Fund performance: Mid-decade venture returns show stability amid tumult

Returns at mid-decade venture funds showed surprising stability last year even as valuations compressed and stock markets adjusted, if a Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board portfolio is a guide.

Returns at the nearly two dozen funds that MassPRIM holds with vintages of 2003 to 2006 shifted only slightly in most cases, with about 60 percent of the funds gaining ground and 40 percent seeing a performance decline over the previous 24 months. This is according to a recent portfolio report from the pension manager.

The portfolio, which favors early- and multi-stage funds, shows respectable, if not eye-catching, performance overall. More than 80 percent of the funds have positive IRRs. Yet only four funds have IRRs above 20 percent.

The top fund is Union Square Ventures 2004, which as of December 2015 had an IRR of 67.69 percent, according to the report. Second on the list was Insight Venture Partners V Coinvestment from 2005 with an IRR of 26.37 percent as of December.

Summit Partners Venture Capital Fund II-A came in third. Its IRR was 21.02 percent as of December, according to the report.

The fund with the greatest improvement was Menlo Ventures X, which ended the period with an IRR of 10.90 percent.

The accompanying table lists the 23 funds with their year-end IRRs for 2015, 2013 and 2011.