Jun 28, 2023 | GroveStreet, In the News
GroveStreet Managing Partner, Bruce Ou, spoke at the Asia Venture Capital Journal (“AVCJ”) Private Equity & Venture Forum Japan ’23. Bruce’s session tackled the topic of “Accessing Global Opportunities.” Bruce shared his assessment of the current investment environment for venture capital and lower mid-market buyout, observing that there are a lot of uncertainties in the marketplace given the cross currents in the macro landscape. On venture he commented that “the music has definitely slowed” as a result of these uncertainties but acknowledged that he harbors some concerns that “a new DJ may appear and turn up the music again.” The ‘DJ’ or potential catalyst for renewed excess is of course AI, which GroveStreet is monitoring closely.
Jun 14, 2023 | GroveStreet, In the News
GroveStreet Principal, Patrick Sherwood, joined other LPs and emerging GPs in a discussion on “The Evolution of the Emerging Manager” at the RFK Human Rights Compass Investors Conference. Investing in emerging managers has long been a part of GroveStreet’s approach to building private equity portfolios. Patrick outlined how GroveStreet goes about identifying and assessing talented new GPs. He also made the case for allocating to emerging managers in the current environment where there is rapid innovation in both technology and healthcare and the current macroeconomic challenges require a distinctive combination of skills and perspectives.
May 31, 2023 | GroveStreet, In the News
GroveStreet Managing Director, John Merrill, spoke at Invest Canada ‘23 on the evolution of best practices in biotech and healthcare investing. Since the inception of the firm, GroveStreet has been a consistent investor in the space backing many of the leading biotech firms just as they were being formed. While transformational innovations in biotech and healthcare present an array of compelling opportunities to long-term investors, caution and selectivity remain of paramount importance to allocators.
May 25, 2023 | GroveStreet, In the News
GroveStreet Managing Partner Frank Angella is quoted in the Wall Street Journal about the rise in healthcare venture fundraising in 2023 saying “LPs understand this is a long-cycle investment thesis and still believe the core drivers are intact.” As recent performance metrics are distorted with inconsistent valuation adjustments, there is more focus among LPs on the long-term promise of advances in biotechnology and digital health, including the application of AI and ML to ever-larger data sets to identify new treatments. Notwithstanding large reserves of dry powder, investments in early-stage startups are down as many GPs are holding out for mid-to-later-stage companies that had raised capital at lofty valuations. LPs should monitor these trends and their implications on valuations. On the ground, one thing is clear – entrepreneurs are having to do more with less, an operating environment that has historically led to strong returns. Read more here (for WSJ subscribers): https://www.wsj.com/articles/venture-fundraising-in-healthcare-rises-as-investment-in-startups-slows-67f3bd7c
May 8, 2023 | In the News
Venture investors are assiduously monitoring the evolution of AI as it appears poised to have transformational implications on tech companies and beyond. Just a few months ago big tech seemed poised to monopolize large language models (LLMs.) The recent release of several open-source LLMs appears to have shifted the market from “bigger is better” to “cheaper / more efficient / more customizable is better.” Our team believes this trend in AI warrants close attention. Read more here: https://bdtechtalks.com/2023/05/08/open-source-llms-moats/
May 4, 2023 | In the News
Managing Partner Catherine Crockett and Vice President Eric Garofano comment on trends in 2022 year-end venture valuations, specifically the emerging divergence in carrying values. Variation in the marks for the same company across GPs renders benchmarking less meaningful and reminds LPs of the importance of close monitoring of business fundamentals of portfolio companies. Read more here: Click here to download this paper in PDF format
