Index, 5AM, Battery top maturing venture portfolio at CalPERS

Funds from Index Ventures, 5AM Ventures and Battery Ventures top a portfolio of maturing venture funds at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

The portfolio of 2004 vintages favors early-stage strategies, and mid-sized to smaller funds. Five of the nine funds range from $300 million to $475 million, and two-thirds of the portfolio target early-stage deals.

Worth noting is that two of the larger, more successful funds, from Index and Battery, invest in deals across stages.

Overall, performance is unimpressive. Only two of the funds had IRRs in the double-digits as of March 2017 and both were in the teens, according to a public portfolio report. More than half the funds had single digit IRRs.

The top performer as of March was Index Ventures III with an IRR of 15.9 percent, the report shows. Distributions were more than 2x invested capital. The fund was an investor in Climate Corp, a provider of data analytics for the agricultural industry and which Monsanto purchased for $930 million in cash in 2013.

Next was 5AM Ventures with an IRR of 12.4 percent. Battery Ventures VII followed with an IRR of 9.7 percent, the report shows.

The portfolio holds additional funds from Updata Partners, Three Arch Partners and Rho Capital Partners.

The portfolio is available in the attached spreadsheet with commitments, distributions and IRRs.