CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xfund, an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to finding and supporting technically-gifted entrepreneurs with a liberal arts mindset, today announced the closing of its second fund, with $100 million in committed capital. Existing limited partners New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Breyer Capital, and Accel Partners anchored the fund and were joined by a diversified group of long-term institutional limited partners. Xfund also announced that co-founder Patrick S. Chung, most recently a partner at NEA who led the firm’s consumer and seed investing practices, has joined Xfund full-time as General Partner. Chung will be based out of the firm’s new Sand Hill Road office and joins his co-founding General Partner Hugo Van Vuuren, who leads the firm’s Cambridge office.
Xfund was founded in 2011 as a first-of-its-kind partnership between four of the nation’s most successful venture capital firms—NEA, Breyer Capital, Accel Partners, and Polaris Partners—and Harvard University. Its unique structure leverages the talent and expertise of each partner for the benefit of Xfund’s founders and teams; an affiliation with Harvard is not required. Xfund invests in all sectors, and has supported companies ranging from a cloud-based statistical computing platform to a maker of smart baby clothes and accessories.
“When we founded Xfund three years ago, it was an experiment to bring the nation’s top venture capital resources to the staggering talent that had grown up in university towns,” said Patrick S. Chung, General Partner. “The experiment is working: our founders have access to decades of company-building success and to rare intellectual firepower in these universities. We think the most exceptional founders have technical talent rooted in a liberal arts background – so we seek to invest in individuals with this experience and potential.”
“From the start, Xfund has always sought founders from all educational backgrounds and institutions,” said Hugo Van Vuuren, General Partner. “The curiosity and creativity of the founders we support is our lifeblood. You can be both a hacker and a humanist—and we believe that combination produces outsized results.”
“Engineering at Harvard is embedded in the liberal arts, teaching technical mastery as a means to address the real problems of the world,” said Harry Lewis, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science and former Dean of Harvard College. “Xfund’s groundbreaking partnership helps Harvard to achieve its mission of enabling students, faculty, and alumni to maximize their impact on the world, by marshaling significant resources to help create thrilling companies. This is a great step forward for Harvard.”
“When we first founded Xfund, we set an aggressive goal to identify 500 opportunities from this community,” said Harry R. Weller, General Partner at NEA. “Instead, we saw more than 3,500 opportunities, invested in a handful of them, and produced exceptional results in subsequent financings.”
“Since co-founding Xfund in 2011, I have been continually impressed by the caliber of talent, drive, and creativity among the firm’s entrepreneurs,” said Jim Breyer, Founder/CEO of Breyer Capital. “I am excited to continue to serve on Xfund’s investment advisory board and to coach its next wave of founders as they build extraordinary enterprises.”
“We could not be more proud to have helped launch and continue in our support of Xfund,” said Ping Li, Partner at Accel Partners. “Patrick and Hugo have built a very special firm at a unique time in the trajectory of this community of talent. The results speak for themselves and we are excited about the future of Xfund 2.”
“Xfund not only invests in revolutionary technically-minded teams trained in the arts and sciences, but also invests directly in Harvard as an inter-generational institution,” said Doug Melton, Xander University Professor at Harvard and co-founder of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. “We are confident Xfund will make it possible for many more to pursue the interesting roads less traveled and we are thrilled to join Patrick and Hugo in the launch of Xfund 2.”
Xfund’s investment advisory board consists of Harry Weller, General Partner at NEA; Jim Breyer, Founder/CEO of Breyer Capital; Ping Li, Partner at Accel Partners; and Peter Morris, Founder/Managing Partner of Morris Investments. Xfund’s advisors include Cherry Murray, Dean of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Professor Harry Lewis; Professor Doug Melton; Professor David Edwards; Gordon Jones, Director of the Harvard Innovation Lab; Ryley Reynolds (ex officio), President Harvard Student Agencies; and Perry Hewitt, Harvard’s Chief Digital Officer.
Xfund is legally and financially independent of Harvard. Harvard has no role in Xfund’s investment decisions and does not invest in companies founded by currently enrolled students of the University.
Xfund 2 was represented by Ropes & Gray’s Private Investment Fund group.
For more information, please visit www.xfund.com.
About Xfund
Founded at Harvard in 2011 by a partnership of New Enterprise Associates, Breyer Capital, Accel Partners and Polaris Partners, Xfund is an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to finding and supporting technically-gifted entrepreneurs with a liberal arts mindset. Xfund leverages its unparalleled network of investment advisors and academic experts to help tomorrow's entrepreneurial leaders, engineers, and designers build world-class companies. Some of the firm’s portfolio companies include Kensho, Ravel, Philo, Zumper and Rest Devices as well as specialized growth accelerators Rock Health and Work-Bench. Xfund is anchored in university towns with offices in Cambridge and Silicon Valley. www.xfund.com