US PE/VC Benchmark Commentary: Calendar Year 2023
Cambridge Associates
Focused on Driving Long-Term Performance
One of the biggest myths in venture capital (VC) investing is that established funds are the only way to generate outperformance.
How We Invest
With the wide dispersion of returns present in venture capital investing, investors need to feel confident that they are aiming for top-quartile returns. Rigorous due diligence and skilled manager selection are critical for building a successful venture capital portfolio.
*As of June 30, 2024.
Why Cambridge Associates?
As an early pioneer in alternative asset investing, we introduced our first clients, a group of sophisticated US endowments, to venture capital investing in the late 1970s. Over the five decades since, we have continually built the resources, relationships, and platform needed to help find and track best-in-class venture funds that will drive outperformance for our clients.
Our Approach
While venture capital investing often connotes established, access-constrained funds, a majority of the top-quartile performers in a given vintage year are actually emerging managers raising one of their first few funds.
Our deep global networks, built over 50 years of investing in venture capital, often make us the first stop for these individuals who spin out of their prior firms to set up their own shops. And our knowledge of those portfolio managers—along with deal-level information tracked in our proprietary database—helps us to glean insights on those spin-outs based on the managers’ histories.
Forward-Thinking Insights
Read our latest thinking on venture capital