asset Class we will integrate the AIP platform and Foundry capabilities of Palantir with our Fund Operating System (Fund OS). We will work with the AIP Platform and Palantir's Foundry Ontology to support highly complex tasks / co-pilot features that will allow us to leverage the FULL dataset that comes with the Asset Class Platform. By linking EVERY step of the Investor and Fund journey on a SINGLE platform, we have a uniquely complete dataset that can inform our AI actions. Over time we will integrate this as part of our Asset Class Network. This will continue to ensure Asset Class is a far more powerful system than any other in the market. We are a platform - not just an app. In the near future, we will be an AI Enabled, Networked Platform I cannot wait to bring the power of AI to our platform to enable our clients to super-charge their investment in our platform. See the announcement here: https://lnkd.in/eCSy5Tnu

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