Adjacent raised a $10 million first close before securing a $40 million first fund

Adjacent’s initial fundraising took 18 months and coincided with the start of COVID-19 and the birth of the founder’s first child. The first close reached $10 million, with early LPs including Revolut founder Nick, the founders of Calm, GPs linked to Point Nine, and friendly funds such as Thrive and Founders Fund. Family office SES also joined the first close.

After the close, Adjacent began investing; its second investment was Speechify, which the founder said performed very well. That early investment provided evidence that he could operate independently, helping him raise a $40 million first fund from institutions. He said he was investing from fund four at the time and had generally added about one LP per fund.