A Note from Vector’s Leadership
We are so excited for this first release of Vector’s quarterly newsletter! As we reflect back on the first half of the year, we are unbelievably grateful for the partnerships we’ve forged, the team we are building, and the clients that have put their trust in us.
This newsletter is designed to provide resources and insights into the ever-changing alternative investment industry. Here we will share updates and sneak peaks of what we are working on, give recommendations on key players to know in the space, and general bits and bobs related to the private markets space.
A Brief History of Vector
Vector started in 2021, emboldened with a vision to build a fund administration service and platform that reduces the friction between alternative investment stakeholders. For the first six months, Matt Wheeler was hard at working building our software, Valence (more on that, ahead). We started taking on clients in July, albeit in an “undercover” fashion – operating only through our existing network and referrals. Then, in early February 2022, we launched our website. Since then, we have been hard at work forging connections, speaking with fund managers and service providers, and building our team!
The Vision
If you have evaluated fund administrators recently, you are well aware of the “spectrum” that exists in fund administration offerings. On one end of the spectrum, you have people-centric, “white-glove” professional services firms with lackluster, off-the-shelf technology solutions, and on the other end, you have flashy technology offerings that seek to productize much of the existing fund administration processes. The “people” side of the industry is plagued by frequent turnover, exacerbated by “old and tired” business models, massive amounts of consolidation in the industry, and a broad push to low-cost labor – diminishing the value for GPs interested in that side of the spectrum. On the technology-centric side, the software is not purpose-built for partnership accounting by industry professionals, and the “service” that sits behind it leaves much to be desired.
That spectrum is broken. Vector is built to provide even better people-centric services. We think that technology built to replace top-talent CPAs and accountants is inherently flawed, and the key is to build technology that enhances the service-first model.
By focusing on workflow engineering through proprietary software, we have effectively insulated ourselves and our clients from constant turnover and inability to deliver quality services. We are early in our lifecycle, so our reputation is more important than anything else – and that reverberates through the client experience. A long-term partnership and happy, referenceable clients is our top goal.
Our Progress
Today, Vector supports 52+ investment vehicles representing more than $1.25 billion in total commitments. Our amazing clients invest in diverse strategies: technology, impact, healthcare, digital assets, real estate, and more. Our headcount is growing quickly, and we are so thrilled to have brought on several new hires in Q1, including Jason Dong, Margo Cogliano, Jeffrey Wasilewski, Justin Thorn, Emma Summers and Kyle Raskin.
We are heavily focused on being valuable contributors to the alternative investment industry as a whole. We recognize that fund managers need good coaches, partners who can truly help (not just email deliverables), and outstanding support – so they can focus on investing and fundraising. Like the rest of the content we publish, we hope this newsletter, and future iterations, will be a value-add for our clients, partners, peers, and the ecosystem as a whole.
You can subscribe to our quarterly newsletters here.
– Molly Yakubian, Chief Operating Officer
Valence Update
Why Valence?
Like the name Vector, Valence is a play on a physics and chemistry concept. Valence electrons bond atoms together to create molecules that are greater than the sum of all parts. This concept is embedded in our platform – our approach is centered around a desire to cater to the many stakeholders in the alternative investment industry to provide a superior, frictionless experience for all parties.
What is Valence?
Valence, powered by Vector, is our proprietary, cloud-based platform that is revolutionizing fund administration. Created by industry experts, our platform is shifting the way teams work by vastly improving fund accounting processes. Our goal is to deliver an intuitive user interface with intelligent analytics that help our users make better decisions faster, which ultimately leads to better outcomes for their investors and firms alike.
Valence was designed to:
- Streamline the work done by our staff to eliminate burdensome, Excel-based processes and reduce burnout and incidents of human error;
- Utilize a general ledger as the single source of truth, honoring the fundamental rule of database management – to leverage accounting data versus duplicating efforts;
- Reduce friction between stakeholders by providing access to data through an intuitive and nimble platform;
- Allow for complex reporting that has historically been difficult to accomplish using existing applications or Excel-based processes.
Download our brochure for additional details on key functionality!
Roadmap
We have a lot to be excited about! We’re very proud of our product and the feedback that we’ve received so far. We’ve been working hard to make sure that every aspect of our application is perfect before launching. We’ve made great progress, and we look forward to the next few months.
- Spring 2022: Major milestone: BETA released!
- Spring/summer 2022: Testing and shadowing of client books
- Fall 2022: General ledger release
- Winter 2022: Investor portal and client dashboard release
This roadmap is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the future vision. The Valence team has many more exciting pieces of functionality in the works. Be on the lookout for future announcements! Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay up to date on the latest!
Content Worth Your While
Drinks with a VC
Tune in to Drinks with a VC for an unfiltered look at the individuals behind the “yes or no” investment decisions in venture capital, and have a few laughs in the process.
Female VC Lab
- Hosted by Barbara Bickham
- The Female VC Lab showcases the journeys of female investors. Barbara speaks with female VCs and investors about their funds, how they invest, how they make an impact, and their vision for the future.
- All episodes | Female VC Lab Podcast
OpenVC
An amazing suite of free tools for founders and VCs. OpenVCs mission is to create a radically open and free gateway between founders and investors across the world.
Who to Know
Kyle Gross—First Republic Bank
Meet Kyle Gross, Director – Tech & Venture at First Republic Bank. Kyle and his team are experts in meeting the unique and individual banking needs of venture capital and private equity firms. Reach out to Kyle if you need capital call lines and partner loans, online cash management, business escrow, custody, brokerage and foreign exchange services for your fund.
Lindsey Chamings—Andersen
Meet Lindsay Chamings, Managing Director at Andersen. For all things tax, Lindsay and her team advise venture capital funds of all sizes and ages – whether you’re launching fund I or fund XV. From the beginning stages of a fund and management company, down to planning for cash and stock distributions and exits, Lindsay and her team are the way to go if you are looking for experts in this space.
Nicole Fuller—Strut Consulting
Meet Nicole Fuller, Director of Client Relations at Strut Consulting. Nicole is a resident fund structure and VC tech stack expert who knows the emerging manager landscape like the back of her hand. Nicole and her team provide operational expertise to funds of all shapes and sizes in U.S. and beyond. If you are looking for support to institutionalize your back-office, this is the group for you.
Are you a service provider in the VC/PE space? We’d love to get to know you better! Email sales@vectorais.com. We are always looking to expand our network and connect managers to quality providers in the space!
Promotions
- Vector is thrilled to be offering a 20% discount off our annual administration fees for the first three years for all women launching debut funds. This offer will run through August 2022. For more information, please reach out to sales@vectorais.com.
- In April, we announced a partnership with Passthrough for subscription document processing! We love their team and their product. The fund subscription process has historically been ridden with inefficient back-and-forths, burdensome tracking, unclear swim-lanes, and lacking processes. We don’t want you to pay us to throw bodies at the problem. Together, Vector and Passthrough can provide GPs with seamless, end-to-end, institutional quality support that is efficient and cost-effective. For more information, please reach out to sales@vectorais.com.
We Want Your Feedback!
If you made it this far, kudos to you (this was a long one), and THANK YOU for your support. We are committed to creating value for the community, so would love to hear any and all feedback on the content of this newsletter, the needs of managers and investors or other stakeholders in the space, and our approach to modernizing fund administration!
Table of Contents
Word on the Street
“Your software has essentially made the last decade of building a career mastering Excel completely obsolete.”
Key Insights
Catch up on our top insights:
