DFF Ventures’ Post

With the IPO window closed (even though the markets are at all-time highs 🤔), and the unicorn M&A world has been muted because of the current US executive branch as well as the EU, not much has been distributed to LPs who generally want to be at least net neutral on cash flow (capital calls offset by distributions). We are definitely seeing more partial secondaries being done by our portfolio funds, and we at Cendana Capital encourage it if a 10-25% sale of the fund managers’ position returns a material % of their fund. In the past few months alone, we have seen two of our portfolio funds return 50-150% of their funds this way 💵 And if you are an LP looking to monetize, please reach out! We and Kline Hill Partners have a secondaries fund and are writing checks 💥 https://lnkd.in/gMq2Et_r

We are thrilled to welcome our new investor DB1 Ventures, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Börse. DB1 Ventures has led the first close of our Series A, accelerating our mission to digitise equity capital markets. Additional investors are expected to join the round in a second close in the second half of this year. Read about it here: https://lnkd.in/gFVVjtmv #capitalmarkets #fintech #ecm #seriesA #equities #digitaltransformation

Deal Announcement!!! We are very happy and more than excited to work together with John Bentinck van Schoonheten, Ilan Leshem & the rest of the superb team of Primary Portal. Excellent team work DB1 Ventures (https://lnkd.in/dFFA4nX6), very well done! Christoph Osburg Stefan Djuknic Luca Wendler Monika Fuchs Leopold Büning Ann-Catherine Hoffmann Philipp Oehlerking Yana Stoilova Stefan Maassen Eric Leupold Carsten Huth Deutsche Börse Deutsche Börse Cash Market #DB1_Ventures #ECM_Capital_Markets_Innovation #Fintech

Manchester-based FinTech Lemon is proud to announce a successful £500K pre-seed funding round led by the UK's active investor SFC Capital and supported by European early-stage specialist Pitchdrive | Early-stage VC 🚀. This investment propels Lemon forward in developing its robust platform aimed at helping SMBs to manage and reduce their SaaS costs effectively. The funding boost comes at a critical time, demonstrating the market's confidence in new FinTech solutions that address the needs of businesses globally, despite an economic downturn affecting FinTech investment trends. Lemon's subscription management tool is especially timely, as it offers a strategic way for SMBs to cut costs on essential software services in HR, marketing, and accounting. Lemon’s Co-Founder and CEO, Matt Bird, reflects on the current market conditions: "In these tough economic times, SMBs are searching for cost-effective tools to enhance their operations. With software as a major expense, we believe Lemon will play an integral role in how SMBs utilize SaaS. We're thrilled to have the backing and expertise of SFC Capital and Pitchdrive on this journey." Source: https://lnkd.in/eBYrmqfv Sign up for more news updates like this in our daily newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eskQx7Ym #fintech #donedeal #funding #seedfunding #vc #investment #investors #fintechindustry #financialservices #fintechnews

VC distributions to paid-in capital (#DPI), which measures how much capital a fund returned relative to what was invested, have sunk to a 14-year low. That's according to new PitchBook data from Marina Temkin, CFA released earlier this month. Founders might be wondering, why does this matter to me? Limited partners (investors in the venture funds) need cash distributions to recycle this cash back into new venture funds. Until we see significant liquidity through IPOs and M&As, funds with low historical DPI or limited track records are going to have a hard time raising more capital. And this is only going to make fundraising tougher for founders. Ultimately, this is one circular ecosystem. This is a critical time for #founders to ask how the #VC funds they are looking to lead their fundraising rounds are really doing. A few questions to consider - What is the VC firm's historical investment track record? How are the funds that they started investing out of 5-10 years ago doing today? Have they seen some significant successes in the past 3 years? Did they exit companies and return capital to their LPs during the boom times of 2021-2022? Make sure to do your diligence before you pick your investor! https://lnkd.in/gyCBg6dX

Great psa for #founders. You do not want to take money from a struggling fund. It cuts off the upside of your orgs growing together and has a myriad of complex downsides if the fund shuts down (traunchs cut off, asset resale, changing partners and priorities).

The mountain of dry powder — money that investors have committed to private equity and venture capital funds — has set a new record high, as firms anticipate that deal markets will continue improving. Since December 2023, private equity and venture capital funds have added $49.44 billion to their cash reserves, nearly twice as much as they did during the previous 12-month period, bringing the total to more than $2.62 trillion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. https://lnkd.in/gxqHFYYq

Great to hear Guy from Vestd talking about investment management and share schemes at Britain's Got Startups. Vestd have an equity management platform that is fully integrated with Companies House and regulated by the FCA, its easy-to-use software helps businesses manage their shares, options and schedules in real-time, and keeps an accurate live cap table. #investment #shareschemes #growthshares

bunch Raises $15.5M Series A to Build the Backbone of Private Markets Read more: https://lnkd.in/dkks4NJM #Bunch #fundraising #Funding #PrivateMarkets #Investment #Finance #Fintech #FinancialIT Marc-Oliver Knobloch

What #LPs look for in a #VCfund #VCfundraising , which Invisible Heart Ventures’ (IHV2) is embarking on this year, has become a brutal slog! Indeed, #LPs' bar for backing a #venturevehicle has risen significantly. #Allocators are #prioritizing #funds whose #predecessors 1. converted #returns into #cash, 2. remained #disciplined during the 2021 market frenzy, and 3. had a #thoughtfulstrategy around #fundsize increases. #Emergingmanagers, such as IHV2, with #uniquenetworks (built up through our impact investing market building activities in Zambia and several of the countries covered by 4IP Group Sàrl's #ImpactInvestorCircle Series (2020-24), and relevant #ImpactInvestment industry experience (2017-2024) can stand out from the pack! PitchBook recent analyst note outlines expectations for 1. #smaller #fundsizes, 2. fewer #newproducts and 3. a shakeout of mediocre #managers who struggle to #adapt. https://lnkd.in/en-AXNDA