Mark Boslet
Money is flowing into the venture industry at near record levels. More than 250 venture capital funds raised nearly $30 billion last year, more funds than in any year since 2001, according to the National Venture Capital Association. Even more interesting is that 96 of these were first-time funds. Yet attracting quality limited partners that […]
The Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund is another LP with a venture fund-of-funds strategy, and results that have been less than spectacular. The top four funds in the portfolio are funds of funds. Unfortunately only one of them has an IRR above 10 percent, and just barely. This survivor is Northgate Venture Partners II […]
It is early, but LiveOak Venture Partners’ first fund seems to be off to a good start. New Enterprise Associates 13 and the Red River Venture Capital Fund also seem to be holding their own in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ venture-capital portfolio. A portfolio report dating from June 2014 shows that the pension […]
A pair of funds from Menlo Ventures notched big performance gains in Washington State Investment Board’s venture portfolio, according to a recent fund performance report from the LP. The two Menlo funds, along with funds from New Enterprise Associates and Austin Ventures, also generated substantial distributions during the 15 months ending in September of last […]
Distributions from Spark Capital’s 2007 second fund spiked last year, while Battery Ventures, Austin Ventures and Insight Venture Partners returned hefty amounts of capital to LPs as well, according to a recent Washington State Investment Board portfolio report. At the same time, Menlo Ventures chalked up a nice performance gain in its 2006 10th fund over […]
Distributions spiked at mid-decade Union Square Ventures and New Enterprise Associates funds last year, according to a recent Washington State Investment Board portfolio report. Funds from Insight Venture Partners and JMI Equity also returned substantial capital in the 12 months ending in September 2014. The funds are among 18 venture and growth funds held by […]
U.S. growth funds appeared to boost distributions through the middle of last year and one beneficiary was the University of Texas Investment Management Company. Four of the five U.S.-based growth funds that UTIMCO holds with vintages of 2005 to 2008 saw distributions increase over the nine months from February to November, according to a recent […]
Growth funds serving emerging markets and parts of Europe went through a difficult period in the middle of last year, if the University of Texas Investment Management Company’s portfolio is an indication. The majority of UTIMCO’s 12 European and ROW growth funds saw their performance slump from February to November 2014, according to a recent […]
Asian growth funds showed improvements through the middle of 2014, if one LP’s portfolio is an indication, with big gains in funds from Emerald Hill Capital Partners and Everstone Capital Partners. Ten of the 11 active Asian growth funds in the University of Texas Investment Management Company’s portfolio made gains during the February to November […]
Go early! Hit big! You might think of traditional venture that way. You might also want to look at the University of Texas Investment Management Company’s most recent venture capital portfolio, funds with vintages of 2011 to 2014. UTIMCO placed many of its bets over those years with smaller, early-stage funds, some with big names. […]