OUR OBJECTIVE
Darwin fund of funds invest in top-tier, US based, early-stage venture capital funds diversified across industry sectors focused on technology, information technology, and healthcare. Individual and institutional investors often lack access to top-tier funds, face minimum investment requirements, and the limited diversification within a single venture capital fund make it a less than ideal investment. We provide top-tier venture capital investing with diversification, scaling, and administrative and cost effectiveness.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
Darwin fund of funds evaluate numerous factors when investing: past performance, managerial and technology experience, team cohesion, alignment of limited partner and general partner interests, and a firm’s standing within the venture capital and entrepreneurial community. Investments are chosen in an effort to maximize returns while minimizing risk.
Diversification is a critical component of our investment strategy. We allocate investments across industry sectors – technology, information technology, healthcare, and across vintage years. Investments across vintage years lessen the risk attributable to funds of a single vintage year and provide access to top-tier venture firms that may not be fundraising in a given year.
Through these strategies, we provide a venture capital investment with a lower risk profile than investing in a single venture capital fund. The goal is to achieve returns in line with top-tier venture capital funds.
THE FUND OF FUNDS ADVANTAGE
Darwin fund of funds provide the benefits of professionally managed venture capital fund of funds including:
Access
Investments in top-tier US-based early-stage venture capital funds.
Diversification
Participating in top-tier venture funds while spreading risk across industry sectors and vintage years.
Early-stage Venture Capital
Historically one of the higher performing assets within the venture capital asset class.
Investment Scaling
Individual investors face the hurdle associated with minimum investment requirements. Institutional investors face the administrative burdens of making various investments. We mediate these obstacles by allowing investors to scale-up or scale-down.
Administrative & Cost Effectiveness
Venture Capital investing requires industry experience, extensive due diligence, and legal and tax work. Investors must spend a significant amount of time developing and maintaining relationships with venture capital firms. We provide efficient outsourcing of administrative and investment professionals.
MEET OUR TEAM
Ryan Cotton is a Partner at Darwin Ventures and joined the firm in 2021. Ryan brings more than two decades of financial services and private equity experience to Darwin. Prior to joining Darwin, Ryan spent sixteen years at BMO Family Office where he was Director of Private Market Research. In this role, Ryan helped lead a multi-billion dollar private markets investment platform, managing fund sourcing, due diligence, monitoring and implementation across a vast array of private strategies with an emphasis on venture capital. In this capacity, Ryan worked closely with some of the foremost family offices, ultra high net worth individuals and institutional investors to incorporate and oversee private investments in their portfolios.
Scott Monahan is the Administrative Partner at Darwin Ventures. Scott has spent the last fifteen years in financial services, private equity and investment banking operations. Prior to his work at Darwin Ventures, Scott was Operations Manager at Rutberg & Company, a boutique investment bank, where he was responsible for oversight, compliance and operational aspects of the firm.In Memoriam
Frank J. Caufield
Peter S. Freudenthal
The above is only a summary and provided for informational purposes only. It should not be considered a solicitation of any Darwin fund. There is no guarantee that investment objectives and strategies will be profitable, asset allocation and portfolio diversification cannot assure or guarantee better performance and cannot eliminate the risk of investment loss, including loss of the principal amount invested.
Please note that there may also be several disadvantages of fund of funds investments. As the Funds rely on the skills of outside venture capitalists funds, there is no assurance that the Funds’ investments will be profitable. Any return on investment will depend upon successful investments made on behalf of the Funds by Darwin. There generally will be little or no publicly available information regarding the status and prospects of portfolio funds. Many investment decisions by Darwin are dependent upon its ability to obtain relevant information from non-public sources, which can cause them to make decisions without complete information. The marketability and value of each investment depends upon many factors beyond Darwin’s control. Each underlying venture capital fund is managed by its own officers/partners (who are not affiliated with Darwin). The underlying venture capital funds can have substantial variations in operating results from period to period, face competition, and experience failures or substantial declines in value at any stage.