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Tusk Venture Partners is preparing to launch its fourth fund as it helps early-stage technology companies navigate complex policy challenges, according to a source familiar with the effort.

Yet another venture secondaries fund has come to market as investors are betting that the owners of once highly valued start-ups will sell shares at a discount because they are desperate for liquidity.

PHX Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on B2B software companies in Arizona, has raised $25.4 million for its second fund.

The fund started operating after an initial closing in late 2021 and has since made 10 pre-seed and seed investments in companies including Sightful, Breeze, Nilus, CardinalOps, Jiga and Squire.

'There is more than $130bn of supply, and supply keeps building, but the bid prices are averaging 40% to 65% off NAV, and this is holding back any sellers in the market from transacting,' says Industry Ventures founder and CEO Hans Swildens.

The Gates Foundation’s climate venture fund raised $1.25bn for its second vintage in 2021 and $1bn for its first vintage in 2019 from billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Richard Branson and George Soros.

The fund secured commitments from a mix of LPs, including OMERS, MaRS, CIBC Innovation Banking and Alberta Enterprise Corp.

The New York firm's debut fund had backing from Bain Capital Ventures, Tiger Global and VCs such as Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and Hunter Walk and Satya Patel of Homebrew.

Prime Movers Lab, a Wyoming-based venture capital firm focused on scientific start-ups, has raised $245 million for its third early-stage fund.