Fund performance: NEA, Menlo funds show improvement in WSIB portfolio

Funds from New Enterprise Associates, Menlo Ventures and Austin Ventures have made the most progress in Washington State Investment Board’s venture portfolio, according to a recent fund performance report.

The report updates the portfolio to June 2013 and overall modest improvement took place from December 2012. Ten of the funds saw their IRRs improve while the remainder lost ground.

Among the biggest gainers was 2006 vintage New Enterprise Associates 12, which saw its IRR advance and distributions grow.

Menlo Ventures XI, a 2011 fund, also posted a respectable boost in its IRR, and the 2006 Menlo Ventures X benefitted from a rise in both its IRR and its level of distributions.

Distributions rose sharply from Austin Ventures VIII, which also showed off an improvement in its IRR.

The portfolio has 18 funds with vintages of 2000 to 2011 and is almost evenly split between funds with positive IRRs and ones with negative ones. Ten of the funds are in positive territory and eight are in negative.

The top fund of the group is Mobius Technology Ventures Side Fund VI, with an IRR of 9.35%. NEA 12 is second on the list after its IRR rose to 9.32% from 8.04%, regaining some of the ground it lost in second half of 2012. Distributions advanced $2.7 million to $19.7 million on a WSIB investment of $48.2 million.

Austin Ventures VIII posted a solid improvement with its IRR rising to 5.82% and its distributions jumping. The fund has now distributed $54.4 million on an investment of $70.6 million

Menlo Ventures XI’s IRR improved noticeably, but still is a -9.37% as the fund is just two years old. Menlo Ventures X from 2006 showed a nice jump in distributions.

At the bottom of the list is OVP Venture Partners VI, which saw its IRR plunge to -28.79%. The fund has returned only $5.6 million in distributions on an investment of $40 million.

The accompanying tablelists the funds with their distributions and IRRs from June 2013 and December 2012.