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Image Credits:John Fogelsong (Left) Colin Anderson (Right) / Friends & Family Capital
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Image Credits:John Fogelsong (Left) Colin Anderson (Right) / Friends & Family Capital
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small-scale VC firms want bass trust , mutual support and recollective - term commitment among the partners — a kinship that , in many shipway , resembles a family dynamic .
Colin Anderson ( Palantir ’s ex - CFO and former research VP at Peter Thiel ’s Clarium Capital ) and John Fogelsong ( the son of IVP co - founderNorm Fogelsong ) did n’t take to crop a house - like family relationship before starting their venture firm . A familial sleeper already existed between the two investors : Anderson is married to Fogelsong ’s baby .
When they first met in 2007 , the now brother - in - law bind over their passion for venture capital , eventually leading them to invest together from their personal capital . Thanks to their backgrounds , their networks in Silicon Valley were deep and wide . Anderson ’s course book of scale Palantir ’s finance squad from one person to 60 turn out particularly instrumental in the pair ’s ability to become angel investors in several high - visibility companionship . Entrepreneurs likeRyan Petersen , co - founder of the logistics startup Flexport , sought out Anderson ’s expertness in ramp up their finance section .
By 2020 , Anderson and Fogelsong adjudicate to take their investment family relationship to the next stage by launching their first investment trust with extraneous capital . Their pitch to limited partners was that they could angle into their Valley connection , peculiarly the Palantir connection , to back quickly growing companies needing a cost increase in building stiff finance team .
That fund , which the firm considers its second vehicle , closed at $ 91.5 million , well above its initial target of $ 60 million .
Despite raising working capital from institutional LP and see to back startups with $ 20 million to $ 100 million in taxation , Anderson and Fogelsong need to conserve the ethos of have an investment approach that feel more like that of a family - and - friends stave of financing . So they named their firm “ Friends & Family Capital ” to catch that spirit , their own phratry connection and Fogelsong ’s roots in a prominent Silicon Valley VC family .
To founders , their slant is that they are experts in helping startups build out all things finance .
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“ The chance we witness was becoming the believe partner for founders and CFOs as they descale their finance occasion , ” Anderson aver . They ’ve assist portfolio company with issues like building a financial projection model , crafting a identification number - drive fundraising sales talk and interviewing CFOs when business are ready for such a key hire .
manifestly , that type of advice is in high demand . Friends & Family ’s last fund vest in companies like Airtable , Anduril , Gusto , Peregrine and Verkada .
On Wednesday , the house unveiled its third investment company , at $ 118 million , wreak its total backing , include peculiar purpose vehicles , to more than $ 350 million .
Like its previous investment trust , Friends & Family ’s third fund will be used to put in “ classic B2B enterprise software ” company and hardware line of work with recurring revenue components .
“ We see a new wave of computer hardware company , ” Fogelsong articulate . “ These party are redeem software system . It just happens to be in hardware bod . ”
Friends & Family ’s first investment from its third investment company , Gecko Robotics , exemplify this feeler . The company builds AI - power robotsthat inspect physical infrastructure , admit power flora , bridge , dam and battleships .
The firm ’s latest fund will back eight to 12 companies with at least $ 20 million in revenue , compose confirmation that comprise 5 % to 10 % of the fund . In addition , Friends & Family will take flyspeck stake in as many as 40 brand - new inauguration . That strategy helps the firm build up a human relationship with potentially promising unseasoned fellowship and pay it the choice to invest more later .
“ Many venture funds [ write ] declamatory checks too soon on , and then [ invest ] smaller check only , ” Anderson said . “ But we look to increase our position as companies get closer to $ 20 million or more in revenue . ”
