Twelve Below, a venture capital firm founded in 2021 by Taylor Greene and Byron Ling, has successfully closed on $108 million in capital commitments, providing a fresh infusion of capital for pre-seed and seed-stage startups.
Greene and Ling, with a decade-long history of collaboration, established Twelve Below after notable careers at Collaborative Fund, Lerer Hippeau, Canaan, and Primary Venture Partners. Their track record includes investments in successful ventures such as Mirror, Papa, and K Health.
“We think trust is what underpins the ability to truly know what’s going on in business but also have an outsize impact,” Ling said. “Their success and our success are very much intertwined. We’ve been very deliberate in that model because we think founders truly want personalized attention with an individual trusted partner, which is very different and why we’ve resisted the model of having a platform team and having all these different individuals that could potentially fragment that relationship over time.”
Twelve Below’s investment strategy revolves around leading or co-leading pre-seed and seed financings, aiming for a substantial 10% to 15% ownership stake in core investments. The firm focuses on supporting startups in the fintech, healthcare, energy, SMB, and consumer sectors within the vibrant ecosystem of New York City.
Greene and Ling mentioned their philosophy is reminiscent of the “old ways of venture capital.” They say it’s about trust — keep your fund size small, high conviction, high ownership and make a low number of investments.
“Our mentors told us that this kind of old-school approach will drive great returns,” Greene said. “We started with a blank piece of paper, designing the firm around that mentality based on relationships and trust with entrepreneurs.”
With an initial fund of $50 million, Twelve Below has already invested in promising companies like Accrue Savings, Odyssey Energy, Croissant, Campus, and Truehold. Notably, more than 60% of their portfolio companies have successfully secured follow-on capital.
The latest capital injection is divided between two funds: an $80 million second early-stage fund and a $28 million opportunity fund. This brings Twelve Below’s total assets under management to an impressive $160 million. The firm has garnered support from various entities, including large university endowments, institutional fund-of-funds, and substantial family offices, which is an encouraging US fintech news or the Europe fintech news.
This significant funding round positions Twelve Below as a key player in the venture capital landscape, poised to catalyze the growth of innovative startups and contribute to the flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystem.
It was its large number of portfolio companies going after follow-on capital that got Greene and Ling thinking of how they could further support their companies. Greene described the opportunity fund as “a little bit unique.”
“It just invests in our existing companies,” Greene said. “We saw this disconnect in the market where we’re very excited about pricing, especially as we follow on into our existing companies. Pricing is, from a risk-reward perspective, seems great. We’re also very excited about how the portfolio is shaping up, so it gives us the ability to put more money into our existing companies.”
The pair invested in 21 companies with its first fund and plan on around 25 for the second fund and between five and eight companies for the opportunity fund. They haven’t made an investment yet from the second fund, but say that is coming early next year.
To know more about other trending usecases in the US financial services industry, like Generative AI, Open Banking, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), explore our other insights.
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