Partner dispute roils Xfund

A dispute between general partners has roiled operations at the Xfund, according to reports in The New York Times and Fortune.

The news accounts say General Partners Patrick Chung and Hugo Van Vuuren argued over who controlled the firm and the dismissal of an employee, setting off a chain of events that led to frozen bank accounts, a restraining order application and an investigation by the fund’s investors.

The firm is not in danger of shutting down, but is prevented from making new investments, the reports said.

The Xfund began life in 2011 as The Experiment Fund, a partnership between New Enterprise Associates and Harvard University to make seed investments in young entrepreneurs connected to the university and other schools. In 2014, it expanded to a $100 million second fund with the backing of such LPs as NEA, Breyer Capital and Accel Partners.

It was then that fund co-founder Chung joined the firm as a full-time GP.