Fund performance: Big gains from Foundry, ARCH lead mid-life portfolio

Big gains from Foundry Group and ARCH Venture Partners highlight the strong performance of a mid-life venture portfolio at the University of Texas Investment Management Company.

Impressive gains from Gobi Partners and Correlation Ventures also stand out. Among the funds losing ground is IA Ventures’ first fund.

The funds are among 17 vintage 2007 to 2010 venture funds held by UTIMCO. The portfolio favors smaller early-stage funds with nearly 60 percent under $250 million in size.

Overall, the portfolio shows solid returns. All but two of the funds are in positive territory and more than half had IRRs above 20 percent, according to a portfolio report updating results to August 2015.

Union Square Ventures Opportunity Fund from 2010 held the lead in the portfolio with an IRR of 59.62 percent, the report shows. However it lost a little ground over the previous nine months, as did Union Square Ventures‘ 2008 fund.

Spark Capital II held second place, but only by a nose over Foundry Venture Capital 2007, which advanced smartly. The Foundry Group fund had an IRR of 52.98 percent as of August, up from 36.7 percent in November 2014. The fund was an investor in AdMeld, Fitbit and Zynga, among other companies, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

ARCH Venture Fund VII, in fourth place, also gained impressively. The 2007 fund’s IRR was 47.17 percent in August, up from 31.74 percent in November.

Gobi Fund II and Correlation Ventures from 2010 moved ahead nicely.

One fund losing ground was IA Ventures Strategies Fund I from 2010. The fund saw its IRR slip to 46.82 percent from 67.52 percent.

The full list of 17 funds is available in the accompanying table with commitments, distributions and IRRs.