It seems like every day we find a new article affirming why venture capital is currently one of the highest performing asset classes—and today is no different. Before we get into the specifics, we want to note that we’re sharing these articles with you to help you understand the asset class as a whole. We’d like you to invest with us, and we know that every venture capital investment is different. We invite you to learn about how we run Seismic Capital and our process by visiting our offering page. There, you will also find a link to the risks and disclosures in our SEC-qualified Offering Circular.
Now for the news.
University endowments saw spectacular returns during the fiscal year ended June 30. And it comes as no surprise to us that what drove those returns was venture capital. “Spectacular” may even be an understatement; with returns exceeding 50% and 60% for those with the highest private market allocations—particularly those with mature venture capital programs—these figures are record-smashing. The pandemic played a huge role here, as its effects led companies to stay private longer to raise capital, while also making the private market more welcoming to those companies who did launch IPOs.
Pensions & Investments tracked the 40 university endowments with more than $1 billion in assets as of October 27, and found that the median return for the fiscal year was a whopping 36.7%. That’s nearly 10% higher than the equivalent figure for public pension plans. That’s just one of the many impressive figures in their article on the subject, and we think anyone with an eye on venture-type firms like Seismic would benefit from reading the full story here.
Institutional Investor reported similarly fantastic figures for Bowdoin, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania. With asset allocation pushing other determining factors to the sidelines in fiscal year 2021, private equity and venture capital drove outsized returns for these three endowments. At the top was Bowdoin, whose shift of its $2.72 billion portfolio toward private assets, particularly venture capital, paid off when they yielded a remarkable 57.4% return. For all the details, check out the full article here.
Although the average investor would be hard-pressed to match the capital that institutions this size are able to invest, trends such as these can offer valuable insight into broader economic patterns. Seismic Capital is open to most all investors. We’ve always believed everyone could benefit from having venture capital investments in their portfolio—and it’s stories like these that tell us that may ring even more true today.
To learn more about diversifying your portfolio through a single investment in Seismic as we aim to shake the foundations of several industries, please visit our offering page. There, you can also find a link to our U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-qualified Offering Circular.