Venture Stack №1

May 18, 2017

Welcome to the first issue of Venture Stack, a newsletter for people creating new early-stage investment platforms, raising first-time funds, or who just want to learn more about building high-performing venture capital firms.

Several times per year, we’ll share the very best news and insights we can find. We’re also keeping tabs on new firm announcements and final closings for first-time funds, and we’ll send around a recap each quarter. Our recap for the first quarter of 2017 is included in this issue.

We hope you like it. Please get in touch if you have ideas or just want to say hello.
Thanks for reading!
Jorge

The Big Story

Two life sciences firms were responsible for the lion’s share of capital commitments that new funds secured last quarter. Together, Pivotal bioVenture Partners and Biomatics Capital reported $500MM in commitments from LPs. Some observers noted that both firms are led by women, with Tracy Saxton co-helming at Pivotal bioVenture and Julie Sunderland co-founding Biomatics.Building Better Firms

• Will Prendergast at Frontline Ventures describes how he and his team evolved the firm’s platform offering and how they measure the value they’re adding to portfolio companies.
• Matt Lerner at 500 Startups revisits portfolio construction and concludes that seed-stage investors of average ability should back at least 100 companies per fund.

From the LPs

• Lindel Eakman at Foundry Group Next looks behind the growth rate of new fund formation and explains why he thinks early-stage venture returns will remain strong.
• Beezer Clarkson at Sapphire Ventures says less money will pour into venture this year, but more first-time funds will be raised.
• Mark Suster at Upfront Ventures reported results of his firm’s survey of LP sentiment on venture capital.

Listen To This

• Nick Chirls and Alex Lines at Notation Capital interviewed Eva Ho on her journey from operator to co-founder of Fika Ventures, which was one of the first-time funds that held a final close in 1Q 2017 (more below).

In Other News

• Blockchain Capital raised $10mm in 6 hours for its most recent fund using an Initial Coin Offering. Is this the first cryptocurrency-denominated venture fund? If this stuff is your jam, please let me know.
• ReThink Impact leveraged the private wealth platform at UBS Group to raise a new impact fund that invests in ventures led by women (more below).
• Jay Z started a venture capital fund. Werd.

New Funds Recap: 1Q 2017

We counted 29 venture funds publicly announced and/or around the world in 1Q 2017. That’s about one new fund every three days. The 12 first-time funds that held a final close in the quarter captured a total of $1.1 billion in capital commitments with a median fund size of $44mm. Here’s the breakdown by region. If we missed any, please send us a tip, here.

US — Bay Area

1. 79 Ventures • $30mm • open • tech • PitchBook
2. Alchemist Accelerator • $2.5mm • closed — tech • TechCrunch
3. Atomic Management • $20mm • closed • tech • WSJ (gated)
4. Boom Capital • $5mm • open • tech • EDGAR
5. Highway1 • $100mm • open • tech • StrictlyVC
6. Medical Technology Venture Partners • $50mm ($20mm committed) • open • life sciences • MassDevice
7. Netotribe Ventures • $90mm • open • tech • FinSMEs
8. Nomo Ventures • $25mm • open • tech • FinSMEs
9. Pivotal bioVenture Partners • $300mm • closed • life sciences • SF Business Times
10. Precursor Ventures • $15.3mm — closed • tech • TechCrunch
11. Rethink Impact • $100mm • closed • tech • PEHub
12. Section 32 • $100mm • open • life sciences • Bloomberg
13. XYZ Ventures • $50mm • open • tech • FinSMEs

US — New York

1. Digitalis • $100m • open • tech • Xconomy
2. Tectonic Capital • $35mm • open • tech • Axios
3. Third Kind Venture Capital • $44mm • closed • tech
4. Trail Mix Ventures • $15mm • open • consumer brands • EDGAR

US — Los Angeles

1. Calibrate Ventures • $100mm • open • tech • PeHub
2. Fika Ventures • $40mm • closed • tech • Forbes

US — Midwest

1. Flyover Capital • $46mm • closed • tech • PeHUB
2. Grand Ventures • $50mm • open • tech • TechCrunch

US — Pacific Northwest

• Biomatics Capital Partners • $200mm • closed • life sciences • VentureBeat

Europe (Ireland)

• Suir Valley Venture Fund — $21.2mm — open — tech • FORA

Australia

• SproutX • $7.7mm • closed • agTech • ZD Net

Cross-Border

1. NYC + London: Motive Partners • $150mm • open • tech • TechCrunch
2. Bay Area + Singapore: K2 Global • $183mm • closed • tech • TechCrunch
3. NYC + Brazil: Valor Capital • $100mm • open • tech • EDGAR
4. Bay Area + Singapore + Korea: Formation Group •$121.3mm • closed • tech • Tech in Asia

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