Vine Ventures closes second fund in less than two years

New York City-based early-stage venture firm Vine Ventures has closed its second fund on $140 million, less than two years after raising its debut vehicle. The fund’s backers include technology investors, founders, pension funds and endowments.

Founded in June 2020, Vine Ventures raised $53 million for its inaugural fund in December 2020. That fund was generating a net IRR of 251 percent as of the end of last year, according to a statement from the firm.

“Our mission is to identify founders and markets poised for massive outcomes, drive these leaders to success, and deliver top-tier returns to our investors,” firm co-founder Eric Reiner said.

Investors in Fund II include Blackstone, General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs and Tiger Global Management, as well as founders of Carta, Hippo and Shutterstock, according to a report by CTech.

Fund I has backed 16 companies, with 13 of them raising follow-on funding from Accel, Coatue, Felicis, Founders Fund, General Catalyst and Tiger Global, Vine said. Among Vine’s investments are Habi, a Latin American proptech company; Komodor, an Israeli DevOps platform; and TUL, a Latin American construction app maker.

Reiner and Dan Povitsky launched the firm before they were 30 years old. They previously worked at New York’s Sinai Ventures, where Reiner was a partner and Povitsky was a principal, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Prior to that, Reiner was an investor at Insight Venture Partners, and Povitsky was an associate at TA Associates.

Jennifer Bellah-Maguire and Crystal Becker of Gibson Dunn served as fund formation counsel for Vine Ventures, while Imri Eisner of DLA Piper serves as its primary transaction counsel.