The road already traveled: Why invest in startup follow-on rounds?
Today, access to quality investment opportunities are no longer a luxury reserved for the well-connected. Everything from startups to real estate development projects are now available to the masses for investment. This access has garnered lots of attention from prominent investment thought leaders. One of the biggest issues they’re grappling with is how to educate the public to make sure they are investing responsibly in these new, often risky asset classes. In this post, we’re going to talk about what Brad Feld refers to as a new, official trend in the world of venture capital. The Opportunity What’s this new trend we speak of? In January 2011, Union Square Ventures launched their first “Opportunity Fund.” The fund was formed to invest exclusively in USV portfolio companies raising follow-on rounds of investment. This investment strategy was born out of the realization that a majority of returns in a fund are generated by a small number of the portfolio companies. Fred Wilson, USV’s founder and managing partner described the rationale behind launching the fund in 4 basic points: “This fund is meant to...
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