The evolution of early stage VC ecosystem has led to the proliferation of many new venture funds started by former angels, operators, and existing VCs. According to Pitchbook, since 2014, there have been nearly 100 first-time funds which raised a total of $7.3B. As many of these funds come back to market, the micro VC…
There is a lot of news of late about women in the venture capital industry. Top Tier Capital Partners (“TTCP”) has long been a proponent of diversity – and that is apparent if you look at our team. Our culture of inclusion and diversity is by design and comes from the top. No two of…
While many in the venture capital industry are talking about the future promise of AI/Machine Learning, VR/AR, Big Data, IoT (Internet of Things), autonomous vehicles and drones, there is a lesser known transformative opportunity in the biotech sector that we are following – the Human Microbiome. While Genomics as a whole is experiencing explosive growth,…
The Pareto principle states that when thinking of cause and effect, 80% of the effect is driven by 20% of the cause. In our industry, this can be translated to 80% of the returns are driven by 20% of the funds or companies. As part of our portfolio construction efforts at Top Tier, we set out to…
After talking to CEOs, LPs and consultants during several recent annual meetings, it has become clear that liquidity is the hot topic. CEOs who have been running companies over 5+ years said more than half of their investors are pushing them to be IPO ready or think seriously about the eventual sale of the business.…
With Snap’s IPO looming, speculation on its success is rampant. As one of our portfolio companies, we too are watching closely. In the last two years, 50 tech companies have listed on U.S. exchanges. Of those, 80% have closed higher than the IPO price at the end of the first day, achieving an average “IPO…
As a Fund of Funds manager, we at Top Tier focus on constructing our portfolios with what we believe are the right types of managers (healthcare/tech), investing in the right stage (seed, series A-C, Growth), in the right geography (New York, San Francisco, LA, other) for the current market. We also consider our manager’s ability…
Another year has flown by, and it’s time once again to search for ‘Best Gifts For Him/Her’ or ‘Unique Swap Gifts’ as you attempt to get that special gift for everyone on your list. In order to help alleviate the stress commonly associated with holiday shopping, we have pulled together some of our favorite products…
At TTCP we are seeing more venture firms both in the U.S. and abroad focus on team succession. There are several probable catalysts for increased succession planning: (1) VCs are finally seeing carry which allows individuals to make way for the next generation of partners; (2) the epicenter of startups has moved from the suburbs…
It has been nearly five weeks since the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games, a period of time showcasing 15,000+ athletes from 200+ nations competing in a combined 800+ events across 30+ sports held at 30+ athletic venues. Along with over 3.5 billion people worldwide, we at Top Tier cheered with excitement…