Katherine Vittorio
Are evergreen funds recommended?
Are evergreen funds recommended as a potential fund option? Are these funds welcomed by the VC Lab accelerator program?
TL'DR - Don't do it. You will struggle to raise from professional LPs and it's incredibly difficult and expensive to execute an evergreen strategy in VC. As a result, the VC Lab accelerator does not support evergreen funds.
It is not recommended to use an evergreen structure for Venture Capital funds, especially for emerging managers.LPs will be un-familiar with the evergreen structure in VC, because it's unusual, difficult to execute and there is no example of a successful evergreen VC fund. It will make the fundraising process even more challenging that it is with a normal closed-ended VC fund. In addition, to execute an evergreen strategy, funds have to be able to mark the assets to market in between rounds of financing so that LPs can get liquidity. These structure is incredibly difficult to execute with startups and introduces enormous complexity.
It is not recommended to use an evergreen structure for Venture Capital funds, especially for emerging managers.LPs will be un-familiar with the evergreen structure in VC, because it's unusual, difficult to execute and there is no example of a successful evergreen VC fund. It will make the fundraising process even more challenging that it is with a normal closed-ended VC fund. In addition, to execute an evergreen strategy, funds have to be able to mark the assets to market in between rounds of financing so that LPs can get liquidity. These structure is incredibly difficult to execute with startups and introduces enormous complexity.