London-based VC outfit Kindred Capital has closed a second fund for £81 million ($105m). It is a small increase on Kindred’s first fund, which closed in 2018 and has invested in 29 companies in Europe and Israel to date.
What sets Kindred apart from other venture capital funds is its so-called “Equitable Venture,” whereby founders it backs receive partial ownership of Kindred itself. Portfolio founders also share a percentage of Kindred’s profits once LPs’ investments are returned.
Kindred will return around $6m from its first fund in this way, which works out at roughly $90,000 per founder. The VC says its novel model acts to incentivize collective success-building, which it claims has “a positive impact on deal flow, with entrepreneurs sourcing 38% of Kindred’s dealflow at the top of the funnel.”
Kindred has already begun dishing out cash from its second fund, with investments in fellow Londoner Gravity Sketch, a 3D design platform, and Polish quantum computing firm Beit. LPs include Isomer, Sands Capital and the University of Chicago.