In 2014, Maven, a women’s and family health startup, was far from a consensus bet.
The hot startups that year included Airbnb, Uber, and Zenefits, and the cloud revolution was self-evident. Having just raised its first fund, Female Founders Fund (FFF) was a seed investor, along with Great Oaks and Box Group, in Maven.
“At that point in time, it was pretty contrarian in the sense that there weren’t any other examples to point to within women’s health,” said FFF founding partner Anu Duggal. ”So, you couldn’t necessarily say so-and-so has built a company focused on the women’s health experience.”
This month, Maven announced it had raised $125 million funding at a $1.7 billion valuation. It was a crucial moment for FFF, which did a partial secondary sale in conjunction with the new round. FFF has now returned its $5.85 million Fund One, Fortune can exclusively report. Now that the fund has been returned, all the remaining investments and exits will be pure profit for the LPs. For a young VC firm, this is a key moment: Many new firms never return their first fund at all.
Others in venture see this as a strong signal for investing in women, especially those who’ve been following (or investing in) FFF. The firm’s thesis—that backing female founders can provide outsized returns—is proving out. Paige Hendrix Buckner, CEO of All Raise, said via email that this helps “to shift the narrative about what it means to be a successful founder and investor.” Erin Harkless Moore, managing director of investments at Pivotal Ventures, an LP in three FFF funds, agrees.
“FFF is one of the few diverse managers to fully return a fund, generating strong returns from often overlooked and underestimated founders,” Moore told Fortune via email. “FFF has shown that investing in women isn’t niche—it’s mainstream.”
But it’s also a story about how long and far a founder-investor relationship can really go. Maven CEO and founder Kate Ryder described Female Founders Fund as a “tremendous partner to Maven.” Ryder said that FFF and Duggal introduced Maven to its Series A investor, and has remained a key advisor through the company’s raises. (This seems likely to continue, as FFF retains part of its position in the company.)
“Their greatest contribution isn’t what garners headlines though—it’s their behind-the-scenes commitment to being a trusted resource and advisor to every founder in their portfolio,” Ryder told Fortune via email.
Other FFF exits to date—including plus-size fashion company Eloquii and shaving brand Billie—follow a similar mold. Walmart acquired Eloquii in a nine-figure deal in 2018, while Edgewell bought Billie for $310 million. The Billie acquisition returned 60% of FFF’s second $27 million fund.
“Even looking at our exits, these weren’t companies that necessarily had a million term sheets,” said Duggal. “These weren’t necessarily companies that were super competitive at seed, but ultimately ended up getting capital from some of the best VCs. So, from an opportunity perspective, that’s what we find interesting.”
The VC landscape is frequently tenuous and currently bifurcating, but returns will always do the talking. One LP—who’s invested in about 50 funds over more than 10 years—told Fortune that FFF has significantly outperformed the majority of their portfolio in terms of TVPI (total value to paid-in capital) and DPI (distributed to paid-in capital), two of the most important metrics in venture. DPI in particular is the perennial holy grail for LPs—actual cash returned.
“I’m a founder at heart and I started this as a female founder,” said Duggal, who founded Accel-backed ecommerce platform Exclusively.in and sold the company in 2011. “Our team is working for them, and we have something to prove—subconsciously maybe—that other funds don’t. We’ve put this thesis out there, we’re betting it’s going to be successful, and there aren’t that many data points to show it will be successful.”
But there are starting to be.
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS
- Regal, a New York City-based AI customer contact center agents developer, raised $40 million in funding. Emergence Capital led the round and was joined by Founder Collective and Homebrew.
- Neara, a Sydney-based AI predictive modeling software developer for infrastructure, raised $31 million in Series C funding. EQT led the round and was joined by Partners Group, Square Peg Capital, and existing investors Skip Capital and Prosus Ventures.
- Spot AI, a San Francisco-based AI camera systems and video AI agents developer, raised $31 million in funding from Qualcomm Ventures, GSBackers, MVP Ventures, Cheyenne Ventures, and existing investors Scale Venture Partners, StepStone Group, Redpoint Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
- Tabs, a New York City-based B2B business revenue automation platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by Primary Ventures and Lightspeed.
- Speakeasy, a San Francisco-based API tools developer, raised $15 million in Series A funding. FPV Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors GV and Quiet Capital and angel investors.
- Matia, a Miami-based unified data operations platform, raised $10.5 million in seed funding. Leaders Fund and Secret Chord Ventures led the round and were joined by Cerca Partners and Caffeinated Capital.
- Vara, a Berlin-based early breast cancer detection AI platform, raised $8.9 million in funding. Smart Family Office, FJH, and IBB Ventures led the round and were joined by Merantix, VI Partners, and EQT Foundation.
- Bifrost AI, a San Francisco-based generative 3D data platform, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Carbide Ventures led the round and was joined by Airbus Ventures, Peak XV’s Surge, Wavemaker Partners, and others.
- Diffblue, an Oxford, England-based autonomous generative AI-for-code software developer, raised $6.3 million in funding from Citi Institutional Strategic Investments, Oxford University, the Oxford Technology and Innovations EIS Fund, and existing investors IP Group, Parkwalk Advisors, and AlbionVC.
- Cornerstone AI, a San Francisco-based healthcare-data cleaning AI software solution, raised $5 million in seed funding. Acrew Capital led the round and was joined by Travis May, Web Sun, Arif Nathoo, and existing investors Initiate Ventures, Healthy Ventures.
- 81RAVENS, a Singapore-based game development company, raised $4.5 million in seed funding from DIGITAL HEARTS HOLDINGS and GREE Ventures.
- Avina, a New York City-based AI sales intelligence platform, raised $3.2 million in seed funding. nvp capital and RRE Ventures led the round and were joined by Y Combinator.
- Stay, a São Paulo-based pension plan platform, raised $3 million in seed funding. Better Tomorrow Ventures and MAYA Capital led the round and were joined by 17Sigma, Grão, Ralicap, and angel investors.
- Persana AI, a San Francisco-based AI agents and data integration platform for sales teams, raised $2.3 million in seed funding from Y Combinator, Race Capital, Stage 2 Capital, and others.
- Bendi, a London-based AI-powered supply chain ESG risk platform, raised $1 million in pre-seed funding. Midven led the round and was joined by Heartfelt Capital, Chasing Rainbows, Innovate UK, and angel investors.
- Persperity Health, a Los Angeles-based women’s health technology developer, raised $1 million in pre-seed funding. Freeflow Ventures led the round and was joined by Caltech, Wilson Hill Ventures, Heritage Group, and ATMA Capital.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- ICG acquired a 50% stake in Revent Energy, a Youngduk, South Korea-based onshore wind platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- TMA Systems, backed by Silversmith Capital Partners, acquired MEX, a Brisbane, Australia-based Computerised Maintenance Management Systems provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- Bluecat Networks, backed by Audax Private Equity and Madison Dearborn Partners, agreed to acquire LiveAction, a Palo Alto-based network observability and intelligence solutions provider, from Insight Partners, which remains a minority investor. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- GardaWorld founder, chairman, president, and CEO Stephan Crétier and select management members agreed to acquire approximately 70% of GardaWorld, a Saint-Laurent, Canada-based security company, from BC Partners, which will maintain a minority stake. HPS Investment Partners will hold the remaining equity interest. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Two Circles acquired KORE, a New York City-based sports and entertainment data and sponsorship management platform, from Serent Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
- Siemens agreed to acquire Altair, a Troy, Mich.-based computational intelligence company, for $10.6 billion.
- ADQ acquired a minority stake in Sotheby’s, a New York City-based art and luxury goods seller, for approximately $1 billion.
- CECO Environmental agreed to acquire Profire Energy, a Lindon, Utah-based burner management technology and combustion appliances solution provider, for $125 million.
- e& capital and AT&T Ventures acquired minority stakes in Derq, a Detroit-based AI intelligent transportation system solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Financial Finesse acquired OfColor, a New York City-based financial wellness platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Sana acquired Ctrl, a Tel Aviv-based business growth AI platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, raised $7.8 billion for its eleventh fund focused on middle market businesses in the business services and industrials, consumer, healthcare, and technology and communications sectors.
- Tamarack Global, a Darien, Conn.-based venture capital firm, raised $72 million for its second fund focused on deep tech.
- BBG Ventures, a New York City-based venture capital firm, raised $60 million for its second fund focused on businesses with female or diverse founders.
