Performance

Despite moderating deployment pace after a flurry of commitments during the peak covid years, $35bn pension still has interest piqued by venture in a constrained market.

If deals had been struck at 'market' prices instead of climate premia, net IRRs could have been been boosted by up to 7%, says new CREO Advisory report.

The $104bn pension fund is an investor in more than 150 venture funds, including vehicles managed by Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital China and Spark Capital.

Optimism on PE reigns after successful 2021, but several factors could soften valuations.

Dan Malven of 4490 Ventures says VC investing is a game of skill, but it's a lucrative skill. VC firms’ outperformance is much more broadly distributed than previously understood, he argues.

The growth-equity and late-stage heavy portfolio of the $116bn LP cratered at the beginning of the pandemic, but it largely made up lost ground and then some by mid-year, with Sequoia Capital's recovery standing out.

LPs’ fears of large markdowns in VC assets did not materialize. Valuations through Q2 are expected to either stay relatively flat or even increase, especially for late-stage focused managers.

The pension committed $20m to Summit Partners Venture Capital Fund V and saw its venture portfolio post a 21.27% return in Q4 2019.

The late-stage venture fund has reported annual unrealized losses of more than $17bn and paused marketing for Vision Fund 2.

12 new US unicorn companies arose in Q1 despite the overall value of unicorns dropping for the third quarter in a row.