Equitybee Venture Portfolio Fund (VPF)

Access 120+ pre‑IPO startups via a single fund

With a proven track record of over $100M in investments across 730+ startup companies, Equitybee is opening the venture asset class to more investors worldwide.

For illustrative purposes only; Fund holdings subject to availability.

The venture market has consistently outperformed the NASDAQ Composite Index®. While you can invest in a NASDAQ ETF, a similar venture ETF doesn’t exist. Using our data-driven model, the Equitybee Venture Portfolio Fund (VPF) was created to access the venture market through an index-like strategy.

The model

Over 10K VC-backed exit events, across 24 years of data

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Fund benefits

120+ Pre-IPO companies, shorter time to liquidity

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Track record

Equitybee's structural advantages and past performance

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Venture Portfolio Fund (VPF) 101

We created the Venture Portfolio Fund with a strategy that pursues top quartile venture returns by providing investment access to 120+ startups that are backed by the top quartile US VCs, at discounted entry price compared to current valuation.

The VPF Statistical Model - VPO

The top quartile of venture funds has consistently outperformed traditional capital markets like the NASDAQ.

Equitybee’s VPO (Venture Portfolio Optimizer) is a proprietary model that leverages multiple data sources, encompassing 24 years of VC return data, based on more than 10,000 data points, across more than 4,600 unique startup companies.

We constructed an optimal portfolio mix, by considering both the varying failure rates of startups across stages (by funding round or series) and their respective timeframes to experience liquidity events.

Equitybee has stress-tested the model through various methods, including 20,000 Monte Carlo simulations and numerous sensitivity analyses.

The VPF statistical model - VPO

Why venture?

Research has shown that a minimum 30% allocation to alternative assets, over the past 30 years, would have increased returns and decreased risk for investors.* Within alternative assets, venture capital has been the top performing asset class for over a decade,** with top quartile VCs achieved a median IRR of 27% for the vintage years 2010 - 2020.***

*Source: Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Daniel Maccarrone, Co-Head of Global Investment Manager Analysis, Wealth Management
**Source: J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Guide to Alternatives, Slide 11
***Source: Pitchbook, Yahoo Finance as of Q3 2023.

Past performance is not indicative of future success

Our unique investment approach

The VPF aims to generate top-quartile venture performance from an already high-return asset class

Structurally “In-the-money”

Invests via funding employee stock options priced at a steep discount to the fair market value. This ensures that only structurally in-the-money offers are included in the fund.

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Data-driven investment strategy

Dynamic portfolio construction removes the human biases that can impede traditional investment strategies.
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Broad exposure across 120+ startups

Diversification mitigates the risks associated with sector-specific downturns to reflect returns across the full range of verticals and technologies.

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Venture market returns

The VPF is making venture investment accessible to more investors, and aiming to generate top-quartile venture performance.

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Fund terms

Min. investment

$100,000

Investment period

12-18 months

Target fund life

5 years

A sneak peek to an active Equitybee Venture Fund

Active Portfolio companies

50

+

Avg. discount on current market value

38

%

Reported Potential IPOs

Sample positions for illustrative purposes only; holdings for any Equitybee Venture Fund will differ based on availability.

Selected fund investments

Logo of Shield AI
Logo of RIPPLING
Logo of Cedar
Logo of ASAPP
Logo of CARTA
Logo of Cloudinary
Logo of Shield AI
Logo of RIPPLING
Logo of Cedar
Logo of ASAPP
Logo of CARTA
Logo of Cloudinary

Sample positions for illustrative purposes only; holdings for any Equitybee Venture Fund will differ based on availability.

Why Equitybee?

Equitybee is a leading employee stock options funding platform. Since 2018, Equitybee provides investors with unprecedented access to high-growth, VC-backed startups. By funding employee stock options, investors can invest in today’s most promising startups based on past valuations.

Proven track record

Liquidity events

155

Net realized IRR**

55

%

Investments volume

$

100

M+

Startup companies

730

+

**Past performance is not indicative of future results. 55.5% net IRR represents all fully realized investments across the Equitybee platform, including US and Israel markets. Investors should be aware that these returns were primarily achieved during favorable market conditions. The Israel market reflects offers from June 2018 through December 2023; the US market reflects offers from March 2020 through December 2023. Net IRR is shown net of all applicable fees for the respective market. This performance data does not represent any investor’s portfolio or any model portfolio. IRR figures are calculated for each transaction into an offer on the Equitybee platform from the date the investor's funds were received through the distribution date of proceeds, if any. If the distribution date was less than one year after the invested date, the IRR represents an unannualized return. For distributions one year or more after invested date, IRR is annualized.
Data quoted excludes partial returns of invested capital, e.g., tender offers for a portion of covered securities, and investments which have not experienced a liquidity event. As of December 31, 2023, approximately $100 million has been invested on the Equitybee platform; 16.3% of invested capital has experienced a fully realized return, 83.6% of invested capital is unrealized or partially realized.

Access to Virtually Any Startup

Focusing on employee stock options provides unparalleled access to pre-IPO companies.

Discounted Entry Price

In the past five years, the average discount was 31%* from the current fair market value, at time of investment.

*Source: Equitybee proprietary data

Strict Due Diligence

Equitybee’s subsidiary, Equitybee Securities, is an SEC registered broker-dealer and FINRA member.
Learn more about Equitybee Securities >

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Empowering investors

Client Testimonials

"Equitybee’s institutional product provided me with a highly curated deal flow for my sought after companies and investment terms"

Dovi Frances

Founding Partner at Group11

"Great companies with attractive terms. Equitybee's deal flow is a great addition to my personal portfolio"

Oren Zeev

Founding Partner Zeev Ventures

"It’s a great platform. Access with attractive terms. Managed to build my wishlist portfolio"

Avery Schwarz

Partner at Greenfield

"As a VC Partner myself, I can testify to the great investor experience and the innovative venture strategy"

Adam Benayoun

Partner Collider Ventures

"Data driven and highly diversified venture fund - it makes sense"

Alon Matas

Founder & president @ BetterHelp

These testimonials may not be representative of all client experiences and there is no guarantee you will share the same results.

Frequently asked questions

I’m interested in investing in VPF. How do I proceed?

Investor Sign-On and Capital Commitment Process
The VPF will be available through the Equitybee platform in the main directory listing of available offers. Click the VPF tile to view the offer page and reserve your allocation. You will be prompted to complete your investment account and review/sign the investment documents. Once approved by the Broker Dealer, you will be approved for the investment. Upon closing of the Fund, the wire instructions will be shared through the platform.

What are the terms of VPF?

-  Target fund life: 5 years
-  Investment period: ~12-18 months
-  Annual Management Fee: None
-  Brokerage Fee: 5% applied when capital is deployed to each underlying investment
-  Carried interest: 10% applied at the VPF level
-  Minimum commitment per investor: $100,000

What happens after a liquidity event?

A liquidity event is an acquisition, merger, initial public offering (IPO), tender offers, or any other event at the company that allows shareholders to cash out some or all of their shares.

Following a successful liquidity event, the VPF will receive its principal, interest, and a portion of the stock value. When a liquidity event occurs at a price per share less than the investment price per share, VPF first receives all available funds to recoup the original investment amount. The employee will not receive any proceeds in this event. The employee has the option to settle in either cash or shares after the end of any applicable lockup period. If VPF receives shares after a liquidity event, the Manager will first sell the shares before distributing cash to investors. The VPF will distribute any aggregated proceeds quarterly.

How does Equitybee work?

Equitybee is a marketplace to bring investors and employees needing stock option funding together.
Equitybee gives investors access to these startup companies by funding employee stock options.
1. Investors provide capital
2. Employee uses capital to exercise stock options
3. After a successful company liquidity event, employee pays investor:
- Principal Investment
- Any accrued annual interest
- Percentage of total value at time of liquidity event

What makes Equitybee different from a Secondary?

Secondary trading involves buying or selling shares outright, while Equitybee facilitates the funding of employee stock options (via a variable prepaid forward contract) rather than purchasing shares. The secondary market allows VC funds and other shareholders that invested in the company in the earlier stages the opportunity to realize their investment before a potential initial public offering (IPO). So, venture investors or company employees are selling earlier investments at later stage valuations. When investing in a secondary, you directly own equity in the company and are represented on the cap table.

Investing with Equitybee allows you to invest in later stage companies, but at earlier stage valuations, via vested employee stock options. The investment is in the form of a variable forward contract, and at the time of a successful liquidity event, the employee pays the investor the relevant proceeds. You own an interest in the forward contract, not in the underlying stock. The employee retains ownership of the equity throughout the process, but may choose to settle the contract  in publicly traded shares after a liquidity event.

What are the differences and similarities between VPF and a secondary fund?

Secondary funds buy and sell shares through secondary transactions (see Secondary vs Equitybee above)The main differences between VPF and a traditional secondary fund are:

- Investment Access: Traditional secondary funds usually acquire shares from early investors / founders / executives, which is a time-consuming process that requires company and board approval involving ROFR provisions. As a result, secondary funds enjoy very limited investment access. On the other hand, VPF will fund startup employees' stock options through the Equitybee platform using variable prepaid forward contracts, which allows VPF to  gain exposure to virtually any startup in the market without needing company/board approval.

- Discount investment price:VPF will leverage Equitybee’s unique investment framework that allows for entry prices that are typically more compelling relative to those of secondary funds (e.g., Equitybee's historical median discount is ~76% relative to a company’s most recent preferred share price).

- Investment strategy:VPF will target a largely diversified portfolio of 120+ companies, whereas typical venture secondary funds will target more concentrated portfolios of ~20 companies. However, research shows that larger portfolios (100+ companies) tend to (1) increase the likelihood of generating higher returns and (2) decrease the dispersion of returns. Note that venture secondary funds will typically target net IRRs of 15%-20%.

Why doesn’t such a venture fund already exist?

Traditional VCs typically have a handful of partners, who only have so much bandwidth to perform due diligence on target companies, then they take board seats and provide ongoing support to their portfolio companies. The amount of exposure is often capped such that any one VC fund may have to the broad startup industry.
These constraints generally limit the portfolio size to about 10-30 companies. But with the Venture Portfolio Fund and using Equitybee’s unique investment structure, investors can access a broadly diversified fund, gaining exposure to top startup companies at earlier valuations.

How has the VPO model been stress-tested?

For each iteration of our Monte Carlo simulation, the model generates (1) hypothetical portfolio investments randomly distributed within the Fund's investment period (deal terms are also randomly generated based on Equitybee's historical deal flow), and (2) random exit events based on historical return distributions across economic cycles. Finally, we've stress-tested several model inputs, including (1) optimal portfolio size, (2) optimal portfolio mix across company stages, (3) investment period, (4) fund term, (5) historical return distributions, and (6) historical median time for portfolio investments to exit.

Still have questions?

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