We create unique value for endowments, foundations and other institutional investors through a portfolio construction process that is informed by both empirical research and decades of early-stage experience. Since our founding in 2001, the Spur team has cultivated durable relationships with top-tier venture capital firms and established a track record of identifying the next generation of elite talent. Our manager relationships include some of the most notable venture capital firms the industry, most of which are now closed to new investors.
Persistence: Top quartile VCs are far more likely to be top quartile firms in the future. This distinguishes venture from other parts of the portfolio where manager performance is more random over time.
Persistence Source: CAIS, Preqin
Dispersion: VC has the highest interquartile dispersion of any institutional asset class or sub-category. It follows that the sizing of your venture target should be a function of the caliber of managers that you can access.
Dispersion Sources: Burgiss, NCREIF, Morningstar, PivotalPath, J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Taken together: investing in the median venture capital fund is not an enticing proposition but those that with access to the top-tier can best exploit their advantage by investing in each vintage year to diversify across innovation and market cycles.
Through our venture capital relationships, Spur delivers unrivaled access to the innovation economy and startup ecosystem. Historically, 15% of portfolio companies drive roughly 75% of total value for investors. A representative list of these outliers can be found on our Portfolio page.
