Accomplice: Scaling Early Stage Finance

Ramana  Nanda; Raffaella  Sadun; Olivia  Hull

Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2018

Accomplice: Scaling Early Stage Finance

by Ramana Nanda, Raffaella Sadun and Olivia Hull

Abstract

Accomplice, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Boston, is raising its second fund in November 2017. Since 2009, the firm has followed a seed-led investment model, investing in tech companies at the earliest stages, often when products and business models are still experimental. The firm’s partners are pleased with their preliminary returns and the deal flow they’ve been able to cultivate, in part by empowering local entrepreneurs to invest in promising new ideas on their behalf. The partners are confident their long-term returns will validate their investment strategy and positioning in the increasingly competitive VC market. Will investors agree?

Keywords: venture capital; Early Stage Finance; Seed Finance; Scouts; Business Startups; Private Equity; Investment Portfolio; Organizational Structure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; Networks; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Technology; Financial Services Industry; Massachusetts; Boston; Cambridge; United States;

Language: English

Format: Print

25 pages

Educators Purchase

Citation:

Nanda, Ramana, Raffaella Sadun, and Olivia Hull. "Accomplice: Scaling Early Stage Finance." Harvard Business School Case 719-403, October 2018.

Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2019 (Revised November 2019)

C16 Biosciences: Lab-Grown Palm Oil

Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull

Synthetic biology start-up C16 Biosciences wants to solve a big problem: replace palm oil, a major contributor to deforestation and climate change, with a lab-grown substitute. CEO Shara Ticku has ambitious plans to supply her lab-grown palm oil to food manufacturers, who use palm oil liberally in a variety of products from ice cream to margarine. In bringing her product to market, Ticku faces a tough decision. Should she roll out the product first in the personal care market, which has lower volumes and premium prices, or go straight for food? The meteoric rise of lab-grown meat company Impossible Foods has caught the attention of an investor, who wonders if C16 should tap into excitement about lab-grown foods to raise a Series A funding round. But are there merits to starting small?

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Natural Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Weather and Climate Change; Social Enterprise; Business Startups; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Agribusiness; Food; Social Entrepreneurship; Globalized Markets and Industries; Goods and Commodities; Corporate Accountability; Growth and Development; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Working Conditions; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Supply and Industry; Product Development; Production; Corporate Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; North and Central America; Boston; Massachusetts; New York (city, NY); Southeast Asia; Indonesia; Malaysia;

Citation:

Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Olivia Hull. "C16 Biosciences: Lab-Grown Palm Oil." Harvard Business School Case 820-008, October 2019. (Revised November 2019.) View Details

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While still a general partner at Silicon Valley-based New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Ravi Viswanathan considered the challenges presented by evolving market dynamics in the venture capital space. Startups were staying private longer, which led to limited partners thirsty for liquidity and venture capital funds managing overloaded portfolios. Viswanathan and the senior leaders of NEA orchestrated the purchase of 31 NEA unrealized portfolio companies by the newly created $1.35 billion NewView Capital spinout that he would head. This secondary transaction provided liquidity to NEA’s limited partners and reallocated NEA partners’ time to shepherd other portfolio companies, while at the same time allowing NewView Capital to reap gains from future exits from a portfolio of diverse, high-quality growth stage technology companies. Now, as he prepares to raise Fund II, Viswanathan acknowledges that the unique circumstances that enabled the launch of Fund I would not be replicable, and he must consider alternative strategies to pursue next. Should he continue to focus on secondary transactions, focus on direct investments, or some combination of the two?

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Accomplice: Scaling Early Stage Finance

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