Your Techstars Venture Capital Weekly Digest is here! (Issue #46)

US venture capital funds have raised a combined $69.1 billion in 2020, edging past a 2018 record and defying the odds amid a pandemic-rattled economy.

Limited Partners (LPs) use various filters and metrics to assess how investable a venture fund is. One of the more heuristic measures is assessing the GP’s alignment with them through the percentage of a fund’s commitments that the general partner(s) themselves contribute — In VC this is typically 1–3% of total fund commitments.

As you’d expect, LPs typically prefer fund managers with higher GP commitments as % of the fund (“skin the game” concept)

Spearhead announced today that it has raised $100 million for its fourth fund. The basic outline of the program remains the same, but what’s changed is what happens after the formal Spearhead program has finished. “Top-performing founders” will now get $5 million to stake a follow-on rolling fund, as determined by an LP committee.

When COVID-19 hit Latin America, it shut down economies, closed borders and brought an instantaneous shift to remote work. Startups have had to make critical decisions surrounding cost-cutting, layoffs and doing everything possible to extend their runway. While some have already shut down operations, others have found ways to reinvent themselves, pivoting their business models to address drastic changes in consumer behaviors.

Researcher and author Johannes Lenhard writes that for LPs, the evidence is not necessarily enough yet to really put pressure on GPs to enact ESG principles, but they are starting to feel the heat.

“We are heads down building product” is a line I hear often, particularly from seed-stage companies. “We are not fundraising right now, can I reach out to you when we are ready?” We get it — talking…

Back in 2012, when I raised $1.6M in funding for Clarity.fm, I insisted on squeezing more out of my investors. When I put together the final cap table, I made it clear that I also wanted…

Techstars Austin MD and Sell More Faster author Amos Schwartzfarb shows startup founders how to create a robust sales process and build a great sales team