It’s a rare treat to peak behind the curtain and see how venture capital funds are performing for their investors.
Last year, Eric made a public records request to UTIMCO, the Texas public investment fund for the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems. He wrote about those returns here.
Newcomer decided to check back in on how these funds were doing today with a new records request. Out of the dozens of VC and PE funds UTIMCO invests in, we are highlighting data from some of UTIMCO’s most well-known firms — Sequoia, Union Square Ventures, IA Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, and GGV Capital.
We also requested data on year-over-year fund performance, from November 2022, November 2021, and November 2020. So this go-around we’re focusing on how estimates for fund performance have changed over time, given Silicon Valley’s extended downturn.
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Union Square Ventures and IA Ventures are among the strongest performing UTIMCO-backed venture capital firms with overall internal rates of return (IRR) of 59.25% and 42.99% respectively.
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UTIMCO’s estimates for venture capital firms’ IRRs are generally trending downward, though firms like USV and Sequoia have done a better job forecasting to UTIMCO how their IRR is shaping out for a given fund.
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UTIMCO’s portfolio is being impacted by the U.S. government’s push to have American venture firms break up with their Chinese counterparts. The Texas fund is a major investor in Sequoia and GGV. (Sequoia has spun out its Chinese arm and GGV is in the process of doing so.) All of the UTIMCO-backed GGV funds have a positive IRR, with an average of 17.29%.
This post includes charts chronicling how IRR estimates for Sequoia, Union Square Ventures, Forerunner, GGV, and IA Ventures have fluctuated over time. We also include the raw tables from UTIMCO’s reports so you can see them for yourselves.
Up next for paid subscribers is a chart chronicling how a number of pivotal venture firms are performing so far, sorted by their vintage. This post is likely too long to read in your email so paid subscribers can read the whole post at newcomer.co/p/venture-capital-returns-revealed.
