Why Venture Is Eating Public Markets, Picking Great VCs, and the AI Boom w/Brijesh Jeevarathnam
Brijesh Jeevarathnam, Partner and Global Head of Fund Investments at Adams Street Partners, joins David Weisburd to break down how institutional LPs evaluate venture capital managers in a market that has expanded from 500 to over 4,000 firms. They explore why venture capital is capturing value creation that historically occurred in public equity markets, how Adams Street leverages proprietary data showing just 7% of startups drive all gains, and why late-stage power-law dynamics and early-inning AI cycles are redefining fund economics.
- The institutional venture market exploded from roughly 500 firms to more than 4,000, diluting access and eroding baseline returns across the asset class. Read →
- Adams Street Partners tracks a venture universe that expanded from 500 managers to over 4,000 firms, yet proprietary data reveals only 7% of venture-backed startups generate all industry returns. Read →
- The venture universe expanded from 500 to more than 4,000 firms, while Adams Street Partners data reveals that just 7% of portfolio companies generate all market returns. Read →
- Adams Street Partners analyzed 40 years of proprietary records covering tens of thousands of portfolio investments, concluding that 7% of companies generate all returns while 93% wash out. Read →
- Institutional consensus places the AI cycle between pre-game warmups and the second inning, with zero managers tracked by Adams Street Partners viewing it past the fifth inning. Read →
- Over the last three decades, the count of US publicly listed companies dropped by half, falling from more than 8,000 to roughly 4,000. Read →