Matt Leeds’ Post

Deal by deal fundraising nothing new, but to me the takeaway here and from other trends in the sector is more involved institutional investors who want to know how their capital is being used and grown. Active managers beget active investors, and that’s no bad thing. But if you hang your hat on buy-and-build, what are you doing to show your LPs how you’re building great assets? Your next fundraising conversation may depend on it.

RiSC Capital recently held its AGM for 2023. If you have investments in a VC fund, you’ll know that the AGM is defined by one letter, and it’s not V,C,A,G, or M. It’s J. Allow me to explain, because I think this aspect of how VC funds work will be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered about how investing in a VC fund differs from other types of investment vehicles or securities (e.g., ETFs, stock portfolios, hedge funds) in terms of volatility, the timing of returns and so on. The J I mention refers to the J-curve. Picture a nice, simple chart where the x-axis is time and the y-axis is the value of the fund. Whereas the CEOs of publicly traded companies and stock portfolio managers strive to achieve a nice left-to-right upward slope on this chart, in VC, that’s simply impossible. A well-managed VC fund’s line is going to be a J. This is because when the fund opens, it starts out by making deals that simply eat up a lot of money. The funded firms aren’t yet generating significant revenue, and won’t be for a good while, so their value on a balance sheet remains low. For the first few years of every VC fund, our line on the chart plunges into negative territory. However, so long as the fund has backed some winners and is providing them with good guidance, those firms will start gaining market traction. This is where things start to get exciting. Our line begins heading back upwards, and the more businesses start succeeding, the steeper the upward curve. But until that happens, you as an investor have to live with the possibility that it never will. The J-shaped journey a successful VC fund takes means that putting money in one requires a strong stomach: you have to be able to look at falling numbers for a few years without getting queasy—not to mention without having a guarantee they’ll go back up again. And since I mentioned our AGM, in case you were wondering, I’m happy to report that RiSC is continuing to make the upward flick of a J that an elementary-school handwriting teacher would be proud of. #VC #business #development #entrepreneur

In Christopher J.'s latest column in the The Australian Financial Review, he discusses what it takes for fund managers to deliver alpha, the three companies incubating high potential fund managers, and Scarcity Partners' model of taking minority equity stakes in investment managers, providing investors access to the investment managers' businesses, not just their funds. #spstaking #investmentmanagement #privateequity

📽 At Livingbridge we take a flexible approach to investing where we have one strategy and invest from two funds. Our Enterprise Fund invests in founder-led, fast growth businesses - this is what we know and have always invested in since we started in 1999. So, we know one size almost never fits all, and isn’t it better to focus on what matters – alignment around a shared vision that we're striving towards. Get to know more about our Enterprise Fund series from Mark Advani and Shani Zindel in our video 👇 #buildbettergrowbeyond #privateequity #enterprise

📽 What does our flexible approach to investing look like? Watch our latest video to learn about our enterprise fund - one of two LB funds partnering with smaller businesses - and how we support founder-led businesses unlock their potential 🚀

I recently sat down with Shani Zindel to chat all things about our Enterprise Fund. Have a watch to learn more about how we are supporting founder-led, fast growth businesses!

Mark Advani and I have delved into the ins and outs of our Enterprise Fund, watch our latest video to learn more about our flexible approach to investing.

An insightful read from PitchBook on the largest secondary funds in the market for 2024. The article delves into the trends and key players shaping the secondary fund landscape. As the dynamics of the private equity market evolve, understanding the significance of these funds becomes crucial. #PrivateEquity #SecondaryFunds #MarketTrends #FinanceInsights

In our latest episode of Private Market Talks, we’re joined by Steven Batchelor and Martina Sanow from Hg Capital, one of the world’s largest and most successful private equity firms. Discover how they navigate PE realization and address the trend of attracting wealthy individual investors to private capital in this dynamic conversation. Listen now: https://bit.ly/45nAtXU #Proskauer #privatecapital #privateequity #investmentmanagement

Hear Steven Batchelor and I talk about two of our favourite topics! 1. The importance of DPI (cash back to investors), and 2. Expanding the product set to better cater for private investors and their advisors. Hg Hg Wealth