Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners, revisits her conversation from 2023 with David Clark, Investment Director at VenCap International plc. In this episode, she and co-host Nick Chirls, Partner at Asylum Ventures, dive into David’s nearly four decades of experience in investing in some of the most established VC funds across the US, Europe, China and India. David shares historical figures on where to find performance in venture and his findings from a recently uncovered 30 year trove of data from 400+ funds with 15,000+ underlying portfolio companies. In this data set, he found that 50% of VC investments don’t actually return capital. So how does an LP unlock performance and find the enduring managers?

Learn more about Sapphire Partners: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners⁠⁠⁠⁠

Learn more about OpenLP: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://openlp.vc⁠⁠⁠⁠

Learn more about Asylum Ventures: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://asylum.vc⁠⁠⁠

Learn more about VenCap: https://www.vencap.com/

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CHAPTERS:

0:00 Welcome to Origins

2:46 30 Years of Data at VenCap

6:10 Almost Always Working With Established Managers

11:19 A Very High Breakage Rate Between Funds One & Two

16:01 Figuring Out Who the Next Great Ones Are

24:41 Having At Least One Company That Returns the Entire Fund

31:26 Building an LP Program

36:18 Building a Program Where DPI Matters

42:06 Looking Back On Predictions for 2024

50:49 Looking for GPs to Get Ahead of the Curve

Origins is produced by Sapphire Ventures in partnership with⁠⁠ Pod People.⁠

Nothing presented herein is intended to constitute investment advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures, LLC (“Sapphire”). Any offer or solicitation of securities by Sapphire may only be made in accordance with the current offering documents for a managed Fund in which Sapphire is an advisor. Additionally, Sapphire does not solicit or make its services available to the public; such offerings may only be provided to accredited investors and qualified purchasers defined within the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. Information provided reflects Sapphire Ventures’ views as of a particular time. Such views are subject to change at any point and Sapphire Ventures shall not be obligated to provide notice of any change. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events, results or the actual experience may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in these statements. While Sapphire Ventures has used reasonable efforts to obtain information from reliable sources, Sapphire makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of third party information presented herein. Nothing presented herein may be relied upon as a guarantee or assurance as to the future success of any particular investment opportunity or strategy. Past performance is not indicative of future results.