2008 vs 2004

In November of 2004, we launched our first venture capital fund, called Union Square Ventures 2004. At the time we were convinced that a new era of lightweight open web services was upon us and that a small focused venture fund could make money investing in them. Over the past four years, we believe we’ve proved that investment thesis was correct. We have exits with Delicious, FeedBurner, and TACODA, and we have a portfolio that we are very proud of.

But like all good things, funds come to an end. We are in the process of making three investments that, when closed, will mark the end of adding new names to Union Square Ventures 2004. The remaining capital in that fund will be earmarked to supporting the companies we’ve backed to date for as long as they need to be supported and should be supported.

So we are announcing today that we’ve raised a second fund, called Union Square Ventures 2008. It’s not called the Facebook fund or the iPhone fund, but those are certainly two places we’ll be looking to invest in. We put years at the end of our fund names because we like to keep it simple. Every four years we intend to raise another fund, to keep doing what we are doing.

And what is it that we are doing? Well, my partner Brad pretty much says it all in his post announcing our new fund on the Union Square Ventures weblog. Go check it out and let us know what you think.

#VC & Technology

Comments (Archived):

  1. howardlindzon

    Congrats. hard work herding all the cats. i know it.

  2. Darren Herman

    Congrats. Looking forward to watching the portfolio grow.

  3. charlie crystle

    congratulations.

    1. fredwilson

      Thanks Charlie

  4. brisbourne

    Congratulations Fred. Hope to see you in Europe at some point with this one.

    1. fredwilson

      I think we will be there soon, at least I hope so

  5. Jeff Judge

    congratulations on the new fund – i’m looking forward to watching it grow.

    1. fredwilson

      Me too!

  6. SamZeb

    Congratulations. Looks like the field of funding FB apps and other projects is becoming more and more competitive…hope you guys gain great success!

  7. Alex

    Congrats!

  8. Aruni S. Gunasegaram

    Cogratulations! It’s hard to raise money even if you are a VC. Good luck with your new investments.

  9. Sam

    Congratulations on your success! You should consider investing in Scorelogix, a consumer risk scoring company and the creator of innovative, patent-pending Job Security Score, which predicts an individual’s job & income loss risk i.e. job & income prospects. Job Security Score helps individuals understand their job risk and helps them make better career and financial decisions. Job Security Score also helps financial institutions assess creditworthiness of borrowers.