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(Technology Crossover Ventures) has been investing in private and public technology companies for the past 26 years, a time horizon that鈥檚 given it the benefit of perspective.

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The Menlo Park, California-based firm was one of the first investors in and , but perhaps more notable than the success of its early bets is its penchant for playing the long game with its portfolio companies, some of which it continues to invest in after they’ve gone public.

With that in mind, we spoke with , a general partner at the firm, about growth stage investing, the firm鈥檚 new $4 billion fund, and what TCV is investing in this year.

鈥淲e didn’t just start five years ago,鈥� said Tolaney of the firm, which first invested in at Series C in 1999.

Alongside its private and public market investing focus, TCV likes to be involved with its portfolio companies over a long period of time.

鈥淭here’s an incredible network effect that you build with entrepreneurs, and adding value to various efforts over a long period of time,鈥� he said.

As an example, TCV founder and general partner has been on the Netflix board for 20 years. Hoag is also on the board of Zillow, whose Series A TCV led alongside in 2005. , the previous CMO of Zillow, is now a venture partner at the firm and works with a variety of TCV鈥檚 portfolio companies.

After TCV invested in by leading a growth round in 2013, a deal that valued the music streaming company at $4.25 billion, former Netflix CFO , an executive adviser with TCV, joined Spotify as its chief financial officer. TCV general partner is still on the Spotify board.

Tolaney himself rejoined TCV in 2020, having spent two years at the firm a decade prior as a vice president. He was more recently a partner at , a private equity firm investing in technology companies.

Crossover investor

The 鈥渃rossover鈥� in TCV鈥檚 name comes from its approach as a growth investor.

鈥淐rossover stands for investing at the IPO, which we will do in the preponderance of situations,鈥� Tolaney said.

He didn鈥檛 specify how much the fund invests in private companies versus public companies.

Interestingly, TCV doesn鈥檛 view an IPO as a liquidity event. 鈥淲e actually view it as a financing event for the company,鈥� Tolaney said. 鈥淎nd in many cases we are participating.鈥�

He did confirm that the majority of the firm’s public investments are those where it has been a private investor. Still, there are times the firm will invest in public companies without having first invested while the company was still private.

The firm’s largest public offerings include two companies in which it first invested in 2018: and .

In the case of LegalZoom, which went public in June, TCV 鈥渆nded up anchoring the IPO, and investing $90 million or 15 percent of the offering, in that context, when we had a trailing private investment that was over $100 million,鈥� Tolaney said.

$4 billion fund

TCV invests on a global scale and is currently investing out of its 11th fund, its largest to date at $4 billion. Its very first fund at $100 million鈥攋ust 3 percent the size of its current fund, raised in January 2021鈥攚as raised in 1995.

Tolaney said TCV will typically invest between $30 million and $40 million in a deal from its new flagship fund and up to 10 percent of the fund, or $400 million. 鈥淚t’s a wide aperture by which to make growth-oriented investments,鈥� he said.

The firm has raised funds fairly consistently up through to fund 7 in 2008. Given the size of fund 7 and the financial crisis, it did not raise another fund for more than six years until it announced fund 8 in 2014. Each fund since 2014 has increased in size.

PE doubles down

Global startup funding at the half-year mark in 2021 shattered all records as private equity and hedge funds have significantly increased funding to private companies, per 附近上门 data. Firms including , the , and top these lists when you look at measures like amounts led or co-led. In the case of each of those firms, they鈥檙e also beating their own records for investment pace.

TCV, too, has increased its investment pace year over year, but not as dramatically as others leading in this space, 附近上门 data shows.

The firm is an investor in , including 15 unicorn companies that it has invested in since the beginning of 2020, per 附近上门 data.

TCV in 2021

Tolaney invests in consumer technology and media companies, as well as those that serve small businesses. 鈥淲e invest behind great entrepreneurs disrupting very large markets through a unique value proposition that’s technology- and product-based,鈥� said Tolaney.

To date in 2021, at a total of $5 billion raised by these companies.

Its investments this year include leading a $130 million investment in , founded in Brazil, and headquartered in the Netherlands, built for creators to run their digital businesses.

鈥淓verybody has rethought what they want to do on a day-to-day basis in a remote environment,鈥� said Tolaney, who is focused on the global creator economy, which during the pandemic.

Hotmart itself has benefitted from word-of-mouth promotion. The platform allows creators to learn best practices, manage content across different platforms, and monetize through various payment platforms.

TCV this year has also made investments in German-based , a no-commission stock broker that raised a $900 million Series C round led by with new investors TCV and . TCV also led a $400 million secondary investment with and in India-based , a fantasy sports company.

The firm is also a significant investor in point-of-sale restaurant management platform , which recently filed to go public.

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