Nearly 10 years ago, in April 2015, I published a blog called “Confronting the ‘S’ word: Dealing with general partner succession.” As the founder and managing partner of Vintage, I wanted to ensure that Vintage would survive after I retire.
Succession management is more critical now than ever before.
[The succession process] requires an open and genuine dialogue between the senior retiring and incoming management teams.
Implementing the succession process early: A fund management team needs to start the process and implement the mechanisms at least five to seven years before the current leadership team transitions out.
It is common for the founding or the current managing partner to start phasing out in their late 50s or early 60s.
Last week, my colleague Aria Alamalhodaei wrote an exclusive on defense and space tech venture firm Countdown Capital’s plan to shut down.
But Countdown shutting down is likely more of an isolated event than a sign of what’s to come for micro funds this year.
That’s changed today, and it isn’t surprising given the sheer amount of capital it takes to get defense startups off the ground; the costs are incomparable to a category like SaaS.
This is also why Countdown’s fate doesn’t portend cloudy skies for micro funds in other categories.
So despite the category heating up, a $500,000 check can still net a firm meaningful ownership at the pre-seed stage, they said.
But because of the country’s naturally dry and biodiverse climate, it’s particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events that have been exacerbated by climate change.
Australia has experienced its fair share of a climate catastrophes, which has only fueled its climate tech startups into action.
The hype for climate tech in Australia is real, as long as it can be sustained.
Local VCs are most excited about the sector this year, with climate and cleantech dominating in funding and deal count in Q3 2023.
In 2022, climate tech in Australia raised $553 million in capital, compared to $338 million in 2021, according to a report from Climate Salad, a community of Australian climate tech stakeholders.
What is happening with all these new venture funds?
A growing number of venture firms may be uncorking champagne ahead of the New Year.
Today, a handful of investment firms announced new funds: Artis Ventures, BoxGroup, Playground Global and Singular all closed on funds, while Partech said it was launching a €360 million venture fund.
Steph Choo, a partner at the venture firm Portage, maintains that it’s still a “tough fundraising environment.” She thinks what we’re seeing is the result of continued interest in funds with strong track records and distributions to paid-in capital.
), which may drive renewed interest next year.”In the meantime, LPs may not be responding so much to what’s around the corner in 2024 but looking across the longer horizon, particularly given that venture funds typically invest across a 10-year period.
The new funds come two years after BoxGroup raised $255 million for its fifth early-stage fund and second opportunity fund.
The sixth early-stage fund is almost double the fifth one, Tisch notes.
“For our early-stage fund, we grew, which in this environment, is of note,” Tisch said.
“In fact, it’s a pretty significant growth of the early-stage fund.
Similar to previous funds, Tisch expects to inject capital from the new funds into 40 to 50 new startups, writing check sizes between $500,000 and $1 million.
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