Hamilton Lane has closed its debut Venture Access Fund on $615.3 million, surpassing its $500 million target by 23 percent in a difficult market.
The global asset manager has raised venture capital-focused funds before, but this new vehicle was designed to attract a mix of both large institutional LPs and smaller investors from which the firm has not typically raised capital for its previous venture funds.
“This was the first fund that we put together with a broader audience in mind,” firm co-head of global venture and growth equity Miguel Luina tells Venture Capital Journal. “One of the things that we really want to do is democratize access to the venture market across our platform, and this is one of the ways we’re doing that. We create an institutional-quality portfolio that can be distributed among a wider group of investors.”
Luina declined to share the terms of VAF or name any of its LPs, but he says the fund’s investors include public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, family offices and high-net-worth individuals.
VAF received a $60 million commitment from the Illinois State Board of Investments, a $10 million commitment from the Santa Barbara County Employees’ Retirement System and a commitment for an undisclosed amount from American industrial conglomerate Textron, according to fundraising data from affiliate title Buyouts (registration required).
Regulatory filings show the fundraising was done via a domestic vehicle and international vehicle. As of November 8, VAF’s domestic vehicle raised $185 million from 24 onshore investors, while the international vehicle took in $312.8 million from 18 offshore investors, regulatory filings show. It is unclear how many total LPs the fund had at the time of its final close.
The fund will be split between fund investments and transactions, with “a little over half” of the capital going to investments primarily in early-stage venture funds, and the rest divided between co-investments and secondary purchases.
“That was very specifically designed to get what we think is the best mix of diversification and concentration of the best-performing opportunities,” Luina explains. “The fund then also has that ability to lower the overall cost, so you don’t get the same kind of fee drag that you get in a fund-of-funds portfolio, so really managing to net returns for the investors in the fund.”
Second thoughts
The transactions portion of the portfolio will see 75 percent of its capital go to secondaries deals, including direct secondaries share purchases in companies, LP fund stakes in top-performing managers and GP-led secondaries deals, including continuation vehicles. The remaining 25 percent will be co-invested across stages in deals found through Hamilton Lane’s network of venture GPs, not just those backed by VAF.
“If we have a really great early-stage investor, then we’ll do a really exciting early-stage deal with them; if we have a great late-stage investor, we’ll do an exciting late-stage deal with them,” Luina tells VCJ. “One of the benefits of this portfolio is it’s not restricted, so we can invest alongside all of the early- and late-stage managers across the entire Hamilton Lane platform. We have relationships with a really, really large number of managers in the market, so we have a lot of visibility and access to different stages and sectors.”
VAF began fundraising in late 2022 and has already completed 14 fund investments, 12 secondaries transactions and six co-investments. It did not disclose the names of the funds or companies in which it has invested.
Although it just held a final close, the fund has already begun returning capital to investors, producing a DPI multiple of 0.37x for at least one LP, according to performance data from Buyouts.
Luina says this fund is global in both its LP base and its investment strategy, adding that “the majority of our focus right now really reflects the opportunity set.”
“The majority of the fund is focused on North America, with some segments in Europe and Israel being large components of the approach, and then some exposure to the rest of the world,” he tells VCJ.
Luina declined to say if Hamilton Lane plans to raise another fund in this series anytime soon, but did say it “is a core strategy to us and in the direction that we want to take the firm.”
Based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, Hamilton Lane was founded in 1991 by Leslie Brun to act as an adviser to private equity firms. It later expanded to include separately managed accounts, funds of funds and direct investment funds across both the private and public markets.
The firm has amassed an AUM of $131.5 billion and supervises an additional $816.1 billion for its clients, including $116 billion in assets under management and supervision within its venture capital and growth equity strategy.
Hamilton Lane has closed its debut Venture Access Fund on $615.3 million, surpassing its $500 million target by 23 percent in a difficult market.
The global asset manager has raised venture capital-focused funds before, but this new vehicle was designed to attract a mix of both large institutional LPs and smaller investors from which the firm has not typically raised capital for its previous venture funds.
“This was the first fund that we put together with a broader audience in mind,” firm co-head of global venture and growth equity Miguel Luina tells Venture Capital Journal. “One of the things that we really want to do is democratize access to the venture market across our platform, and this is one of the ways we’re doing that. We create an institutional-quality portfolio that can be distributed among a wider group of investors.”
Luina declined to share the terms of VAF or name any of its LPs, but he says the fund’s investors include public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, family offices and high-net-worth individuals.
VAF received a $60 million commitment from the Illinois State Board of Investments, a $10 million commitment from the Santa Barbara County Employees’ Retirement System and a commitment for an undisclosed amount from American industrial conglomerate Textron, according to fundraising data from affiliate title Buyouts (registration required).
Regulatory filings show the fundraising was done via a domestic vehicle and international vehicle. As of November 8, VAF’s domestic vehicle raised $185 million from 24 onshore investors, while the international vehicle took in $312.8 million from 18 offshore investors, regulatory filings show. It is unclear how many total LPs the fund had at the time of its final close.
The fund will be split between fund investments and transactions, with “a little over half” of the capital going to investments primarily in early-stage venture funds, and the rest divided between co-investments and secondary purchases.
“That was very specifically designed to get what we think is the best mix of diversification and concentration of the best-performing opportunities,” Luina explains. “The fund then also has that ability to lower the overall cost, so you don’t get the same kind of fee drag that you get in a fund-of-funds portfolio, so really managing to net returns for the investors in the fund.”
Second thoughts
The transactions portion of the portfolio will see 75 percent of its capital go to secondaries deals, including direct secondaries share purchases in companies, LP fund stakes in top-performing managers and GP-led secondaries deals, including continuation vehicles. The remaining 25 percent will be co-invested across stages in deals found through Hamilton Lane’s network of venture GPs, not just those backed by VAF.
“If we have a really great early-stage investor, then we’ll do a really exciting early-stage deal with them; if we have a great late-stage investor, we’ll do an exciting late-stage deal with them,” Luina tells VCJ. “One of the benefits of this portfolio is it’s not restricted, so we can invest alongside all of the early- and late-stage managers across the entire Hamilton Lane platform. We have relationships with a really, really large number of managers in the market, so we have a lot of visibility and access to different stages and sectors.”
VAF began fundraising in late 2022 and has already completed 14 fund investments, 12 secondaries transactions and six co-investments. It did not disclose the names of the funds or companies in which it has invested.
Although it just held a final close, the fund has already begun returning capital to investors, producing a DPI multiple of 0.37x for at least one LP, according to performance data from Buyouts.
Luina says this fund is global in both its LP base and its investment strategy, adding that “the majority of our focus right now really reflects the opportunity set.”
“The majority of the fund is focused on North America, with some segments in Europe and Israel being large components of the approach, and then some exposure to the rest of the world,” he tells VCJ.
Luina declined to say if Hamilton Lane plans to raise another fund in this series anytime soon, but did say it “is a core strategy to us and in the direction that we want to take the firm.”
Based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, Hamilton Lane was founded in 1991 by Leslie Brun to act as an adviser to private equity firms. It later expanded to include separately managed accounts, funds of funds and direct investment funds across both the private and public markets.
The firm has amassed an AUM of $131.5 billion and supervises an additional $816.1 billion for its clients, including $116 billion in assets under management and supervision within its venture capital and growth equity strategy.
