Avid Ventures Ready To Write Checks With Launch Of Debut $68M Fund

Newly-minted venture firm Avid Ventures has launched after announcing its $68 million debut fund.

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The New York-based firm was founded by Addie Lerner, previously an investor at General Catalyst, General Atlantic and Goldman Sachs. The firm will look to write $500,000 to $1 million checks around Series A raises, while also possibly doubling down on some of those investments to lead Series B rounds, Lerner said.

Avid has already made early investments in six companies, including Nova Credit, Alloy, The Wing, Nava, Rapyd and Staircase. Lerner, also a managing partner at the firm, said Avid will attempt to bring added value to its investments through knowledge of the market as it looks at deals in consumer internet, software and fintech spaces.

“We take a collaborative approach to how we invest,” she said.

Fund I

Despite being in the midst of a pandemic, Avid was able to raise its first fund in 10 months. The fund is anchored by Schusterman Family Investments and the George Kaiser Family Foundation. Institutional investors include Foundry Group, General Catalyst, 14W, Slow Ventures and LocalGlobe/Latitude through their Basecamp initiative that backs emerging managers.

The fund — as well as its investments — also is diverse, with women constituting 40 percent of its limited partners.

Tali Vogelstein, founding investor at Avid and a former investor at Bessemer Venture Partners, said 50 percent of the firm’s portfolio companies have at least one co-founder who is female and half the companies also have at least one co-founder who is an immigrant.

Focus

Avid will concentrate mainly on investments in North America, Europe and Israel, Vogelstein said. The firm currently is looking to invest in companies focused on the “creator economy,” which offer services and software to freelancers and small and medium-sized businesses such as Teachable, she added.

It also will look at companies in the “software plus payments” space for specific sectors, like Toast did for the restaurant industry, Vogelstein said.

Avid has no set time frame to complete investing from the fund, but Lerner agreed three years would be reasonable when asked.

“We will be disciplined and methodical,” she said.

Illustration: Dom Guzman