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lee fixel is already raising a massive second fund

AVATAR Connie Loizos
Connie Loizos
Editor in Chief & General Manager, TechCrunch
October 19, 2020
lee fixel is already raising a massive second fund

Lee Fixel, previously an investor with Tiger Global Management, filed documentation on Friday for his new venture firm, Addition’s, second fund, a mere four months after the initial fund’s closure. A Financial Times report released on Friday indicated that the firm concluded fundraising efforts for the $1.4 billion fund last week, although Addition is not expected to commence investing the capital until the following year.

However, a source with knowledge of the firm’s operations now states that the capital has not yet been secured. This may be encouraging news for investors who did not participate in Addition’s inaugural $1.3 billion fund and may be considering an investment in this current offering.

Fixel’s swift return to the investment landscape is already generating considerable discussion regarding the dealmaker, whose preference for avoiding on-the-record commentary with the media appears to enhance his enigmatic reputation. Forbes recently published an extensive profile of Fixel, featuring only one attributed public statement from him, which confirmed the completion of Addition’s first fund and offered limited further detail. The statement read, “We are excited to partner with visionary entrepreneurs, and with our 15-year fund duration, we have the patience to support our portfolio companies on their journey to build impactful and enduring businesses.”

Forbes reports that this initial fund – which Fixel is currently deploying – plans to allocate one-third of its capital to early-stage startups and the remaining two-thirds to growth-stage ventures.

It remains uncertain whether this investment strategy will encompass special purpose acquisition vehicles (SPACs), which are currently being formed frequently. However, it is plausible that these opportunities would be of interest to Fixel, given his history of identifying emerging trends that influence growth-stage companies. (An increasing number of SPACs are presently seeking to facilitate the public listing of numerous privately held, highly valued companies.)

It is evident that Addition is moving quickly to make substantial investments. One publicized deal involves Inshorts, a well-known news aggregation application based in New Delhi, India, established seven years ago, which announced $35 million in new funding led by Fixel last week.

This investment marks Addition’s first venture in India, despite Fixel’s prior familiarity with both the country and the startup. He had previously invested in Inshorts while at Tiger, and he is also recognized for securing a significant stake in Flipkart for Tiger, a transaction that reportedly yielded $3.5 billion in profits when Flipkart was acquired by Walmart.

Addition also spearheaded a $200 million funding round last month for Snyk, a London-based startup founded five years ago that assists companies in utilizing open-source code securely. This round resulted in a company valuation of $2.6 billion – more than double the valuation assigned during its previous funding round ten months prior.

Furthermore, in August, Addition led a $110 million Series D funding round for Lyra Health, a five-year-old Burlingame, California-based company providing mental health care benefits to employers, founded by former Facebook CFO David Ebersman.

A smaller investment was made in Temporal, a Seattle-based startup established a year ago, which is developing an open-source platform for managing stateful microservices. The company announced $18.75 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital last week, with Addition also participating as an existing investor.

Data from PitchBook indicates that Addition has completed at least 17 investments to date.

Fixel – whose previous investments at Tiger include Peloton and Spotify – does not operate Addition independently, although Forbes reports that he is the central figure around which the firm is structured and the largest investor in Addition’s first fund.

He has also recruited at least three investment professionals from Wall Street firms and a data science lead previously employed by Uber (according to Forbes). Ward Breeze, an experienced attorney formerly with Gunderson Dettmer’s emerging companies practice, is also collaborating with Fixel at Addition.

(Correction: A previous iteration of this article stated that Fixel’s latest fund had already been raised, as reported by the FT.)

#Lee Fixel#venture capital#funding#Sequoia Capital#investment#second fund

Connie Loizos

Loizos began her coverage of Silicon Valley in the late 1990s, starting her career with the pioneering Red Herring magazine. Before becoming Editor in Chief and General Manager of TechCrunch in September 2023, she held the position of Silicon Valley Editor for the publication. She also established StrictlyVC, a well-regarded daily electronic newsletter and lecture program, which was integrated into TechCrunch as a sub-brand following its acquisition by Yahoo in August 2023. For contact or to confirm communications originating from Connie, please reach out via email at connie@strictlyvc.com or connie@techcrunch.com, or connect through encrypted messaging on Signal at ConnieLoizos.53.
Connie Loizos