Riverside Ventures

Here's 13 LPs who applied to my syndicate recently... Who are the LPs in my syndicate, or joining on a daily basis? People frequently ask who my LPs are. The answer is they are all quite different. Below are some of the recent applications that I received to join Riverside Ventures syndicate. -- LP 1 →  A 2x founder looking to ramp up angel investing and grow a portfolio. LP 2 → Over 12 years of experience in SMEs/Consumer lending in Fintech & Products. Founding member of {blinding}, a top India Fintech Startup. LP 3 → Stanford University Graduate School of Business GSB MBA, Harvard College AB Carlyle Flagship Buyout Private Equity Morgan Stanley FinTech Investment Banking, {blinding} Partners, VC for FinTech and Healthcare. LP 4 → institutional investor at UBS Global Asset Management (Venture & Growth) and early stage startup {blinding}. LP 5 → Management level in ops/strategy at Carta and have heard strong feedback about Riverside Ventures. I am active in the ecosystem working with Founders. LP 6 → I have 5+ years of experience in consumer beauty, health, + wellness as a founder & operator. I'd like to join your syndicate to diversify my early-stage investment opportunities. LP 7 → I've been at an Indian Neobank for more than 3 yrs now, and was consulting financial services at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) before this. Am an investor in 20+ companies across FinTech, ClimateTech, and Creator Economy. LP 8 → Hi there - I'm a VC with {blinding} Ventures, and have been investing for the last 7 years. Doing more angel investing personally these days and have a friend who is an LP in Riverside Ventures. LP 9 → I’m a long-time entrepreneur with multiple successful exits. I want to build my investment portfolio w/ Riverside Ventures. Background: Bain & Company & Co, CEO @ Healthcare start-ups, {blinding}, now active Investor. LP 10 → I have a background in software engineering and banking and I am currently the owner of an ecommerce business - looking forward to investing in some exciting ventures together! LP 11 →  current MBA graduate from Bocconi and I heard about your syndicate through Starter Story. Having worked in a B2B SaaS startups I'm very eager to enter the VC world and would like to deepen my knowledge & make my way into a VC role. I have already invested in 2 startups as an angel investor. LP 12 → I co-run a seed fund that invests in Harvard/Stanford/Wharton founders. Our portcos have raised from Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, Accel, etc. Previously I was a director @ WeWork. LP 13 → I'm currently at {blinding} Fund, and would love to keep up with your deals, and participate in your syndicate. I’ve got investor experience from Insight Partners and {blinding} Capital.

🚙 What exactly is an SPV and how can both founders and emerging mangers leverage them to their benefit? Last week, I Interviewed the SPV Master & GP at Riverside Ventures, Alex Pattis 💯 Transitioning from an operator to investor, Alex has utilized SPVs to amass an impressive portfolio of over 200 investments, paving his way to founding Riverside Ventures. 🤑 He shares insights on how SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles) serve as a powerful tool for consolidating investments, enabling greater access to capital for startups, and offering emerging managers a flexible platform to build their track record and establish meaningful relationships in the venture capital ecosystem. 🔑 Key Insights from Our Discussion: 𝐒𝐏𝐕𝐬 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬: Discover Alex’s strategies for leveraging SPVs to build substantial portfolios and forge critical connections in the venture capital network. 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐒𝐏𝐕𝐬: Learn about the unique advantages SPVs offer founders, enabling them to scale their startups effectively by overcoming traditional funding barriers. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 & 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: Gain valuable insights as Alex highlights the essential qualities he seeks in founders and the skills crucial for early-stage venture capitalists. 𝐍𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Hear Alex’s perspective on adapting to the evolving venture capital landscape, including strategies for raising funds during capital booms and maneuvering through market downturns. 👉 Watch the full interview to gain a deeper understanding on SPVs & Alex's insights into the VC ecosystem. 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐰: 𝐡𝐭𝐭𝐩𝐬://𝐰𝐰𝐰.𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐛𝐞.𝐜𝐨𝐦/𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡?𝐯=𝐊𝐲𝐒𝐝7𝐯𝐢𝐋𝐫𝐜𝐤 🗣️ What are your thoughts on SPVs? Share your insights and questions in the comments below! ⬇️ #VentureCapital #SPVs #StartupFunding #InvestmentStrategies #VCInsights #Entrepreneurship

⁉️ How do SPV leads have access to “Unlimited” Pools of Capital ⁉️ This one is really interesting in understanding the difference of how a traditional VC deploys capital versus the opportunistic, unlimited pool (yet also quite limited) of capital, syndicate lead. Let's dive in. With a traditional fund, a pool of capital is raised upfront from LPs (e.g. investors) to be invested into various companies/assets according to the fund's strategy. This is typically a fixed pool of capital of $10m to $1bn+ in venture, but nonetheless is a set or fixed amount. Having a limited pool of capital forces Fund GPs (General Partners i.e. Fund Managers) to optimize their capital and as by definition of being fixed, dollars invested into one company is capital that can’t now be invested in a different company. While it varies, most Seed funds I come across usually have 20-40 initial entry investments that they plan for of which they invest into over a two to three year period. In contrast, the syndicate process works by first selecting a target company that the syndicate lead GP believes is a good investment and then raising capital from his/her LPs for that specific investment opportunity. There is an unlimited number of opportunities an SPV lead can run as they are not limited by a fixed pool of upfront capital like a fund is, allowing the Syndicate GPs to theoretically invest in as many “good/quality” opportunities as they can find and raise capital for. This may sound great, and frankly, it is – but it’s also not as rosy as it appears for Syndicate GPs. There are very real drawbacks to this syndicate capital allocation model. For one, because LPs in SPVs are selectively choosing which companies to invest in, syndicate LPs have more control and influence in investment decision making compared to being a limited partner in a fund, where the Fund GP can have full discretion over investment decisions. This impacts us (syndicate leads) as we pass on deals that we know our LPs won’t invest in even if we believe it’s a good deal… By contrast to Fund GPs, Syndicate GPs are at the whims of their LPs in terms of how much capital they can invest into a company, and often times that amount is unevenly distributed into deals based on signaling like who are the round leads e.g. a16z, Founders Fund, etc. versus investing into a GPs’ “best” investment opportunities. Believe it or not, who is leading is often not the best criteria to evaluate a deal. But fundamentally, in a fund you are investing in a manager, while in a syndicate, you’re often investing in a mix of a manager + the startup being syndicated, which makes optimizing capital difficult for Syndicate GPs. --- Last Money In is the most actionable venture capital newsletter. Written by Zachary Ginsburg + Alex Pattis, global leaders in VC with >$200M AUM, we’ll teach you how to become more informed VC investors and gain access to the VC ecosystem, both as a fund manager and limited partner

Check out our GP, Alex Pattis on the Wannabe Angels podcast w/ Colin Gardiner talking about the Art of SPVs. https://lnkd.in/eGW7i6HQ