Kevin Zhang, Partner, shares his thoughts and gives deeper insight into our fundraising announcement and what’s ahead for BCV. Our full press release is below.

It’s a milestone day for BCV, as we announce the close of our latest $1.9B in venture funds. We’re energized to recommit to our mission of partnering with entrepreneurs in realizing transformative technologies and iconic companies; over the past few years, that has included seed, early and growth investments in breakouts including Attentive, Redis Labs, Hightouch and many more.

There is immense responsibility in managing dollars entrusted to us by our limited partners. In a difficult market where their commitment to venture overall may be shrinking, we are especially grateful for their confidence in sustaining and expanding their partnerships with us. As much as our two decades of results are valuable experience and security, our team works every day to exceed that track record, and return more profits to some of the most impactful philanthropic, academic and pension management institutions in the world.

In many ways, we believe the broader venture market is recognizing and trending towards what we have always sought to offer BCV-backed founders.

• Especially in an uncertain environment, well-balanced advice, long-term trust and deep-rooted conviction are essential. There’s been a lot of debate over the past few years about investors who don’t do diligence or contribute to business-building. We believe that the best founders want and benefit from thoughtful partners—but that means holding ourselves to a high bar on company knowledge, industry expertise and breadth of network.
  
• We are a multi-stage venture investor uniquely integrated into the world’s most powerful family of investment funds. As other investors explore adding practice areas and converting to RIAs, the founders we work with already benefit from a global Bain Capital team that manages $100B+ in credit, private and public equity portfolio relationships in insurance, real estate, healthcare and many other sectors. We find that’s differentiated at growth, and even more valuable to founders at seed stage.

We are a tight-knit and collaborative partnership with diverse points of view. There is no one right answer of what founder profiles and sectors we’ll invest in. We work with college opt-outs, rocket scientists, film/video producers, and yes, also product managers from Stanford. Potential comes in many forms, and we partner with seed investors and scouts to extend our reach and the diversity of our community. Our deep experience in fintech, commerce, SaaS and infrastructure also proves valuable when diving into climate, crypto and consumer opportunities. The common thread to our work is partnering as soon as we recognize unique talent, and clear-eyed visions with the potential to become category-defining businesses.

To the incredible community we work with: founders, LPs, co-investors, technologists, researchers… thank you for the privilege of continuing this work. Below is our full press release on the new funds announcement, and you can sign up here for our regular newsletter. We welcome your thoughts, questions, and suggestions—feel free to email me directly (k.zhang@baincapital.com).

———-

Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) Raises Record $1.9 Billion in New Funds to Champion Technology Founders from Seed to Growth Stage and Beyond

New Funds to Drive Continued Investment in Transformative Software Startups

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 28, 2023 — Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) today closed two oversubscribed funds totaling $1.9 billion, which will continue the firm’s deep and engaged support of technology startups from seed to growth. BCV will use these funds to discover and grow the most groundbreaking companies within fintech, infrastructure, apps and commerce.

Over the last year, BCV has strengthened its investment team, adding partners Christina Melas-Kyriazi, formerly head of product for Affirm, Sarah Hinkfuss, formerly an investor at KKR and SVP at APT which was acquired by MasterCard, Slater Stich, formerly founder of Activation Fund and a data scientist for Square, and Saanya Ojha, formerly a partner at Coatue and investor at Goldman Sachs.

These new funds are in addition to the Bain Capital Crypto fund which was announced in April 2022 with $500 million under management.

“Entrepreneurs want to build alongside investors who’ve done so successfully, and our team of operators, builders and experienced investors delivers on that promise,” said Enrique Salem, partner at Bain Capital Ventures. “At BCV, we put in the work every day to understand our domains, have company-specific context and operating experience that the best founders expect from their partners.”

“BCV’s multi-stage orientation allows us to identify emerging trends and meet promising founders at the earliest stages, then build conviction in them over time as we follow their trajectories,” said Merritt Hummer, partner at Bain Capital Ventures. “Our early stage exposure is a tremendous asset for identifying winners at the growth stage.”

“Our Bain Capital colleagues are some of the most thoughtful investors in insurance, healthcare services, real estate and beyond, and those strengths intersect with the types of transformative companies we back,” said Kevin Zhang, partner at Bain Capital Ventures. “Founders, especially at the earliest stages, value the expertise and relationships the full firm convenes on their behalf, whether that’s advising on underwriting risk, logistics or business models.”

This news follows the appointment of BCV partner Noah Breslow, who has built a team of 23 former operators dedicated to helping startups mature more quickly with experienced guidance. Breslow, the former CEO of OnDeck, is based in BCV’s New York office. Along with BCV partners Leslie Crowe, former Chief People Officer of TripActions, and Allison Braley, former Operating Partner at Playground Global, the platform team will ensure that BCV continues to provide tangible benefit and hands-on support for its portfolio.

———-

Bain Capital Ventures is a multi-stage VC firm investing across four core domains—fintech, application software, infrastructure and commerce tech. Leveraging the unique resources of Bain Capital, we deploy targeted support at every stage of the company-building journey. For over 20 years, BCV has helped launch and commercialize more than 400 companies including Attentive, Bloomreach, Clari, Docker, DocuSign, Flywire, LinkedIn, Mirakl and Redis. You can follow us on Twitter @BainCapVC.

CONTACT
Allison Braley
press-bcv@baincapital.com