Primary Ventures has closed Fund V, a $625 million national seed investment focused fund. This is a fairly large fund for a company that focuses solely on early-stage investments. Perhaps this is an indication of how dramatically the size of early-stage rounds has increased in the age of AI.
Ben Sun, co-founder and general partner at Primary Ventures, told TechCrunch that the average check size for the fund will be in the $5 million to $10 million range, and he expects the firm to invest in 40 to 50 companies over three years. He said the fund will also be established from the pre-seed stage.
The fund plans to continue expanding its investments across the country. Primary was one of New York's best-known venture firms, and at one point most of its investments were concentrated in the Big Apple. Mr. Sun said his theory of place had changed.
The firm, which focuses on early-stage investments overall, currently has deals in Chicago, Seattle, Virginia and Washington, D.C. “Talent, founders and startups are happening everywhere,” he said. “The potential consequences are much greater than they have been in the past.”
Coupled with the current transformation in technology, he sees seed investing heading into its own asset class, especially as the quality of talent and their startups continues to improve. After all, companies are competing to find the hottest deals. “I think [a fund of this size] This allows us to participate and compete, bringing more resources to the table and collaborating with the best founders and opportunities. ”
Sequoia also recently raised a $200 million seed fund, as does UnCorck Capital, which announced a $225 million seed fund early last year.
Although Primary bills itself as a generalist, Sun said the company has specialists in their respective areas of expertise. He likes consumers, but also has investors focused on verticals AI, fintech, healthcare, enterprise, cybersecurity, and infrastructure. “We cover probably 80% or 90% of the seed sector activity around the world.”
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Fund V has already invested in three companies. When Primary was founded in 2015, it raised $60 million in Fund I, followed by $100 million in Fund II and $150 million in Fund III.
The company has raised $275 million in funding and an additional $163 million in opportunity funding. The company's investments include AI chip company Etched, risk management platform Alloy, women's networking hub Chief, and AI marketplace Dandelion Health. Assets under management are $1.65 billion.