Brian Smiga, Co-founder & Managing Partner and Steve Brotman, Founder & Managing Partner at Alpha Partners dive into the risks and benefits of venture capital, and how advisors can access and incorporate growth stage technology deals into their portfolio.
The public markets landscape is shifting. Today, fewer companies are going public and the ones that do are waiting significantly longer. This presents a capital dilemma for small, specialist VCs who discover and and serve as the first funders for the vast majority of unicorns and tech IPOs. Alpha Partners aims to bridge the capital gap for early stage VCs and their startup stars, and ultimately invests in top-tier growth equity rounds led by the world’s best venture investors. Alpha’s portfolio includes a wide range of well-known consumer focused tech brands including Rover, Lime, Wish and Udemy.
Many top-performing institutional investors have been increasing their venture and growth equity capital allocations as they seek compelling returns coupled with greater portfolio diversification. Access to attractive growth stage technology deals has been difficult for the advisor community. Smigna and Brotman discuss a differentiated approach to finding and investing in the most sought-after growth stage technology deals.
This strategy takes advantage of a little-understood facet of venture investing: that the earliest investors in successful startups often lack the capital to maintain their ownership percentages as the company’s value increases. Their valuable “pro rata” rights to invest in subsequent funding rounds typically go unused.
To learn more, register and watch Alpha Partners’ webcast: Access To Sought After Venture Deals.
Topics Include:
- How venture funding rounds work, from startup to IPO
- Understanding pro-rata investment rights
- Strategies for partnering with holders of these rights
- Benefits and risks of venture capital investing