Foundry Group kicks off Foundry Group Next for late-stage, outside fund investing

Foundry Group moved to institutionalize several of its investment efforts into a new initiative called Foundry Group Next, the firm announced in a blog post.

The effort will be run by Lindel Eakman, formerly head of private market investments at the University of Texas Investment Management Company. Eakman left UTIMCO in September after 13 years and while there became the largest investor in Foundry Group’s 2007 first fund, taking 20 percent ownership.

Foundry Group Next will combine under a single umbrella the firm’s direct investment efforts in promising later-stage startups from inside and outside the Foundry Group portfolio, as well as investments its partners make in other firms and funds. The firm already has its Foundry Group Select fund for follow-on investing inside its portfolio. It did not announced, but alluded to in the blog post, the possibility of a new fund for outside investing.

“We have yet to announce anything regarding any new funds that we may raise in the future,” stated the blog post from Managing Director Brad Feld.

Feld said the firm repeatedly sees outside late-stage opportunities that it has largely stayed away from because Foundry Group Select is limited to portfolio companies. The firm departed from that mandate in September with an investment in AvidXchange, and the deal highlighted the magnitude of the opportunity, Feld wrote.

He also pointed out that in 2010, the four partners began making the majority of its investments in other funds through a common entity. It is a “great way to get close to new managers, build lasting personal relationships and see deal flow for our Foundry Group investing activity,” he wrote.

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