Fund Structure Archives | Union Square Ventures

Fund Announcements and Updates

USV 2019 Funds

Apr 30, 2019
We are pleased to announce that we have raised two new funds. The 2019 Core Fund has commitments of $200 million (up slightly from our last few core funds which were $175 million) and the 2019 Opportunity Fund is at ...

Investing in Blockchain/Crypto

Jun 20, 2018
At USV, we have been active in the blockchain/crypto sector since 2011. At this time, we have direct investments in nine companies/projects in the crypto space and one exited investment. Companies in the blockchain/crypto sector make up about 15% of ...

USV's Revised Thesis

Apr 1, 2018
We believe we are still at the beginning of the opportunity to broaden access with the most critical implications ahead of us. As a result, we decided to revise our thesis into a third version:
USV backs trusted brands that broaden access to knowledge, capital, and well-being by leveraging networks, platforms, and protocols. ...

Launch of Opportunity Fund

Jul 18, 2016
Over five years ago USV launched its first “Opportunity Fund” - a pool of capital meant as a complement to the core activities of our early stage funds. A few years thereafter, in 2014, we raised a second Opportunity Fund. ...

First Investment in 2016 Fund

Jun 22, 2016
This week, we will close our first investment in USV’s 2016 fund, which has total capital commitments of $175 million, the same size as our 2014 fund. This will be USV’s fifth early-stage fund. We continue to make new investments ...

Seed Investing at USV

Jan 25, 2015
In our most recent fund, USV 2014, five of our first six investments, have been seed investments. That is probably surprising to many people as USV is not thought of as a seed investor. I wrote a post today explaining ...

Lessons from Yale's Endowment

Jan 28, 2009
David Swensen, the guy who manages Yale University's $19 billion endowment was asked the other night by Charlie Rose if there was anything he learned in school that informed his investment strategy today. David replied that he learned to argue ...

New Fund Focus

Mar 5, 2008
We closed on Union Square Ventures 2008 LP last week. Our new fund, at $156mm in capital commitments, is large enough for us to be able to act on our conviction and to support our portfolio, but small enough to ...

Jeff Jarvis and Journalism Students

Nov 29, 2007
My friend Jeff Jarvis invited me to talk to his class yesterday. Jeff is doing something really cool. He’s teaching graduate students in journalism school how to be entrepreneurs. So these students graduate with the understanding that they have another ...