TCV, Spark, Polaris lead mid-decade portfolio for LA pension

Funds from Technology Crossover Ventures, Spark Capital and Polaris Partners lead a portfolio of mid-decade venture funds at the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System.

The portfolio, with vintages of 2004 to 2006, favors mid-sized funds with a multi-stage approach to investing. Two-thirds of the funds are between $100 million and $400 million, and half invest across stages. Another third focus on early-stage deals and three of the 12 funds are larger, ranging from $900 million to more than $2.5 billion.

Overall, performance is poor. A third of the funds were in the red as of June 2017 and only one had an IRR in the double digits, according to a public report. The majority had single-digit IRRs ranging from 0.4 percent to 8.9 percent.

The top performer as of June 2017 was TCV V from 2004 with an IRR of 10.7 percent, the report shows. Distributions were about 1.5x invested capital.

The $900 million fund was an investor in a number of portfolio companies that went public, including Renren, TechTarget and Zillow, among others, according to Thomson Reuters.

Following it was Spark Capital I from 2005 with an IRR of 8.9 percent. Polaris Venture Partners V came next with an IRR of 8.1 percent, the report shows.

The portfolio also has funds from Cardinal Health, Sterling Partners, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures and Trident Capital.

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