Fund performance: IVP leads mid-decade venture portfolio for San Francisco Employees’

IVP’s 2007 fund handily leads a mid-decade venture portfolio at San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System.

The late-stage fund edges out competition from Landmark Partners’ secondary fund from several years earlier, but its advantage over the rest of the pack is substantial, according to a recent performance report.

The SFERS portfolio is made up of 13 funds with vintages of 2002 to 2007 and favors midsize and larger funds. It brings a diversified approach to fund selection, with several multi- and early-stage funds and a pair of funds-of-funds and late-stage funds.

The portfolio report, which updates its performance to December 2015, shows that returns at almost two-thirds of the funds declined during the previous 12 months as GPs became more cautious about valuations. Still, the declines were modest more often than not.

IVP’s 12th fund held the top spot with an IRR of 26.7 percent as of December, the report shows. Distributions have been significant.

The fund was an investor in Twitter and Zynga, which went public, as well as Kayak, which Priceline acquired a few months after it went public, Thomson Reuters data shows. Fund XII also backed Aster Data Systems, Data Domain and ngmoco, among others.

Landmark Equity Partners XII from 2004 also has done well. It had an IRR of 25 percent as of December, an improvement.

Sofinnova Venture Partners VII and Weathergage Venture Capital follow with IRRs of 17.5 percent and 14.8 percent, respectively. Both funds are vintage 2007.

Technology Partners Fund VIII made a nice gain over the period while Capital International Private Equity Fund V lost ground.

The table accompanying this story lists the 13 funds with their distributions, capital commitments and IRRs.