Moderne Ventures Closes over $230M for MV Fund III, Scaling its Modern Approach to Venture Investing

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 16, 2024--

Moderne Ventures, a generalist venture capital and growth equity firm with vertical specialties spanning multi trillion-dollar industries of real estate, finance, insurance and sustainability today announced it has raised over $230 million for MV Core Fund III, exceeding the oversubscribed $200M MV Core Fund II and bringing the firm’s total assets under management to more than $500M. Notable institutional investors include GCM Grosvenor and the Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund, and some of the world’s largest strategic partners like AvalonBay, Essent, and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World.

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Constance Freedman and Liza Benson (Photo: Business Wire)

Led by seasoned investors, Founder and Managing Partner Constance Freedman and Partner, Liza Benson, Moderne has made over 35 investments and backed over 150 Passport companies across three funds generating top tier venture returns in each.

Prior to founding Moderne in 2015, Freedman launched and managed Second Century Ventures, in partnership with the National Association of Realtors, where she led early investments in and was a board member of companies like DocuSign [NASDAQ: DOCU], Updater and August (sold to Assa Abloy). In 2015, Freedman launched Moderne Ventures - its early exits include Porch [NASDAQ: PRCH], Homesnap [acquired by CoStar] and TaskEasy [acquired by Workwave]; other notable investments across funds include ICON, Caribou, Proof, Measurabl, Xeal and Qloo.

“Moderne’s unique platform de-risks venture, an inherently risky asset class, while producing top tier returns,” said Freedman. “Moderne’s venture platform, immersion program and massive corporate network consistently generate synergistic value for our portfolio companies and industry partners which leads to top tier returns for our investors. MV Core Fund III is an expansion of our existing strategy where we apply decades of vertical specialization experience to curate customers for our companies and advance entire industries, producing outsized returns for our investors.”

GCM Grosvenor's Vice Chairman, Derek Jones said: "On behalf of our clients, we are thrilled to participate in Moderne's Core Fund III, given the firm's impeccable track record, robust value-add strategy, and strong team. We value the opportunity to back a differentiated manager who brings customers to portfolio companies.”

The Moderne Difference

Focused on bringing customers to companies across multi trillion-dollar industries ripe for innovation, Moderne Ventures has built a platform that’s truly unique to venture capital.

• Bringing Customers to Companies: Moderne’s industry immersion program, the Moderne Passport, helps companies refine and execute vertical market strategies, and systemically connects them to the Moderne Network, a curated group of more than 1,500 executives and corporate partners. The Moderne Passport is a highly selective, one-of-its-kind program. It accepts <1% of companies that apply and provides invaluable growth opportunities for companies.
• Generalist Investors, Vertical Specialists: Moderne is a sector specialist but generalist investor. Moderne invests in companies that are generally outside of its sectors and provides the deep vertical expertise and industry connections to open up its verticals which make up ~20% of the US GDP. Investing in companies that apply to multiple markets hedges against sector cyclicality and produces top decile and top quartile returns – and healthier companies – even during periods of sector volatility.
• Diversity: Moderne is a woman-owned firm with one of the most diverse teams in the asset management industry, with 70% of the firm made up of women and minorities.

Moderne Portfolio - Illustrative

Moderne’s Core Funds invest in technology companies with $2-20 million in revenue. Across its three funds, the firm has achieved top tier returns (according to Cambridge Associates benchmarks). Illustrative portfolio companies include:

• AI & Robotics:ICON develops robotic and AI systems to lower the cost and increase the construction speed and quality to tackle the global housing crisis and prepare to build on other worlds. ICON’s robotics have built more than 140 homes and structures and has been awarded nearly $60 million from NASA to develop a lunar surface construction system that will target humanity's first-ever construction on another planetary body. Qloo delivers "cultural AI" to decode and predict consumer preferences and interests across the globe. The company has achieved double digit revenue growth this year with notable clients like Netflix, Starbucks, JCDecaux, MetLife, Hines, and Pennybacker.
• Digital-First SaaS Platforms:Caribou is an automobile refinancing marketplace with transparent financing options and streamlined applications. More than 100,000 customers have refinanced on Caribou. Measurabl is the world’s most widely adopted ESG data platform, empowering over 1,000 customers across 93 countries representing more than 18 billion square feet of real estate to measure, manage and act to improve sustainability. Proof provides e-notarization, fraud detection and identity verification solutions that protect businesses and consumers from falsified records, forged signatures, and identity theft. The company services four of the largest U.S. financial institutions and has facilitated more than $97 billion in real estate transactions over the last calendar year.
• Future of Connectivity:Aerwave is reimagining digital infrastructure, providing seamless WiFi activation and superior customer experiences with constant connectivity. The company has achieved a 100% YoY increase in live units and counts 30% of the National Multifamily Housing Council's Top 50 as customers. Xeal ’s patented self-reliant computing technology enables smart devices to perform transactions and user access control with a 100% uptime guarantee and no cloud / IT dependence, no internet, and 50x faster processing speed. With an initial focus on EV charging, the company has grown revenue by 20x+ since initial VC investment in 2021.

Looking Ahead

In addition to its Core Funds, Moderne is also set to raise its first Growth Fund this year, which will enable the firm to double down on its highest growth portfolio companies across funds and bring additional high performing later stage companies onto its platform. For more information on the firm, including partnership opportunities and applications for its industry immersion program, visit www.moderneventures.com.

About Moderne Ventures

Moderne Ventures is a strategic venture capital and growth equity firm with more than $500M assets under management and a 16-year track record generating top-tier returns across multiple funds. Moderne is a generalist investor with a vertical approach focused on technology companies in and around the multi-trillion-dollar industries like real estate, finance, insurance, and sustainability – which make up ~20% of the US GDP and are ripe for innovation and disruption. The Fund focuses on companies that pertain both to these verticals and that can also expand beyond these industries to capture larger markets and top-tier venture returns.

Moderne differentiates itself by bringing customers to its portfolio companies. Moderne has both a Fund and an Industry Immersion Program, the Moderne Passport, designed to foster innovation, partnership and growth between industry partners and emerging technology companies. Moderne has built an extraordinary network of over 1,500 executives and corporations within its core industries and programmatically connects its portfolio to the industry network to help generate growth for the portfolio. Moderne has invested in over 150 companies across three funds and built a stellar track record through investing in companies like DocuSign, Caribou, Homesnap,ICON, Measurabl, Proof, Porch, Qloo, and Xeal.

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