In This Article:
While many venture managers are struggling to convince their LPs to back a fund that's meaningfully larger than its predecessor, early-stage-focused RTP Global didn't face the same issue. The reason: It had plenty of its own capital to reinvest.
The firm announced Wednesday that it raised a $1 billion fourth fund, a nearly 54% increase from its $650 million vehicle raised in 2020.
RTP was not constrained by LPs' overallocation to venture simply because it didn't have many outside LPs. The firm's main investor has always been its founder, Russia-born entrepreneur Leonid Boguslavsky, who started RTP with $1 million of his own capital in 2000.
"That $1 million has ballooned into the several billion in [assets under management] we have today," said Julius Schwerin, a US-based investment partner with RTP. Since the firm doesn't have many LPs, it didn't have to share its returns with others and was able to reinvest most of its proceeds into each subsequent vehicle.
About 10 of the 110 startups RTP has backed have grown into multibillion-dollar businesses. The firm's biggest successes include early investments in now-public Datadog and Delivery Hero as well as India-based credit card company Cred, last valued at $4 billion.
RTP's fourth fund will continue to back seed-stage and Series A companies across the globe, with particular emphasis on North American, European, Indian and Southeast Asian startups.
While the firm is sector-agnostic, investments from the latest fund will likely focus on AI and machine learning, enterprise software, fintech, ecommerce and edtech businesses.
"We let each partner play to his or her strengths," Schwerin said about the firm's six partners disbursed through the firm's New York, London, Paris, Dubai and Bengaluru offices. "In the US, we're predominantly enterprise software. In Europe, we do a little bit more consumer, and in India, we're more consumer than enterprise-oriented."
Featured image by Rafael Henrique/Getty Images
This article originally appeared on PitchBook News