The bull market is over… What are the implications for venture capital? ­­­­­­

The decade-long bull run is over, and while it's uncertain how the markets will play out over the next 12-18 months, history gives us insight, and VC must adjust....

Solo Venture Capitalists Go Big

Solo GPs increasingly have some serious muscle behind them. Kate Clark of the Information explores....

I No Longer Want to Be a Venture Capitalist

"I just don’t have that knowledge and expertise to justify allocation on [a founder's] cap table... I can, however, add value to an investor’s cap table." One woman's journey from a VC to a Fund-o...

The Great Venture-Capital Resignation is Underway

DIY... *venture style.* "A growing number of influential investors plan to rely on their distinct brands and deep networks to raise individual funds as they call it quits at some of the most respecte...

Predictions For 2022 According To Emerging Managers In VC

What does the emerging manager community predict for venture in 2022? Heather Hartnett of Human Ventures helpfully compiles some thoughts from fellow emerging managers....

Operators Are The New ‘It’ VCs: 10 Lessons On Making The Transition

Operators may be the new ‘it’ VCs, but that doesn't mean it's all smooth sailing. Here are 10 lessons on making the transition from operator to investor, compliments of Deena Shakir and Ann Bordet...

More Startup CEOs Are Moonlighting as VC Investors

Adding to the burgeoning ranks of nontraditional venture investors? Startup CEOs! The Information dives deep on the proliferation of "startup CEOs moonlighting as VC investors."...

A Comeback of the First-Time Venture Fund? Stay Tuned

"More debut-fund managers are striking out on their own, emboldened by strong returns in the markets... Also, fund investors are looking for ways to back emerging venture firms, which, research shows,...

A Guide To Programs For Emerging Managers

With the explosive growth of the emerging manager ecosystem, a wealth of programs have emerged to support aspiring VCs. Here are the top programs on offer....

VC is performing better than ever. Why are so few first-time funds being raised?

2020 was a record year for venture fundraising, with nearly $80 billion of fresh capital, and this year is on pace to crack $100 billion. But fundraising by first-time managers hasn't been keeping pac...

7 Truths Across Venture Investing Stages

People often talk about how different the pre-seed stage is from Series A and later stage investing. The focus of this post is the opposite: Highlighting things that are true across stages of investin...

Discovering the Next-Gen of Top Venture Investors

On this episode of the Venture Unlocked podcast, Samir Kaji chats with Apurva Mehta, Managing Partner at Summit Peak Investments....

The Rise of Challenger VCs: What LPs Need to Know About This New Bet in Early Stage Venture

A guide for LPs to spot opportunities in revenue based financing, profit sharing and other emerging forms of early stage venture financing...

Announcing the Black Venture Institute

Today, we are thrilled to announce our newest and largest program yet: the Black Venture Institute. We’ve been busy working on this initiative all summer with incredible partners that include Oper...

The use of placement agents for Emerging fund managers

For emerging managers, the actual capital raise of a fund represents the most significant friction point for getting off the ground (and early on, scaling a firm). This issue has prevented many aspiri...

A New Platform For Emerging Managers

Previously, we examined the unmet needs of micro-VC and emerging managers, and the opportunities this may bring for an enterprising, emerging manager-focused LP....

Use of Capital call lines for Emerging Managers during economic downturns

The use of capital call lines by venture capital funds has seen a dramatic increase over the last few decades --- Today >50% of VC funds that qualify are using these lines....

‘A perfect storm for first time managers,’ say VCs with their own shops

Until very recently, it had begun to seem like anyone with a thick enough checkbook and some key contacts in the startup world could not only fund companies as an angel investor but even put himself o...

Emerging Manager Q&A mailbag

I’ve spent a considerable amount of my shelter in place time having discussions with some very smart people in the market about what this economic dislocation might mean for the emerging venture fun...

The Hard Questions Venture Capital GPs Need to Be Prepared For

As a GP, courting LPs can be a very ambiguous process. You might go in with the full range of optimism and skepticism. Regardless, if you haven’t done the inner work of evaluating yourself, your par...

A data driven view of Emerging VC

Recently, we surveyed a group of US emerging manager venture firms to assess a variety of metrics including performance, fundraising experiences, and portfolio construction strategies....

Due Diligence the VCs: Part Two, The Founder Perspective

I started off my previous post with an acknowledgement of a few trends, including the institutionalization of pre-seed and the increase of early stage capital generally. Despite, or perhaps because of...

Micro-VCs: A worthwhile investment?

This article presents a top-down analysis of the Micro-VC space in the US and Europe, defined as venture capital funds under $100 million. The article seeks to answer the key question of whether Micro...

A New VC Crop of Series A Firms

Believe it or not, this will now be the second blog post on this site about a billion-dollar exit for a shaving-related startup. It was just about three years ago when the startup world learned that U...

The A to Z on Series A: Part Three | The Exit

This is our third and final post on Series A investing. As a quick recap, in addition to direct growth-stage investing, Sapphire Ventures invests in early-stage venture funds, specifically those focus...

How To Win In Micro VC

In the business of investing, ownership matters — a lot! At Accolade Partners, a private equity fund of funds, we believe that portfolio company ownership is a significant driver of returns in t...

The A to Z on Series A: Part Two

In my first post on Series A investing, we looked at active investors at the A-level and found that while there’s a recent downward trend in the number of Series A deals done, there are three times ...

The A To Z On Series A: Part One

At Sapphire, as a matter of good investment discipline (and our personal love for geeking out over venture data), we routinely set aside time to stress test our investment assumptions. And as many of ...

What You Need To Think About Before Starting A Venture Firm

Along with the reasons I’ve previously discussed, this list and chart below clearly suggest that becoming a venture investor (or more specifically a seed stage VC) is easier than it’s ever been. Y...

What You Need To Know Before Raising A Micro-VC Fund Today

Although I’ve never raised a venture fund myself, I can claim having worked closely with managers on nearly 200 fund raises over the past 5+ years. These raises, coinciding with the incredible growt...

Emerging Managers: Minefields Or Diamond Mines?

Are emerging managers risky? Many investors in venture funds treat them as if they are not only risky but toxically so. And yet, we find that many of the best performing funds of all time have been �...

Cheap Startup Costs For Tech Firms And Low Valuations Made Micro-VC Irresistible

We spoke to the best and brightest in private equity on the West Coast and beyond - Here's Judith Elsea of Weathergage Capital SuperInvestor US 2016 took place at the Four Seasons in San Francisco, 1-...

Emerging Managers Can Bring Top-Tier Returns

You asked and we answered. More emerging managers than ever seem to be raising venture funds. And so a number of readers emailed their questions of how to stand out in a crowded fundraising market. ...