Our Venture Capital Fund Becomes Largest Privately Financed Fund of Funds in Nation

The Fund we started a year ago had its final closing raising a total of nearly $50 million.  This makes it the largest privately funded venture capital fund of funds in the nation.  Now in its second year of operation, the Fund has surpassed targets in leveraging investment dollars and made a profit distribution to investors ahead of schedule.  Through the end of August, the Fund has invested approximately $5.8 million in six venture capital funds. Those funds have, in turn, invested more than $23 million in twelve Michigan companies, and those twelve companies have leveraged that investment to receive over $146 million in venture capital investment from investors around the US – a 25 to 1 multiple of the Fund’s investment.  Even in these very early stages, these companies have created over 200 new Michigan jobs. Our goal is to launch a second Fund in 2012.  Several media outlets covered the story, including the Detroit Free Press.

Venture Capital Fund Creates Jobs

The Renaissance Venture Capital Fund (RVCF) continues to grow and is achieving significant success. Earlier in the year, the fund received national attention, establishing itself as the nation’s largest privately funded, regional venture capital fund of funds. Check out some of these impressive stats:  

• Amount of capital invested so far by RVCF into its portfolio VC funds: $ 4.9 million
• Amount invested in Michigan companies by its portfolio VC funds so far: $ 18.1 million (nearly 4x of RVCF’s investment)
• Number of Michigan companies receiving investment from RVCF’s portfolio VC funds so far: 9
• Amount of total VC investment received by those Michigan companies so far: $146 million (around 30x of RVCF’s investment)
• Number of jobs created in those Michigan companies: 136

Success- Our Venture Capital Fund is off to a Strong Start; Getting National Attention

Our venture capital fund has established itself as the nation’s largest privately funded, regional venture capital fund of funds. The fund invested in four venture capital funds during its first year of operation, including:

• Arboretum Ventures, an Ann Arbor-based fund that principally focuses on early stage medical device companies.
• TGap Ventures, a Kalamazoo fund that invests in various areas, including medical products and services, information technology and software
• RPM Ventures, an Ann Arbor fund that has a national reputation for its work in information technology, particularly IT with industrial applications
• 5AM Ventures, a fund based in California and Massachusetts that is one of the nation’s leading investors in early stage drug development companies

The fund had strong financial results in the first year. While the nature of venture capital investing typically results in negative returns in the early years, our first year resulted in a 9% appreciation in our investments, well above industry averages. We have also begun our work of utilizing the RVCF as a bridge between the venture capital/start-up company community and the state’s strong business and industrial base.  

Renaissance Venture Capital Fund Plans First “Payout”

The Renaissance Venture Capital Fund is a Michigan-based fund of funds that supports the growth of venture capital in Michigan while serving as a bridge between Michigan’s emerging innovation company community and its strong industrial and commercial base. Through its investment in top tier venture firms that are active in Michigan, as well as its own co-investments in emerging Michigan companies, the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund is helping to drive forward both innovation and growth of emerging companies in the state. The fund had its first “hit” as one of the venture capital funds it invested in then invested in a company that got sold to Becton Dickinson. The payout will go to investors in the fund showing that you can actually make money investing in economic development.