USV raises a firm-record $900 million and sticks with idea-driven investing

Union Square Ventures (USV) announced a new set of funds and raised $900 million, the largest fund cycle in the firm’s history. USV’s representatives said the market is changing quickly: rounds are getting larger, and some companies need more capital and time, particularly in robotics, energy and other areas involving the physical world. The firm plans to retain its focused, idea-driven investment approach while using more capital to pursue opportunities at greater scale.

USV sees its fund size as a way to combine participation in larger opportunities with a potentially attractive return profile: companies exiting for single-digit billions of dollars can generate meaningful returns for a $900 million fund, while historical portfolio companies valued at $50 billion and $100 billion produced some of the firm’s strongest venture returns. The representatives also said startup financing conditions differ from those of roughly a decade ago and that they do not expect a return to the earlier era, when investors could buy stakes in strong teams for far less.