EMAIL DETAILS

FYI this article. Seems like we should be targeting Princeton and Duke for
RSTP II as they clearly have emerging manager programs.

*By Spencer E. Ante and Shayndi Raice*

Instagram-backer Thrive Capital is raising a new $150 million venture
capital fund, people familiar with the matter said, a move that could put
the young firm in greater competition with bigger peers that have been its
partners in recent deals.

The fundraising effort underscores the rising ambition of Thrive Capital’s
young founder Joshua Kushner, 27, who hails from a prominent real estate
family. His firm was one of several that doubled their money practically
overnight after it invested in photo-sharing service Instagram at a $500
million valuation just days before Facebook bought the company for $1
billion in cash and stock. The purchase price, however, has declined as
Facebook’s stock has suffered recently.

Mr. Kushner founded Thrive in 2009 and raised a $10 million fund, his
first. That gave him the capital to act as a so-called angel investor,
writing checks to very young companies or taking small stakes alongside
more established funds in bigger deals.

The new fund, if it closes, will move him up the ranks, allowing him to
write bigger checks more frequently but likely causing him to compete more
often with the venture capital funds jostling for sizable stakes in hot
technology start-ups.

Mr. Kushner has been working on the fund for the last few months and it is
expected to close in the coming weeks, the people familiar with the matter
said. Some of Thrive Capital’s limited partners from its previous $40
million fund, including Duke University and Princeton University Investment
Co., will be investing in the firm’s new fund, the people said.

While Mr. Kushner’s youth is “huge obvious risk factor,” it also helps the
firm relate to young entrepreneurs and get access to deals, said Andrew
Golden, president of the Princeton University Investment Co.

Thrive has invested in several companies besides Instagram that have been
acquired. They include wireless messaging service GroupMe, which Skype
bought for around $80 million, and social media service Hot Potato, bought
by Facebook.

The New York-based firm has also invested in other start-ups that are
seeing rapid user and sales growth, such as design e-commerce site Fab.com,
prescription eyewear website Warby Parker and online funding marketplace
Kickstarter.

Mr. Kushner’s father is real estate mogul Charles Kushner, a philanthropist
and top Democratic donor. His brother Jared Kushner, is president and CEO
of the Kushner Companies and owns The New York Observer and is married to
Ivanka Trump.

--
John DeLoche
*Managing Director*
Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners
One Market, Spear Tower, 36th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
office: 415 293 8147
mobile: 415 793 7070

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