When we published our first Guide to VC Secondaries Buyers in July, we committed to updating it whenever we learned of new buyers. Little did we know how often we would be making updates. Our original guide included 12 firms that collectively managed about $52 billion in secondaries capital, including for venture secondaries. It has now grown to 20 firms that manage a combined $66.7 billion in secondaries capital.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see our guide grow even more in coming months. With the IPO and M&A markets stalled for the foreseeable future, both venture firms and start-up founders are increasingly turning to the secondaries market to generate liquidity.
The newest additions to our guide are Adams Street Partners, a longtime fund of funds manager and secondaries investor, and Opportuna, an emerging manager. We spoke to both firms this week to get details on their secondaries programs.
Adams Street Partners
Adams Street Partners recently closed on $1.2 billion for its fourth Venture Innovation Fund, a fund family it has been raising since 2016 when it closed on $231.29 million for the family’s debut vehicle. The firm has been engaging in direct venture fund investments through its fund of funds portfolio since 1979, and has more recently begun acquiring LP fund stakes on the secondary market.
Brijesh Jeevarathnam, a partner and global head of fund investments at Adams Street, tells us he spends most of his time evaluating direct investments in venture funds, as well as venture capital co-investments and secondary investments. He explained to Venture Capital Journal how the $1.2 billion for VIF IV, 40 percent larger than its predecessor, will be split up.
“It’s two legal entities, and the numbers are $1 billion and $200 million,” Jeevarathnam says. “The $200 million is all going to go to co-investments, and the $1 billion will do two things: invest in funds and invest in secondaries, and it will be up to 15 percent secondaries. So the numbers are $850 million into funds, $150 million into secondaries and $200 million into co-investments.”
Jeevarathnam goes on to explain that Adams Street’s secondaries strategy is primarily focused on LP fund stakes. He says the firm does engage in a small number of direct secondaries investments – acquiring the shares of founders, employees or early investors in start-ups that have reached some level of maturity – but those deals are part of Adams Street’s co-investment portfolio.
Opportuna
Opportuna is a foil to Adams Street in almost every way. The firm, based in Zurich, Switzerland, was founded in June and is raising a $5 million special purpose vehicle to prove out its thesis. If the SPV is successful, it plans to raise another $25 million to continue with the strategy. In contrast to Adams Street’s focus on LP fund stakes, Opportuna invests only in small-ticket direct secondaries deals. It plans to make five such investments in the next six months out of its inaugural SPV.
Opportuna was co-founded by Alban Cousin, a 16-year veteran of public markets investing who most recently served as a portfolio manager at long-only equity manager Ownership Capital. His co-founders are Robin Lauber and Christopher Chuffart, both partners at early-stage consumer and fintech investor Prediction Capital.
Cousin and his co-founders plan to leverage their backgrounds and a deep bench of advisers to find compelling deals in climate tech and tech companies in sectors including cybersecurity, semiconductors, software, fintech and gaming. Cousin points to the changing liquidity timelines felt across the venture ecosystem as a white space for his firm to capitalize on.
“Semiconductors and climate tech take much longer to incubate, so my suspicion is that the VC firms will have to sell earlier than they want, before the full maturity of the asset, so we will have opportunities in these verticals,” he tells VCJ.
Read more about Opportuna here and keep an eye out for a full story on Adams Street soon.
If you know of any firms missing from our secondaries guide, please shoot an e-mail to ryan.h@pei.group.
When we published our first Guide to VC Secondaries Buyers in July, we committed to updating it whenever we learned of new buyers. Little did we know how often we would be making updates. Our original guide included 12 firms that collectively managed about $52 billion in secondaries capital, including for venture secondaries. It has now grown to 20 firms that manage a combined $66.7 billion in secondaries capital.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see our guide grow even more in coming months. With the IPO and M&A markets stalled for the foreseeable future, both venture firms and start-up founders are increasingly turning to the secondaries market to generate liquidity.
The newest additions to our guide are Adams Street Partners, a longtime fund of funds manager and secondaries investor, and Opportuna, an emerging manager. We spoke to both firms this week to get details on their secondaries programs.
Adams Street Partners
Adams Street Partners recently closed on $1.2 billion for its fourth Venture Innovation Fund, a fund family it has been raising since 2016 when it closed on $231.29 million for the family’s debut vehicle. The firm has been engaging in direct venture fund investments through its fund of funds portfolio since 1979, and has more recently begun acquiring LP fund stakes on the secondary market.
Brijesh Jeevarathnam, a partner and global head of fund investments at Adams Street, tells us he spends most of his time evaluating direct investments in venture funds, as well as venture capital co-investments and secondary investments. He explained to Venture Capital Journal how the $1.2 billion for VIF IV, 40 percent larger than its predecessor, will be split up.
“It’s two legal entities, and the numbers are $1 billion and $200 million,” Jeevarathnam says. “The $200 million is all going to go to co-investments, and the $1 billion will do two things: invest in funds and invest in secondaries, and it will be up to 15 percent secondaries. So the numbers are $850 million into funds, $150 million into secondaries and $200 million into co-investments.”
Jeevarathnam goes on to explain that Adams Street’s secondaries strategy is primarily focused on LP fund stakes. He says the firm does engage in a small number of direct secondaries investments – acquiring the shares of founders, employees or early investors in start-ups that have reached some level of maturity – but those deals are part of Adams Street’s co-investment portfolio.
Opportuna
Opportuna is a foil to Adams Street in almost every way. The firm, based in Zurich, Switzerland, was founded in June and is raising a $5 million special purpose vehicle to prove out its thesis. If the SPV is successful, it plans to raise another $25 million to continue with the strategy. In contrast to Adams Street’s focus on LP fund stakes, Opportuna invests only in small-ticket direct secondaries deals. It plans to make five such investments in the next six months out of its inaugural SPV.
Opportuna was co-founded by Alban Cousin, a 16-year veteran of public markets investing who most recently served as a portfolio manager at long-only equity manager Ownership Capital. His co-founders are Robin Lauber and Christopher Chuffart, both partners at early-stage consumer and fintech investor Prediction Capital.
Cousin and his co-founders plan to leverage their backgrounds and a deep bench of advisers to find compelling deals in climate tech and tech companies in sectors including cybersecurity, semiconductors, software, fintech and gaming. Cousin points to the changing liquidity timelines felt across the venture ecosystem as a white space for his firm to capitalize on.
“Semiconductors and climate tech take much longer to incubate, so my suspicion is that the VC firms will have to sell earlier than they want, before the full maturity of the asset, so we will have opportunities in these verticals,” he tells VCJ.
Read more about Opportuna here and keep an eye out for a full story on Adams Street soon.
If you know of any firms missing from our secondaries guide, please shoot an e-mail to ryan.h@pei.group.
