NEA spin-out sets target for direct secondaries fund

VC-focused NewView Capital was formed by a $1.4bn direct secondaries deal backed by Goldman Sachs and Hamilton Lane.

NewView Capital, which was formed via a $1.35 billion direct secondaries deal, has come to market with its first independent fund.

The Burlingame, California-headquartered firm is targeting $350 million for NewView Capital Fund II, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Lazard, which advised on the secondaries process, is acting as placement agent.

NewView spun out of New Enterprise Associates in 2018 via a direct secondaries deal backed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Hamilton Lane and at least 18 other investors. The consortium acquired a portfolio of 31 direct stakes from four NEA funds, including in ride-hailing app Uber and language learning software firm Duolingo, and used it to seed NewView Capital Fund I.

The firm is managed by former NEA general partner Ravi Viswanathan.

Fund I acquired stakes in NEA companies that could be a success with more time or capital, something many VC firms are not designed to provide past a certain point, Secondaries Investor noted in December 2018. The fund also contained a number of companies whose sponsors had left NEA.

According to NewView Capital and Venture Capital Secondaries, a Harvard Business School Report, Viswanathan was unsure whether Fund II would acquire a portfolio from a VC firm or raise blindpool capital to buy direct secondaries positions. It has opted on the latter, according to a source with knowledge of the fundraise.

NewView did not respond to a request for comment.