Edition #5: 43 New Funds Launched, Secondaries Overtake IPOs, Q2 Fund Performance Benchmark
Hey guys,
This is Pavel and welcome to the 5th edition (September, 2025) of Murph Capital newsletter.
This is my monthly brain-dump of the most useful stuff I’ve come across as an operator in the GP/LP world.
Follow me on X and LinkedIn for more frequent insights.
5 Best Tweets
“For the first time, US VC secondary sales exceeded IPO exit value”
By Pavel Prata from R136 Ventures
“VC fund performance cheatsheet”
By Peter Walker from Carta
“By 2027, 75% of VCs will depend on AI and data for investment decisions”
By Pavel Prata from R136 Ventures
“How systematic risk management transforms venture outcomes”
By Dan Gray from Equidam
“Who’s actually leading early-stage rounds?“
By Beezer Clarkson from Sapphire Partners / OpenLP
5 Best Linkedin Posts
“Every VC fund manager and LP struggles with taxes. This guide breaks it all down”
By Pavel Prata from R136 Ventures
“The biggest shakeup in 85 years for VC fund law is underway”
By Chris Harvey from Harvey Esquire APC
“12-month performance of 2010-2020 vintage year VC funds”
By David Clark from VenCap
“How much upside are you selling? The math behind VC liquidity moves”
By David Zhou from Superclusters / Dave McClure from Practical VC
“What percent of VCs hit the magic “3x net” performance mark?“
By Peter Walker from Carta
5 Best Reports / Stories
“VC Fund Performance Benchmark Q2 2025”
By Peter Walker, Janet Deng, Kevin Dowd from Carta
“A data-driven guide to portfolio construction”
By Halle Kaplan-Allen from Sydecar
“The state of US early-stage venture and startups H1 2025”
By Abe Othman, Madison Waldvogel from AngelList
“Fund Performance Report Q2 2025”
By Braughm Ricke from Aduro Advisors
43 New VC Funds
View all other funds by clicking the button below…
Fund Chronicles
Fund Chronicles #5: Lightspeed Venture Partners
How Stanford grads cracked infrastructure timing investing 3-5 years early to generate $8B returns and 483 exits
Emerging Managers Interviews
Solo GP Timothy Chen just raised $41M Essence Fund IV without a deck. I asked him 10 questions about how he did it.
35 VC/LP Events
US & Canada
October 1 – New England LP Summit (Boston, MA, USA)
October 1 – Venture Capital World Summit New York (New York, NY, USA)
October 15 – 2025 New York Private Capital Summit (New York, NY, USA)
October 15–16 – AIMA Global Investor Forum (Toronto, Canada)
October 15–16 – Private Funds Summit (Boston, MA, USA)
October 15–16 – Venture Atlanta 2025 (Atlanta, GA, USA)
October 16 – 2025 Emerging Manager Forum (New York, NY, USA)
October 19–22 – Inversion Summits Fall Summit 2025 (Phoenix, AZ, USA)
October 21–22 – Family Office Forum New York (New York, NY, USA)
October 22 – EMex Americas: Emerging Manager Exchange (New York, NY, USA)
October 23 – RAISE Global Conference (San Francisco, CA, USA)
October 27–29 – TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 (San Francisco, CA, USA)
October 27–29 – SEM Consortium Autumn 2025 (New York, NY, USA)
October 29 – EMC Summit 2025 (Emerging Manager Circle) (New York, NY, USA)
October 29 – Kellogg Private Equity & Venture Capital Conference (Evanston, IL, USA)
Europe
October 1–3 – SuperReturn CFO/COO (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
October 8–9 – Venture Capital Forum 2025 (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
October 8–9 – Sifted Summit (London, UK)
October 9 – Finnish PE-VC Summit (Helsinki, Finland)
October 13–15 – Unlock VC Summit (Paris, France)
October 22 – ILPA’s Legal Briefing – Luxembourg (Luxembourg, Europe)
October 28 – Funding Venture Conference (London, UK)
October 27–29 – 0100 International 2025 (Milan, Italy)
Asia
October 9–10 – World Family Office Forum Asia (Hong Kong)
Middle East
October 9 – Family Office Summit (Dubai, UAE)
October 13–16 – Global Owners and Family Office Congress (Dubai, UAE)
October 21–23 – SuperReturn Middle East (Dubai, UAE)
October 22 – SuperReturn CFO/COO Middle East (Dubai, UAE)
Virtual
October 1 – Carta: The Modern Audit Playbook: Roles, Valuations, and Platform Power (Virtual)
October 9 – ILPA Institute: Communicating with Influence for the Limited Partner (Virtual)
October 15 – Carta: Navigating the New QSBS to Maximize VC Gains (Virtual)
October 16 – VC Lab: LP Archetypes (Virtual)
October 20–21 – NVCA: GP Masterclass (Virtual)
October 23 – GP + LP Global Summit (Virtual / Hybrid)
October 23 – VC Lab: Discover Our Latest AI Advances for VC (Virtual)
3 Best Podcasts
Alex Edelson of Slipstream Investors on Origins with Beezer Clarkson. Alex, whose fund of funds targets firms that are “difficult to find, evaluate and access,” breaks down his philosophy of investing in small early-stage funds as the key to unlocking alpha. He shares insights on raising capital as an LP, competing against institutional allocators backing established names, and why concentration matters – committing 90% of capital to just 10-13 select funds.
Dan Feder, who manages the University of Michigan’s $18B endowment, joins The Peel for a fresh look at asset allocation in VC. He explains why understanding the difference between risk and uncertainty is essential for investors, how endowments leverage unique advantages like research resources, and gives actionable tips for VCs raising from institutional LPs.
And another episode from The Peel: Albert Azout of Level Ventures breaks down how to generate alpha in VC. He explains why network quality, knowledge, and optimal fund size matter most, reveals Level’s custom internal software for manager selection, and shares how data-driven strategies uncover outsized early returns. Albert also joined “All things VC“ podcast with Rohit Yadav.
Personal Notes
Murph Platform Launch Update. We’re in the final stages of launching our new subscription product for GPs and LPs. We’ve opened up a waitlist where we’re gathering feedback on what features matter most to you, and giving early supporters first access to the community when we go live. If you’re interested in shaping what we build and being among the first members, join the waitlist here.
Looking for co-builders. I’m particularly looking for a community manager — someone with a real passion for venture capital, who dreams of building something meaningful in the GP/LP space, knows how to grow communities, and can run online and offline events that people talk about for weeks. If that’s you (or if you know someone), drop me a line over email or Linkedin.
Event Research Mode. I’ve been hitting up GP/LP events non-stop this fall, doing market research on what actually exists. The conclusion? We’re about to create something truly unique. Forget panels and formal networking — think ultra-exclusive, unconventional formats. Pure hustle. Closed doors. High privacy. Maximum deal flow for LPs, maximum checks for GPs. Stay tuned.
Previous Editions
Edition #3: 24 New Funds, State of VC Fundraising Q1-Q2 2025, Yale's Private Portfolio
Edition #2: 26 New Funds Launched, Q1 Fund Performance Benchmark, Endowment VC Sales
What would you like to see in the next episodes? I'd love to hear your ideas – just hit reply and let me know what would be most valuable to you.