CB Insights published a “teardown” of USV’s investment strategy last week. It’s a pretty solid piece of work considering they did not have access to any of our internal data.
The got some stuff wrong, however.
1) We did not participate in Zynga’s “megaround” in Feb 2011.
2) We only have six main investment vehicles;
USV 2004 – $125mm
USV 2008 – $160mm
USV Opportunity Fund – $125mm
USV 2012 – $200mm
USV 2014 – $175mm
USV Opportunity 2014 – $175mm
3) We have invested in a lot more than four YC companies. I think the number is closer to ten. I think YC is by far the investor we follow the most, particularly in recent years.
But, as I said, they did a pretty good job considering they don’t have access to our internal data. And I do not believe our limited partners are sharing our reports with them.
What this shows is that the venture capital business is becoming more transparent because so much of our investment activity, and the activity of our peers, is being tracked as it happens. When we raise a fund, that is reported (we must disclose that fact due to securities regulations). When we make an investment, that is generally announced by the portfolio company. And there are reporting requirements for that too. It is possible to do a stealth financing, but it’s not easy. When we make a follow-on investment, that is often announced and/or disclosed. And most exits are disclosed.
What is harder to figure out is what our ownership levels are in our portfolio companies. If you knew the amount we invested and the valuation of the round, you could figure that out. But that would be very hard to do accurately and consistently. I don’t think anyone is going to be able to do a teardown of a VC fund and its returns any time soon.
But even so, it’s impressive what CB Insights and others are doing to track and measure and report on VCs and their investment activities. Entrepreneurs should be able to get some third party assessment of the quality and performance of the VCs they might work with. That’s totally possible now and I think that’s a good thing.
