Xfund

The Experiment Fund was launched in January 2012 as a $10 million seed fund and incubator designed specifically to support student start-ups and develop technologies and platforms created in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Although anchored at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the fund was made open to all founders regardless of university affiliation from the start. It was initially run with Patrick Chung representing New Enterprise Associates (NEA)'s interests and Hugo Van Vuuren as the fund's "on the ground" person in Cambridge. Early advisors included Harvard faculty members David Edwards,{{Citation |last=Burstein |first=David D. |date=27 March 2012 |title=The Xfund, Harvard, And The Student-Entrepreneur |publisher=Fast Company |publication-place= |page= |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/1826202/xfund-harvard-and-student-entrepreneur |access-date=25 February 2021}} Harry Lewis, Cherry Murray,{{Citation |last= |first= |date=4 December 2014 |title=Xfund Closes $100 Million Second Fund |publisher=Xfund |publication-place= |page= |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20141204005190/en/Xfund-Closes-100-Million-Second-Fund |access-date=25 February 2021}} and John Palfrey, in addition to Facebook co-founder Andrew McCollum, Jim Breyer, and NEA's Harry Weller. To avoid potential conflicts of interest, Harvard had no financial stake in the Experiment Fund.{{cite news|title=Early-stage venture fund launches|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/01/early-stage-venture-fund-launches/|access-date=21 November 2017|work=Harvard Gazette|date=January 27, 2012}}

In June 2012, Accel Partners, Breyer Capital, and Polaris Venture Partners joined NEA as investors. Experiment Fund identified around 3500 investment opportunities in its first two years. Of that number, it evaluated 900 companies and invested in five, including Philo, Zumper, Kensho, and Ravel Law.{{Citation |last=Shu |first=Catherine |date=4 December 2014 |title=Harvard-based Xfund Closes A $100M Second Fund |publisher=TechCrunch |publication-place= |page= |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/12/04/harvard-based-xfund-closes-a-100m-second-fund/ |access-date=25 February 2021}} The average markup of the portfolio from seed valuation to valuation in May 2014 was over 10x.{{cite news|last1=Boslet|first1=Mark|title=Experiment Fund looks ahead|url=https://www.pehub.com/2014/05/experiment-fund-looks-ahead/|access-date=29 November 2017|work=PE Hub|date=May 28, 2014}} Approximately 40% of the deal-flow in the original fund came from companies launched by Harvard students, faculty and staff,{{Citation |last=Primack |first=Dan |date=3 September 2020 |title=Xfund raises $120 million for third fund |publisher=Axios|publication-place= |page= |url=https://www.axios.com/xfund-raises-120-million-harvard-venture-4ef97b6e-88e3-44d7-bfa1-5ec89628c516.html |access-date=25 February 2021}} while 25% came from MIT-affiliated entrepreneurs and 9% from Stanford University.{{cite news|last1=Landry|first1=Lauren|title=Harvard-Based Xfund Closes $100M Second Fund|url=https://www.americaninno.com/boston/xfund-closes-second-round-of-100-million/|access-date=21 November 2017|work=American Innovation|date=December 4, 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Wu|first1=Victor C.|title=Partners Reflect on Experiment Fund's First Year|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/4/25/experiment-fund-reflects-progress/|access-date=20 November 2017|work=Harvard Crimson|date=April 25, 2013}}{{cite web|title=The Experiment Fund welcomes Accel, Polaris, and new advisers|url=https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2012/06/experiment-fund-welcomes-accel-polaris-and-new-advisers|website=harvard.edu|publisher=Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences|access-date=29 November 2017|date=June 26, 2012}} In May 2014, Patrick Chung joined The Experiment Fund full-time.

In December 2014, the fund raised $100 million in capital commitments for a second fund, which was officially renamed Xfund.{{cite news|last1=Primack|first1=Dan|title=Exclusive: NEA's Patrick Chung to join Xfund fulltime|url=http://fortune.com/2014/05/28/exclusive-neas-patrick-chung-to-join-xfund-fulltime/|access-date=30 November 2017|work=Fortune|date=May 28, 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Primack|first1=Dan|title=Harvard-affiliated VC fund raises $100 million|url=http://fortune.com/2014/12/04/harvard-affiliated-vc-fund-raises-100-million/|access-date=21 November 2017|work=Fortune|date=December 4, 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Chapman|first1=Lizette|title=Xfund Closes $100 Million Second Fund, Targets Student Entrepreneurs|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/12/04/xfund-closes-100-million-second-fund-targets-student-entrepreneurs/|access-date=29 November 2017|work=Wall Street Journal|date=December 4, 2014}} Among Xfund's limited partners were Goldman Sachs, Saudi Aramco, Jasper Ridge and Breyer Capital. Still based at Harvard, by 2015, the company had considered 3,500 investments and made 10. In January 2016, Van Vuuren contacted Xfund's Limited Partners Advisory Committee (LPAC) and accused Chung of mismanagement in the firing of an employee. Separately, Chung contacted the LPAC requesting intervention and raised questions about Van Vuuren's stability. In March 2016, the LPAC voted to keep Chung in charge as managing partner and remove Van Vuuren entirely from the fund's affairs. Van Vuuren sued Xfund and Chung in May 2016,{{Citation |last= |first= |date=17 May 2016 |title=Dispute at Xfund |work=The New York Times |publication-place=New York City |page= |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/technology/xfund-court-hugo-van-vuuren-patrick-chung.html |access-date= 25 February 2021}} alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, defamation, and a violation of California's two-party consent law.{{cite news|last1=Geron|first1=Tomio|title=Lawsuit Escalates Xfund Conflict|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/lawsuit-escalates-xfund-conflict-1463429486|access-date=1 December 2017|work=Wall Street Journal|date=May 16, 2016}}{{cite web|title=New Lawsuit against Patrick Chung, David York, and hijacking of Harvard|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/346839481/New-Lawsuit-against-Patrick-Chung-David-York-and-hijacking-of-Harvard-Xfund-PDF|website=scribd.com|publisher=Superior Court of the State of California (via scribd)|access-date=3 December 2017}} The case was privately settled in February 2017.{{cite news|last1=Primack|first1=Dan|title=The return of Xfund|url=https://www.axios.com/the-return-of-x-fund-2493752828.html|access-date=3 December 2017|work=Axios|date=October 6, 2017}} Brandon Farwell, formerly of DFJ and RV, subsequently joined Xfund as a partner in 2017. With all original investors remaining involved, Chung and Farwell invested in companies such as Zumper, 23andMe, and Landit, among others.

In 2020, Xfund announced its third fund, Xfund 3.{{Citation |last=Guo |first=Elizabeth |date=4 September 2020 |title=Aiming to Spawn 'the Next Gates or Zuckerberg,' Harvard-Connected Venture Capital Firm Xfund Closes Latest Fund |publisher=The Crimson |publication-place=United States |page= |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/9/4/harvard-xfund/ |access-date=21 February 2021}} Originally intending to raise $100 million, it was oversubscribed and accepted $120 million in commitments, with the fund led by NEA and Breyer Capital.{{Citation |last=Tezuka |first=Maera |date=3 September 2020 |title=XFund pulls in $120M for 3rd fund |publisher=S&P Global |publication-place= |page= |url=https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/xfund-pulls-in-120m-for-3rd-fund-60213232 |access-date=21 February 2021}} At the time, in contrast to venture funding at large where 3% of funding goes to female-led companies, by September 2020, "one-third of Xfund’s capital [was] invested in companies with women founder/CEOs, and 72 percent of the firm’s capital backs companies led by women, minorities, or immigrants." Also, startups from Harvard comprised "about 25 percent of Xfund’s investments, with 20 percent coming from MIT, 10 percent from Stanford and another 7 percent from University of California, Berkeley.{{Citation |last=Steiner |first=Christopher |date=5 October 2015 |title=Big Investors on Campus: Why VCs are scouting student startups |publisher=Reuters |publication-place= |page= |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N11K1W720150915 |access-date=25 February 2021}} As the first investor in most of its portfolio companies, by 2020 the company had also invested in Curebase, Natalist, AeroVect,{{Citation |last=Karoff |first=Paul |date=3 September 2020 |title=Xfund celebrates launch of new fund |publisher=Harvard SEAS |publication-place= |page= |url=https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2020/09/xfund-celebrates-launch-new-fund |access-date=21 February 2021}} Segment, Guideline, NewtonX, and Lighthouse.{{Citation |last=Jean Lee |first=Denise Hui |date=12 October 2020 |title=Stanford students launch Lighthouse app to kickstart spontaneous connection |publisher=Stanford Daily |publication-place= |page= |url= https://www.stanforddaily.com/2020/10/12/stanford-students-launch-lighthouse-app-to-kickstart-spontaneous-connection/|access-date=}}

• List of venture capital firms

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.xfund.com Xfund]

{{Private equity and venture capital}}

Category:Venture capital firms of the United States

Category:Companies based in Palo Alto, California

Category:Companies based in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Category:Financial services companies established in 2014