50: Venture Capital: From Niche to Mainstream. With Hunter Somerville, Partner at Stepstone Group

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Some of the most successful companies financed via venture capital are now household names - Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Airbnb, & PayPal.

Venture capital has moved from niche to mainstream for institutional investors, and in Q2 2021 alone VC investment hit a new record high of $157.1 billion.

In today’s conversation we are delighted to welcome Hunter Somerville, VC heavyweight, formerly General Partner at Greenspring, and now post-merger, Partner at Stepstone.

In this episode Hunter describes his career to date and his world of venture capital & growth equity. He describes the wider adoption of venture capital as an asset class, how allocations are increasing and the nature of long term returns. He describes his key responsibilities, which involve sourcing venture funds of all stages, examining early and growth stage companies, as well as finding secondary opportunities.

He then explains why companies are staying private for much longer than in previous decades, StepStone’s competitive advantage, geographic and sector preferences, valuations, risks and opportunities in the sector. 

Finally, Hunter comments on the characteristics they seek in their venture capital managers, why length of relationships is a key competitive advantage and why the surge in VC investing is unlikely to prove a passing phenomenon.

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