Grace Brown’s Post

Let's be honest- it's a tough fundraising environment out there for VC funds. Everyone wants to close a fund as quickly as possible and get to work. Sometimes it's a sprint, at other times it's a marathon. And this doesn't only apply to first-time funds. Market timing is key, as are other factors such track-record, focus, LP selection and resources. But it isn't just about luck and timing. It's about picking the right strategy for the market and your target LPs. I call this the Sprint vs. Marathon approach. Not unlike lean startups- VCs have to learn when to be lean with fundraising. Accumulate feedback quickly, gain momentum, focus on a niche (not only in strategy but in LPs) ➡️ slow down, build trust, invest in relationships. 🏃♀️The Sprinters: Norrsken VC : raised an oversubscribed Fund II in record time in 2024. Andreessen Horowitz - raised US$4.5bn BioFund VI in less than 6 months Reinventure Capital: Closed US$ 125m Fund II in 6 weeks this year 🐌Marathon: Antler: 18 months to close their US$100m fund Speedinvest: Fund IV took 15 months to close at EUR 250m Cherry Ventures: Closed EUR 350m in 18 months Tiger Global Management: Reduced fund size from US$ 6bn to $2.2bn I’d be curious to dig deeper into the correlation of fund series vs. fund size vs. performance vs. market in relation to fundraising. If you can link me to any research I would appreciate it. For those of you who have recently closed a fund or are currently raising- what has been your experience and what strategy have you applied? Sprint? Marathons? Blended? 👇Link to article and chart in the comments 👇

Raising capital for a Venture Fund? Median capital raise of $24.8MM per PitchBook through 2024 1H v. $164.2MM average raise tells you all you need to know about the one sided barbell tilting right towards the largest of funds. E78 #venturecapital

VC world can be cruel and unforgiving. With LPs more and more pushing for distribution and liquidity, fund managers in the mid-tenure of their fund with zero DPI and TVPI around 1.0 would have much more difficulty to raise new fund. The ability to fundraise is one of the crucial indications and validation of the job for VCs. Key highlights from the article below: Thirteen percent of venture General Partners (GPs) no longer plan to raise another fund due to LP pullback. This rate has doubled since H1 2023 when only 6% of GPs had no plans for another fund. Nearly 44% of venture firms surveyed in mid-2023 had previously postponed their fundraising plans due to concerns about overexposure to the asset class. Many emerging managers entered venture capital in 2019 or 2020 when the LP market supported more funds. However, slow exits in the first half of 2024 have led to challenges in raising second funds without significant cash distributions to LPs. Some venture GPs are now actively participating in the secondaries market to demonstrate returns. Despite the challenges, GPs who secured fresh capital remain optimistic. They expect the 2023 and 2024 vintages to be the strongest return years since 2019. 🚀📈 #VC #VentureCapital #Fundraising #LPs #EmergingManagers #TechInvestment #MarketTrends #CountdownCapital #IndustryInsights #JetVentures #JetInvestment

Founders have all manner of support to help them get up and running with their businesses. VCs, less so — until now.  Early next year, advisory firm Mountside Ventures is launching Europe’s first VC fundraising accelerator. It’ll take on 15 emerging managers and “help them become better fundraisers”, says Jonathan Hollis, the firm’s managing partner. “It’s not to help investors become better investors; it’s to identify and connect them with relevant LPs.” There are, according to data platform Dealroom, around 2,500 active VCs in Europe; only 275 of those have raised their third fund. #emergingmanagers #investment #VentureCapitalists ##VentureCapitalists #limitedpartners #generalpartners #LPs #GPs

For newcomers seeking to raise venture capital, things are looking bleak. While global VC fundraising is on track for its worst year since 2015, the pain isn’t being felt equally. Emerging managers, firms that PitchBook defines as having launched fewer than four funds, are facing their worst environment in 10 years, raising less capital than ever before, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. https://lnkd.in/g77fRQdg #3charts #toughtimes #vcnewcomers #larger #funds #domination #vcfunding #venturecapital #fundraising #capitalraising

💵📊 Avid Ventures has launched its second early-stage fund closing $87 million. This brings the total capital raised by the company to over $165 million. The Avid Fund II will back exceptional founders building transformative software and fintech companies from Seed to Series B stages. 📈 The VC firm welcomed new institutional investors, including The Mellon Foundation, Hall Capital Partners LLC, Vintage Investment Partners, UJA-Federation of New York, Soka University of America, and CM Wealth Advisors, among others. Returning Fund I investors include Foundry, General Catalyst, and multi-billion dollar philanthropic family offices. It was also backed by leading investors and executives such as Brian Singerman (Partner, Founders Fund), Rob Hayes (Partner, First Round), and Susan Sobbott (former multi-decade American Express leader). 🤖 Read more here: https://shorturl.at/PExRv Addie Lerner Daniel Simon Nicky Goulimis #tech #funding #news #VC #technology #investment #innovation

🌱Meeting the Next Generation of Impact Investors🌱 Yesterday, our colleague, Nivethika Srirangan, attended Pathway Fund's showcase event to hear the ambitious and exciting growth plans of three first-time fund managers participating in its Fund Management Incubator Programme: 🚀BLaST: The Social Investment Pathfinder - Erika Rushton and Joanne Anderson spoke about building on Liverpool-based investor Kindred’s £5M fund to raise it to £50M, aiming to unlock the entrepreneurial potential of Black and other ethnically diverse communities in the Liverpool City Region. The pre-investment support we offer at Sumerian is similar to Kindred's approach. It was inspiring to learn about the impact they’ve achieved in Liverpool to date. 🚀Foundervine - Izzy Obeng and Cecil Adjalo shared how after creating an incredibly successful accelerator programme, they hope to launch an angel syndicate to support early-stage B2B start-ups that drive positive societal impact. 🚀Future Impact Ventures – Jordan Fletcher and Gosbert Chagula MBE Chagula (pictured) discussed their aim to launch a £10M venture capital fund, focused on investing in companies that enable a just transition to a net-zero society. A huge thanks to Pathway Fund for showcasing these innovative leaders, and to Denise Holle of Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) for sharing why they chose to support this important initiative. It's exciting to see such impactful work come to life! #ImpactInvesting #SocialInvesting #ImpactFirstInvesting

It's the worst year for fundraising since 2016, due to a lack of exit opportunities. I think we've all seen this coming, but these numbers are substantial. Keep bootstrapping out there, folks! "Globally, venture firms raised $30.4bn from university endowments, foundations and other institutional investors in the first three months of this year, down from $67bn in 2023 and well below the peak year of 2022 when VCs raised $173bn..." “Unless we see meaningful improvements from the exit market we’re expecting fundraising difficulties to linger and that will put downward pressure on dealmaking,” https://lnkd.in/eGmf2GPg

NFX has shared a detailed guide by Omri Amirav-Drory, on how individuals can start their own VC fund. Drory explains the intricacies of raising capital, building a strong fund strategy, and becoming a top 1% investor through added value to startups. With his experience as a scientist and founder, Drory offers a unique perspective on the steps necessary to thrive as a new VC. For those looking to break into the world of venture capital, this post offers strategic insights and practical advice. https://lnkd.in/eTqEJzVv #Venture #VentureCapital #VC

Venture capitalists are bankers with better branding!! That isn't a diss (hi, investor friends!), just a bit of context setting I used to setup a trend piece I wrote on where VC sits now post-valuation collapse, and what it means for local ecosystem folk. Give it a read plsss!