Firms & Funds

Fund performance: Emerging managers continue to outperform for UTIMCO

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UTIMCO, venture capital fund
US$1 bills are displayed. Photo courtesy Reuters/Mark Blinch

A group of emerging managers with outperforming funds continues to benefit University of Texas Investment Management Co’s late-decade venture portfolio.

Funds from Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital, Foundry Group and IA Ventures lead the portfolio of vintage 2007 to 2010 funds, though the performance of each fund retreated slightly in the university’s latest performance report.

ARCH Venture Partners and Morgenthaler Ventures (which is now known as Canvas Ventures) also are top performers.

The UTIMCO portfolio boasts unusually strong returns. Fifteen of the 17 funds are in positive territory, with 10 of them supporting double-digit IRRs as of February 2016, according to the latest performance report.

Although the majority saw IRRs pull back in the six months ended in February, the adjustments were largely modest.

The top performer remains Union Square Ventures Opportunity Fund, which as of February had an IRR of 56.99 percent, the report shows. Distributions from the fund have been strong. The fund invested in LendingClub in 2011, Thomson Reuters data shows. LendingClub went public in late 2014.

Distributions are also strong from Spark Capital II, the second-place fund in the portfolio. The fund’s IRR was 52.74 percent in February. The fund, which raised nearly $365 million, backed Twitter, which went public, as well as AdMeld and Boxee, which were acquired, according to Thomson Reuters.

Foundry Venture Capital 2007 wasn’t far behind with an IRR of 48.96 percent, according to the report, followed by IA Ventures Strategy Fund I. The IA Ventures fund had an IRR of 44.61 percent, though distributions were lagging. The 2007 fund invested in Fitbit and Zynga, which both IPO’d, as well as AdMeld.

The latest UTIMCO report shows a pair of Correlation Ventures funds improving, but with only lackluster performance. And a pair of Intellectual Ventures funds are still deep in the red.

All 17 funds are included in the accompanying table with commitments, distributions and IRRs.