Launchbay Capital raises $100M VC fund for secondary growth investments

Launchbay Capital announced the first close of funding for its $100 million venture capital secondary growth fund.

This means that London-based Launchbay Capital has more than $300 million under management. It’s a bit of good news despite the gloom around the downward trend for venture investing.

The multi-stage investment firm includes an early-stage access fund, direct investment platform and new
VC secondary growth fund, creating an actively managed venture brand Launchbay Capital. Over 25% of the fund has been committed by a group of early investors.

This also marks a strategic rebrand from its former name Digital Horizon, first started in 2018, to more accurately reflect the evolution from a primarily early stage VC to a multi-stage data platform-driven fund manager.

Launchbay Capital’s secondary growth fund is focused on creating liquidity in growth stage venture-
backed technology companies with potential exits in three to four years. The fund leverages the team’s venture expertise and extensive knowledge of private capital markets to enable active management of
growth investments that yield high accelerated real returns for founders, businesses and investors.

Asked what it will focus on, Launchbay said it will focus on software-as-a-service, FinTech, AI, health tech, space tech and blockchain. Games isn’t a focus area. Each deal will be about $2 million to $10 million in investment.

“We’re forging the future of growth equity investments. With increasing complexities of private markets, it is our mission to provide our limited partners with price transparency and liquidity,” said Alan Vaksman, founding partner at Launchbay Capital, in a statement. “Our data-driven valuation methodology allows us to be fully transparent with prices and create accurate, fast-paced roadmaps to liquidity and capital recirculation, both of which are more essential within the current inflationary, post-pandemic market.”

Led by a globally diverse team of seasoned professionals who spearheaded early investments in major
brands like Klarna, Lemonade, Monday.com and others, Launchbay Capital’s strategy for success is
rooted in investment discipline, rigorous data analysis and active portfolio management.

These founding principles combined with proven track record allow the firm to operate with the level of agility and resilience required to successfully execute investment solutions through the market cycles. By analyzing the underlying fundamentals of the venture business via proprietary methodology, looking beyond trends, and having in-house brokerage exit focused team, Launchbay Capital designed a fit-for-
purpose investment structure that takes advantage of liquidity windows and capital redistribution at every stage of investing.

Unlike traditional venture capital investments that span several decades, Launchbay Capital’s secondary growth fund operates on an investment period of four years, enabling investors to tactically realize returns, recycle capital in a timelier manner and access secondary exit opportunities in addition to traditional avenues like IPO or M&A.

“Traditional VC growth investments continue to face challenges with valuation transparency, long durations and limited liquidity – all issues we believe our new secondary growth fund meets head on. Investors are no longer interested in having their money tied up for decades without valuation transparency and any non-paper return in sight,” said Vaksman. “We write smaller tickets and target growth-stage, venture-backed companies to enable diversification and broader investor participation, but
also to facilitate faster exits through the secondary market itself to provide the capital flexibility today’s
industry currently lacks.”

Launchbay Capital currently manages more than $300 million in asses across a portfolio of more than 55 privately held global technology companies spanning fintech, SaaS, AI healthcare and more. Having successfully led five exits in just three years, the firm places utmost importance on offering strategies that result in the capital recycling that will propel venture business to pre-2020 levels. Its early stage access fund targets late Seed and Series A funding rounds across fintech and software infrastructure, while its proprietary direct digital investment platform provides access to securities of leading global technology companies in the private markets space.

Launchbay Capital provides multiple investment solutions across various stages, including early and
secondary growth funds, digital platform based direct investments opportunities, and software solution for private markets brokers and asset managers.