Fund performance: Avalon outperforms Foundry Group in Calpers portfolio

Foundry Group closed the gap, but Avalon Ventures continued to outperform the Boulder, Colorado, venture firm in California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s California Emerging Ventures portfolio, according to a recent report on investment returns.

The Foundry and Avalon funds are two of 20 vintage 2007 to 2009 investments in the largely solid portfolio. Well more than half the funds had double-digit IRRs as of September, with five above 20 percent.

Avalon Ventures III from 2007 is the top performer with an IRR of 54.2 percent as of September 2015, the report shows. The fund invested in Impath Inc, Talarian Corp and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, all of which went public, according to the Thomson Reuters database.

Close behind is Foundry Venture Capital 2007 with an IRR of 52.3 percent as of the same date. The Foundry Group fund climbed from a 41 percent IRR in June 2013. The fund invested in AdMeld, which Google acquired for $400 million in 2011, as well as Fitbit and Zynga, which both went public, according to Thomson Reuters.

Also advancing strongly is Third Rock Ventures from 2007. The fund ended September with an IRR of 32.3 percent, which is up from an 8.6 percent IRR in June 2013. The fund backed Eleven Biotherapeutics, which went public in 2014, and CytomX Therapeutics, which launched an IPO in October, according to Thomson Reuters.

Battery Ventures VIII Side Fund continued to perform nicely, improving to an IRR of 31.4 percent, according to the report. Column Group’s 2007 fund also made gains and finished September with an IRR of 24.2 percent.

Funds from Flagship Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors and Carmel Ventures also ranked well in the portfolio.

The complete list of funds is available in the accompanying table with commitments, distributions and IRRs.