Founders Circle Capital Raises $355M for Fund III
With assets under management totaling nearly $1B, the firm announces the availability of "Flexible Capital" and the expansion of The Circle - a private leadership community
SAN FRANCISCO, April 28, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Founders Circle Capital today announced the close of its $355 million Fund III, offering "Flexible Capital" to today's fastest growing venture-backed companies. With the new fund, the firm is also expanding The Circle - a private leadership community of CEOs and CFOs building these same companies. With total assets under management approaching $1 billion, Founders Circle has made 73 investments with 12 IPOs and 18 acquisitions, including Auth0, Databricks, DoorDash, DocuSign, Poshmark, Robinhood, Skillz, and Twilio.
Venture-backed technology companies are staying private longer by more than two times the age they were two decades ago. This elongated timeline has created new constraints for growth stage companies as their top employees face mounting pressure to leave for financial reasons. As such, Founders Circle's first two funds focused predominantly on providing secondary liquidity to support the needs of these companies and their leaders.
As the market has evolved, growth stage companies have signaled their desire to work with financial partners who can address a variety of capital requirements. With Fund III, Founders Circle works with management teams to provide "Flexible Capital" options that serve a variety of company or executive financing needs, offering preferred and common stock purchases, institutional liquidity, and other unique structures. This versatile, people-focused approach to investing is rare in today's VC market.
Building upon its mission to "Invest in People", the firm also announced an expansion of The Circle, a private leadership community for executives of high-performing growth stage companies from within and outside the Founders Circle portfolio. Serving over 250 on-the-ground CFOs and CEOs, The Circle aims to solve the lonely leader problem with peer-to-peer services and content designed to help executives scale themselves so they can scale their companies. Founders Circle plans to deepen their community offerings for The Circle, which include live and virtual gatherings, matchmaking and mentorship, benchmarking, training, and more.
"I'm a huge believer in the power of community and Founders Circle offers a unique place for founders and C-suite executives to come together, share experiences, and learn and grow," said Manish Chandra, Founder and CEO of Poshmark. "Their intense focus on supporting leaders who are trying to build and scale their businesses is immensely valuable."
"The CFO|Circle is different because it's an authentic network of my CFO peers, from a wide cross-section of company types and sizes, who come together in a safe and confidential space that is created for us," said Sandy Smith, CFO of Segment, which was recently acquired by Twilio. "Instead of the focus being on an investor or a keynote speaker, CFOs are at the center of every conversation. This dynamic allows us to form trusted relationships while sharing real challenges, novel ideas, and useful resources with one another."
About Founders Circle Capital
Founders Circle is a growth stage venture firm that "invests in people'', wholly committed to those who are leading today's fastest growing companies and navigating the unique challenges of transitioning from product-market fit to hyperscale. Founded in 2012, Founders Circle Capital manages funds approaching $1B in assets, with an investment portfolio that includes over 71 of the highest performing venture-backed startups, of which 11 have gone public and 19 have been acquired. Founders Circle focuses on "people building" by way of two services: flexible capital to meet the needs of growth-stage companies and a private leadership community called The Circle, connecting 250+ on-the-ground CEOs and CFOs who collectively engage in peer-to-peer professional development. For more information, visit founderscircle.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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SOURCE Founders Circle Capital
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