Nearly two years after launching, Front Porch Venture Partners has closed its second fund at $20 million, capital it’s already putting to work to support innovation.
The Triangle firm's co-founder Nikin Shah credits improved investor sentiment in 2024 with getting the round, which started fundraising in 2022, over the line. He also credits Front Porch’s strategy of investing in both funds and startup companies as being approachable to risk-averse investors.
“You’re casting a wide net, versus being very concentrated with one fund or a handful of companies,” he said. “It’s hard to predict what will happen to every single company. … That’s why one needs to diversify.”
Its general partners have also walked the walk by fronting their own capital, to the tune of $3 million in Fund 2, which also helps showcase their confidence in the strategy, he said.
The firm is already putting the capital to work. To date, it’s signed the documents to invest in 11 funds and 14 direct investments. The plan is to invest in upwards of 18 to 20 funds and 25 to 30 companies directly.
Shah said the $20 million is the final close of the fund, which had assembled $12.6 million by last summer.
Front Porch is the brainchild of Shah, Gregg Bordes, and Joe Mancini, who met at business school at Duke University, founding their own venture capital firm years later.
Front Porch targets companies in the Southeast. its local portfolio includes firms such as Klearly and CureMint.
Since January 2020, Front Porch has invested in 25 venture capital funds based in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee and Florida.
The company plans to announce a Fund 3 "at a later date."
