Liquidity drying up for VC firms as investments age

The pressure is mounting on VC funds to show real cash returns to investors, but as exits are delayed and market conditions remain rocky, some early VC funds might be burdened with a backlog of ageing investments.

As they look to divest their shares in portfolio companies to realise returns, fund managers will have to decide between offloading shares at a discount in the secondary market, or asking investors for more time - and they are treading a thin line because this might in turn affect their ability to fund future bets, observers said.

Funds need to show their investors that they can exit their positions over time, said Chua Kee Lock, CEO of Vertex Holdings.

Although they might have on paper a good net multiple or internal rate of return (IRR), what investors are really looking for are real cash-on-cash returns.

Technopreneur Webinar Series 2020

Vertex Holdings is pleased to present an 11-Part Technopreneur Webinar Series. This series aims to facilitate the sharing and exchange of ideas and insights, as well as provide fundamental understanding of the intricacies of entrepreneurship for aspiring technology founders and innovators.

Vertex Ventures SEA & India | Vertex Growth | The incredible growth story of Licious

How meat and seafood brand Licious made the most of the pandemic tailwinds and now has revenue of Rs1,000 crore in its sights by March 2021. Can it get there?

The incredible growth during the pandemic didn’t come on its own. Much went behind the scenes, especially in cracking the supply chain, which had three critical components. First was getting hold of raw meat. The initial days of lockdown not only shut down everything, but also ensured confusion regarding movement of commercial vehicles. Poultry owners, hit hard by shutting down of hotels, restaurants and local markets, were in a fix as demand suddenly vanished. The second problem was taking care of factories, which not only had to be run but, as Sadana puts it, “had to be run safely, without letting the virus in”. Lastly, Licious had to ensure that the delivery channel—it has its own set of riders and doesn’t depend on online food aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato—were safe and had not contracted the virus. The big question, he lets on, was never about demand. “It was about supply.”

Vantage | September 2020

Here are the latest updates on the portfolio companies across the Vertex network.

Vertex Ventures IL | EasySend raises $16M from Intel, more for its no-code approach to automating B2C interfaces

EasySend, an Israeli startup which has built a no-code platform for insurance companies and other regulated businesses to build out forms and other interfaces to take in customer information and subsequently use AI systems to process it more efficiently, is announcing that it has raised USD 16M. The company is already generating revenue and has bootstrapped for the first three years.

Vertex Ventures US | Navigating CISO Hiring As A Startup

With the security landscape and startup ecosystem continually and rapidly evolving, the importance of hiring a Chief Security Officer (CISO) has never been greater. However, pursuing this kind of talent is a new arena for many startups. For those who are exploring this type of hire for the first time, it is difficult to know where to begin, or even know what they need to know (skillset, questions to ask, etc.) to land top talent and hire the right person for the job.

To help startups navigate CISO talent recruiting, Domenic Perri sat down (virtually) with Michael Piacente, co-founder and Managing Partner of Hitch Partners.