Sapphire Partners

Only 17% of emerging managers historically go from Fund I to a Fund IV, and Carta's recent report reveals that it’s more challenging than ever right now for GPs to raise. Sapphire Partners’ Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson shared her perspective with Bloomberg’s Katie Roof on how LPs are navigating the climate, noting that they are increasingly turning to established firms with a history of delivering returns, underscoring the growing disparity in the VC landscape. The result? Money is becoming more concentrated in VC, a pattern that has been echoed across the tech industry. Read more in the Bloomberg Tech Daily Newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3MjWFJO #VC #Fundraising

According to Carta’s recent benchmark report, which surveyed 1,803 venture funds through the first quarter, only 9% of 2021 vintage funds have returned cash to investors, compared to around 20% of funds from 2017-2019. However, some LPs don’t think this is worth sounding any alarms - including Sapphire Partners' Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson, who shared her insights with Julia Hornstein in The Information’s Dealmaker newsletter. VC funds typically operate on a decade-plus timeline, with the first 5 years focusing on deploying capital vs generating returns. “The timeline of this report reflects the dramatic recalibration from the free money/ZIRP era to a total market correction,” so it’s not surprising to see the data indicate the J-curve in action. Read more at the link below. #VC #MarketTrends

Congratulations to Moxxie Ventures on closing their $95M third fund empowering early stage founders! 🚀 At Sapphire Partners, we’re proud to partner with Katie Jacobs Stanton, Alex Roetter and the entire team at Moxxie Ventures on their journey to invest in founders who make life and work better. 👊 Read more about the news below. #VC #Startups

We’re thrilled to announce that our very own Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson, Partner at Sapphire Partners, has been named to the Forbes 50 Over 50 list! 🎉 This list spotlights powerhouse women who reject the conventional wisdom that their best years are behind them, and instead, are doing their most innovative, impactful work yet. For Beezer, that means being a driving force behind one of Sapphire Partners’ biggest moves of late: Taking on $1.4 billion in five funds from CalSTRS and investing in emerging managers focused on early-stage companies with high growth potential. 👏 Congrats to Beezer and all the incredibly influential women featured in Forbes' 4th annual 50 Over 50! Check out the full Investment List in the comment below. #Forbes50Over50 #WomenInInvestment #Leadership

Given the sluggish exit environment, there has been a continued liquidity drought felt by LPs and institutional investors due to low distributions from VC managers, trapping enormous amounts of returns in the ecosystem. At The Investment Diversity Exchange (TIDE)’s Annual Spark Conference in Dana Point, CA, Nate Leung, Partner at Sapphire Partners, joined the VC panel, to address this critical topic, as well as: — What he thinks the future holds for the fundraising market  — The trends he sees continuing and arising in the VC asset class — Whether GenAI is a temporary hype cycle or a genuine, sustainable trend Thank you to this distinguished panel for sharing their insights into how these factors might shape venture capital in 2024 and beyond. 👏Aasim Hasan, Managing Partner at Moneta Ventures 👏Tracy Fong, Partner and Head of VC at Albourne  👏Jinwen Chen, director of investments at the Smithsonian Institution #TideSpark2024 #VentureCapital

Last week, the National Association of Securities Professionals – Northern California and Citizens Private Bank™ brought together early-stage investors and LPs in the Bay Area for an insightful panel and networking event! Our very own Laura Thompson spoke alongside Yusef Alexandrine, COO at EQUIAM, and Jeffrey Grabow, U.S. Venture Capital Leader at EY, to share advice for emerging managers navigating the current early-stage venture market. 3 key takeaways:   💫 Slide Deck Precision: Aim for 20-25 slides. Highlight your strategy, terms, and team. Tailor each pitch to the specific LP. Remember, more isn't always better; clarity and relevance are essential.   💫 Communication is Key: Don’t hesitate to follow up with LPs if you haven’t heard back. Timing matters, but so does persistence. Updates and milestones can reopen doors previously closed.   💫 Evaluating Potential: There’s no one-size-fits-all scoring system. LP evaluations focus on team dynamics, fund differentiators, and timing, reflecting a highly nuanced process. 🔗 For more LP insights like these, check out our curated VC resource: https://lnkd.in/eHerheg   Thank you to Citizens Private Bank™ and National Association of Securities Professionals – Northern California for hosting, and our partners at CalSTRS for inviting us!   #earlystagevc #emergingmanagers #vc

On the latest episode of the Origins podcast Joanna Rupp,CFA, Managing Director of Private Equity at the University of Chicago, sits down with Notation Capital's Nicholas Chirls & Sapphire Partners' Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson to shine a light on the often opaque world of endowments. Links to listen in the comments below 👇 #OpenLP #OriginsPodcast

With LPs just now seeing early results from venture capital firms’ boom-time vintages, smaller funds that haven’t returned capital to their investors face a tough road ahead. Sapphire Partners’ Partner Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson recently shared her perspective with Newcomer’s Madeline Renbarger on the downturn in VC funding, emphasizing that as LPs focus more on DPI, the flight to quality will only increase. 👇 Read more in Newcomer here: https://lnkd.in/gkx9zK-5 #EmergingManagers #VC

The latest episode of the Invested podcast by Aleph is packed with valuable insights for both GPs & LPs. Sapphire Partners’ Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson sits down with Michael Eisenberg to answer rapid 🔥 Qs like: — How do you get a “Yes” from an investor? — How do you choose the right investment? — Large Funds or small funds? — How important are early wins? — How have investments changed since Oct 7th? — And so much more… Listen below. 🎧 https://lnkd.in/gzGvPBjh #OpenLP

Two years ago, Forbes Midas Hall of Famer Frank Rotman, Founding Partner & CIO of QED Investors, published “The Three-Body Problem,” which said a change was coming to the VC ecosystem… today he says it’s coming true. 🔮 Frank joins Nicholas Chirls of Notation Capital and Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson of Sapphire Partners on the latest episode of the 🎙️Origins podcast 🎙️to dive into how its predictions are unfolding, what he’s seeing in the market and more. 🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/g6Jw8yf6  🎧 Apple: https://lnkd.in/gVNw9CP7 #OpenLP #OriginsPodcast