Yesterday, entrepreneur-turned venture capitalists Brian Singerman and Lee Linden announced GPx, a new investment fund. Their incredibly ambitious goal is to raise more than $500 million. This bold project takes a two-pronged approach. It aims to grow the next generation of diverse venture capitalists (VCs) while simultaneously investing in innovative startups at more mature stages. Perhaps most significantly, the fund has earned the support of high-profile investor Peter Thiel, which gave the fledgling operation buzz and credibility in a crowded field.
GPx plans to deploy at least 20% of its capital into funds led by emerging VCs. These funds are intended to fill out pre-seed and seed-stage rounds for these startups, enabling them to attract the crucial early-stage financing that they need. We will invest the remaining capital strategically in partnership with emerging managers. Our primary focus will be on leading investments at the Series B stage. We hope this dual approach succeeds in strengthening the ecosystem for breakout companies that the emerging managers affiliated with GPx help to discover.
Brian Singerman, former General Partner at Founders Fund Venture capital experience in spades GPx wouldn’t be complete without the mind of an experienced venture capitalist. Lee Linden, his co-founder, is managing partner of Quiet Capital as well. His 25 plus years experience in investments including other private equity funds adds to the deep leadership base of the fund. Their credibility and deep networks provide GPx with an extremely competitive advantage in luring limited partners. That’s more important than ever right now, as fund-of-funds firms brought in dollars at a 16-year low last year, per PitchBook.
Singerman and Linden are betting on their strong personal brands and deep networks to attract investor demand. Their strategic positioning in the venture capital landscape is critical. The competition is fierce, and fundraising is becoming more and more difficult by the day.
The context around the target size of GPx had been reported before but was still unclear until now. They’ve announced a $500 million fundraising target. This milestone moves the pair closer to their goal of making GPx an integral part of the venture capital ecosystem.
Marina Temkin, a venture capital and startups reporter at TechCrunch, was onsite for much of the action leading up to GPx. It’s these nuggets of wisdom that bring to life the creative approaches Singerman and Linden employ. They are shrewdly repositioning in response to the rapidly evolving investment environment.
