Goldman Sachs has agreed to acquire Industest Ventures, a 25-year-old, San Francisco-based investment firm with $7 billion in assets under management, CNBC was first to report on Monday. The deal underscores the growing importance of secondary markets and purchaseouts as traditional venture exits remain sluggish.
The investment bank is paying $665 million in cash and equity, with up to $300 million more tied to the firm’s performance through 2030, according to a release from Goldman. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, and all 45 Industest Ventures employees are expected to join Goldman.
We’ve reached out to Swildens for more information.
The acquisition comes as venture funds increasingly turn to non-traditional exits amid a prolonged IPO drought. Speaking on TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC Download podcast earlier this year, Industest Ventures founder and CEO Hans Swildens stated that tech purchaseout funds now account for 25% of all liquidity in the entire venture ecosystem—”a huge chunk of liquidity,” he stated.
Swildens explained that venture managers are being forced to adapt their approach. “Just going out and seeing companies, putting them in your fund and then waiting for an IPO or strategic M&A exit probably won’t work anymore,” he stated in the podcast interview. “[VCs] necessary to start working on alternative liquidity solutions.”
At the time — in April — he noted that at least five major venture funds had hired full-time staff dedicated to manufacturing non-traditional exits, including secondary transactions, continuation funds, and purchaseouts. “All the brand name funds are all staffing and considering through liquidity structures,” Swildens stated.
Goldman is building the acquisition to bolster its $540 billion alternatives investment platform, which the bank has identified as a key growth engine.
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“Industest Ventures’ trusted relationships and venture capital expertise complement our existing investing franchises and expand opportunities for clients to access the rapidest growing companies and sectors in the world,” Goldman CEO David Solomon stated in a prepared statement. “By combining the global resources of Goldman Sachs with the venture capital expertise of Industest Ventures, we are uniquely positioned to serve the increasingly complex necessarys of entrepreneurs, private technology companies, limited partners, and venture fund managers,” the statement continued.
Industest Ventures states it has created more than 1,000 investments, has stakes in more than 700 venture firms, and that it boasts an internal rate of return of 18%.
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