Data shows not all VC firms use the 2-and-20 rule | TechCrunch (2024)

VCs often use the shorthand phrase “two and twenty” to refer to the 2% of annual management fees a venture fund might take and the 20% carried interest (or “performance fee”) it would charge. In a nutshell: If a venture fund turns a $100 million profit from its investments, the fund gets to keep $20 million of that, and the remaining $80 million is paid out to the limited partners.

The “2 and 20” fee structure was originally associated with hedge funds, but VC firms and other investment funds use it as well. The structure breaks down into two types of fees: a management fee and a performance fee.

The management fee is a yearly charge calculated based on the total assets under management (AUM). Typically, the management fee is 2% of AUM, but new data from Carta shows that the 2% figure isn’t as universal as you might have been led to believe.

First, it’s useful to understand what the management fee is for. Basically, it compensates the fund managers, regardless of the fund’s performance. So a VC firm that charges a 2% fee for managing a $100 million fund will receive $2 million per year to cover rent, staff costs, marketing, travel and, well, everything else.

The other part of the compensation is the carried interest — the portion of the profits that the VC firm takes once investments start paying off. Most commonly, this is set at 20% of the fund’s profits, with the idea being it works as an incentive to encourage the VC firm to maximize returns. Yes, just getting paid the management fee can be lucrative, but the get-rich-slow scheme for venture capitalists is the carry, as their compensation increases when the fund performs better. There are also variations to these fee structures — for instance, performance fees might only apply once a certain hurdle rate or minimum return is achieved.

So while 2 and 20 is a pretty common shorthand, I was intrigued to learn from Carta’s head of insights, Peter Walker, that the numbers are actually not as set-in-steel as we think.

Two percent appears to be the most common fee rate, especially for funds with less than $100 million in AUM. Above that, though, the rate climbs to a median of around 2.5%. More than 50% of small funds that manage $10 million or less enjoy a 2% management fee, but nearly three-fourths of the funds that manage $500 million or more are able to claim 2.5% management fees, per Carta data.

Data shows not all VC firms use the 2-and-20 rule | TechCrunch (2)

Fund management fees. Image Credits: Carta

Obviously, larger funds also have more administration to do, but given that they start from a higher base to begin with, it means they collect at least $12 million per year.

It’s worth noting that the data is for the initial period of each fund, which is usually the first two years of a fund’s investment period. Some funds are structured so that the management fees drop gradually after the initial investment period.

Data shows not all VC firms use the 2-and-20 rule | TechCrunch (2024)

FAQs

What is the 2 and 20 rule VC? ›

Two refers to the standard management fee of 2% of assets annually, while 20 means the incentive fee of 20% of profits above a certain threshold known as the hurdle rate.

What is 20 carry in venture capital? ›

The 20% of the two and twenty

The twenty, or 20%, of the fee structure applies to the profit sharing. This is better known as “carry” in the industry. Once the general partners distribute capital back to all the investors, they get 100% of their money back. Every dollar after that there is a profit-sharing component.

How many VC firms fail? ›

And yet, despite all that cash flowing into VC-backed companies, twenty-five to thirty percent of them will fail. One in five fail by the end of their first year; only thirty percent will survive more than ten years.

What is the 220 model of venture capital? ›

The 2/20 model is a compensation structure that governs how venture capital funds operate. It consists of two key components: The 2: This refers to the management fee, typically set at 2% of the total capital committed by limited partners (LPs).

What is rule of 20 in accounting? ›

In other words, the Rule of 20 suggests that markets may be fairly valued when the sum of the P/E ratio and the inflation rate equals 20. The stock market is deemed to be undervalued when the sum is below 20 and overvalued when the sum is above 20.

What is the 100 10 1 rule for venture capital? ›

100/10/1 Rule - Investor screens 100 projects, finance 10 of them, and be lucky & able to enough to find the 1 successful one. Sudden Death Risk - Where the founder stops/loses capability to work on the idea. Investors usually choose the incubator strategy to avoid this risk.

What is the 10x rule for venture capital? ›

My simple advice when you raise capital: assume you have to return a liquidity event (sale or IPO) of at least 10x the amount you raise for raising venture capital to be worth it. Valuations change from round to round. Later stage investors will expect lower ROI, seed investors will be looking for a lot more.

How much carry do VC partners get? ›

“Typically, senior VC partners have between 15% and 25% of the carry of the fund they manage.” “Not all funds will generate solid returns,” caveats Hejka of OTB Ventures. “If a fund does not achieve its hurdle rate, the partners will not earn any carry.” Here's an example of how carry works.

Is VC funding drying up? ›

October's investment total marks the acceleration of the trend: VC funding has gradually tapered off since the record year of 2021, and some investors have warned of a possible "mass-extinction event." Down rounds, often loathed by VCs and startups alike, have become far more commonplace than usual.

What is the most successful VC firm? ›

Following is a list of the top 15 venture capital firms in 2023.
  • Sequoia Capital. AUM: $28B. Location: Menlo Park, CA. ...
  • Andreessen Horowitz. AUM: $35B. ...
  • Kleiner Perkins. AUM: $6.8B. ...
  • Khosla Ventures. AUM: $15B. ...
  • New Enterprise Associates (NEA) AUM: $20B. ...
  • Founders Fund. AUM: $11B. ...
  • First Round Capital. AUM: $3B. ...
  • Accel. AUM: $50B+
Jan 1, 2024

How much VC funding goes to Black Founders? ›

VC investments in Black-owned startups reached nearly $5 billion in the U.S. in 2021. That figure plummeted by more than half to $2.4 billion in 2022. Crunchbase found in 2023, just $705 million in venture funding went to Black-owned startups, the first year that figure was less than $1 billion since 2016.

What are the 4 C's of venture capital? ›

Let's not invite that risk, and instead undertake conviction, compliance, confidence and consequences as an industry. It can not only help us preserve the best parts of the current industry, but also lead to better investments and a healthier innovation sector.

What are the 4 Ts of venture capital? ›

The 4 Ts Venture Playbook is a made by UBC for UBC founders, that focuses on building and developing the critical elements of a successful startup: Team, Technology, Traction and Treasury.

What is 16z venture capital? ›

6. z. Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z) is a venture capital firm that backs bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology. We are stage agnostic.

What is the 2 percent rule in investing? ›

One popular method is the 2% Rule, which means you never put more than 2% of your account equity at risk (Table 1). For example, if you are trading a $50,000 account, and you choose a risk management stop loss of 2%, you could risk up to $1,000 on any given trade.

What is a good return on a VC investment? ›

Top VCs are typically looking to return 3-5X+ on their entire fund to their LP investors over ~10 years. For this, they need multiple 'fund mover' outcomes in each fund, since many early-stage investments will eventually fail or return only a small % of the fund.

What is a 20 hurdle rate? ›

Hurdle rate refers to a minimum level of return that a fund manager must reach to receive a performance bonus. For example, if an investment fund grew from $1,000,000 to $1,040,000 with a 4% return in a year and a 20% incentive rate, investors need to pay a performance fee worth $8,000 ($40,000 * 20%).

What percentage of VC investments fail? ›

Approximately 75% of venture-backed startups fail – the number is difficult to measure, however, and by some estimates it is far greater. In general, a startup can be said to fail when it ultimately falls short of reaching an exit at a valuation that would provide a return to all equity holders.

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