Union Square Ventures (USV), a 19-year-old venture company based in New York, raised USD275 million won for an eighth early-stage fund and $350 million for a fourth-chance fund, the company announced in a blog post yesterday.
When sharing news of the two new vehicles, the company’s partner Andy Weissman and the company’s general counsel, Samson Mesele, wrote that USV plans to “invest our new funds on the same thesis as the USV.” our previous funds: we are looking for opportunities in our right market Thesis 3.0. ” (USV previously wrote that this updated thesis focuses on “trusted brands that expand access to knowledge, capital, and wellbeing by leveraging networks, platforms, and protocols.” .)
Relatedly, USV will continue to invest in “both Web2 and Web3 companies and projects,” the post said.
Early last year, when Weissman announced in a similar blog post that USV had raised $250 million for Saturday core fundhe clearly wrote that as in “some of the most recent funds” of USV, the company planned to invest about 30% of its capital in crypto-related investments and intended to hold the tokens. reporting and equity in early stage blockchain related projects.
One of the newer, related bets is Polygon, a platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. (USV, which has forayed into crypto before most companies, was also an early investor in Coinbase and owned 8.2% of Class B shares at the time of its direct offering last year.)
Some of the newer USV bets include Slope, an API developer that allows retailers to offer buy now – pay later; a two-year-old Egyptian electric mobility startup called Shift EV aims to convert fuel-powered vehicles into battery-powered EVs design and manufacture; Alife, a two-year-old startup based in San Francisco is trying to efficiency improvement AI-based in vitro fertilization; and Gumball, a two-year-old podcast ad marketplace based in LA founded by podcast company Headgum.
USV, also closed first climate fund last year with $162 million in capital commitments, has seen its exit rate over the years. Just last month, the three-year-old stock trading platform Public bought Otis, a startup that allows individual investors to buy prorated ownership of alternative assets, including NFTs and sports memorabilia. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Crunchbase data shows that Otis has raised $16.5 million from investors, including from USV and Maveron.
In addition to Coinbase, other popular USV bookmakers include Etsy and Twitter, companies that USV owns more than 15% and at least 5% respectively at the time of the public offering, according to their S-1 filings. .
Indeed, USV co-founder Fred Wilson remains active on Twitter and tweeted Earlier this month, he believes Twitter is “too important to be owned and controlled by a single person. The opposite will happen. Twitter should be decentralized as a protocol that powers the ecosystem of media products and services. “
After Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company was accepted by the board earlier this week, Wilson softened his stance in his newsletter, writing: “I continue to believe that a person owns a One of the most important communication protocols of the Internet is a bad idea, but maybe it can be the bridge to something better.”
According to SEC filings for new funds, Wilson, Weissman, are listed as managing members, along with longtime chief executive Albert Wenger, general partners Rebecca Kaden and Nick Grossman and also Mesele (who joined). outfit last year) and USV’s longtime chief financial officer, Kerri Rachlin, who was not previously included in the company’s SEC fund register. (USV says the two have “joined a USV partnership related to the 2022 Fund.”)
John Buttrick, who joined USV in 2010 and was included in SEC forms involving the company’s seventh top fund, was not listed.
