GP Kim launches FoF

Michael Kim announced last week that he is leaving venture firm Rustic Canyon Partners to launch a fund-of-funds shop called Cendana Capital.

“I look at this as moving up the food chain,” says Kim, who co-founded Rustic Canyon 10 years ago. “I’ve really enjoyed my time as a venture capitalist, but now I’ll be able to invest in the best managers across a wider spectrum of investment strategies.”

Cendana will begin raising its inaugural fund-of-funds early next year, with a $250 million target. It will be opportunistic in terms of investments, with no pre-determined allocations.

“There are plenty of funds-of-funds focused on VC or focused on distressed, but we plan to be flexible and allocate on where we think the best opportunities are,” Kim says. “If that means international early stage, then that’s what we’ll commit to.”

Kim has some existing LP experience, having served as investment committee chairman at the $13 billion San Francisco Employees Retirement System. His partner on Cendana is not yet identified, except that he is based in San Francisco and currently manages a $2.5 billion fund-of-funds program.

Kim will continue to serve as an “advisory partner” with Rustic Canyon and transition his board seats to other firm staffers. —Dan Primack