Venture firm CRV raises $750M, downsizing after returning capital to investors

CRV, a venture capital firm with a 55-year legacy, announced on Friday that it has successfully raised $750 million for its twentieth flagship fund. This latest fundraise signifies a strategic recalibration for the firm, following its closure of a larger $1 billion early-stage fund in the fall of 2022.

At the same time in 2022, CRV also established a $500 million Select fund, a dedicated capital pool designed to support later-stage funding rounds for its existing portfolio companies. However, the firm has opted not to launch a similar late-stage fund as part of its current capital-gathering efforts.

This decision stems from CRV’s recent move to return $275 million from its Select fund to investors. The firm indicated that it would refrain from raising another late-stage vehicle, explaining that an increased number of follow-on rounds for many of its companies could negatively impact overall returns. This strategic adjustment was previously highlighted in a report by The New York Times.

Despite the adjusted fund size, CRV reported substantial investor enthusiasm. The firm managed to secure the entire $750 million for its new fund in just four weeks, noting that demand from limited partners was double the amount raised. Investors were reportedly eager to back the firm’s more focused strategy.

The newly raised $750 million fund will be deployed to invest in startups at the seed and Series A stages. CRV plans to concentrate its investments within the consumer technology and developer tools (devtools) sectors.

Throughout its history, which began in 1970, CRV has an impressive track record, having invested in over 750 startups, with 80 of them eventually achieving public market status. The firm is particularly recognized for leading the seed financing for DoorDash and the Series A rounds for influential companies like Mercury and Vercel, a prominent cloud platform for web developers that was last valued at $3.25 billion.

In its most recent investment activities, CRV has backed emerging companies such as CodeRabbit, a startup utilizing AI for code reviews that recently secured $16 million in funding, and Outtake, a firm focused on AI-driven cybersecurity solutions.