VC Fund Economics
Fund Size Calculator
Calculate the right fund size based on your investment thesis — check size, portfolio construction, reserves, and fee structure.
Investment Thesis
Fund Structure
Results
Recommended fund size
$10.50M
A $10.50M fund puts you in emerging manager territory
Fund Allocation
25 investments at $250K each
50% of initial deployment
Initial + follow-on reserves
2% over 5-year investment period
1% of fund size
Fund size minus GP commit
2% x 10 years (full fund life)
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How to Use This Tool
Start with your investment thesis: how much do you want to write per check, and how many companies do you want to back? Then set your follow-on reserve ratio, management fee rate, fund life, and GP commitment. The calculator works backward from your deployment strategy to determine the total fund size you need to raise.
Fund Size Formula
Fund Size = (Check Size x # Investments x (1 + Reserve Ratio)) / (1 - Fee Rate x Investment Period)
If you want to write 25 checks of $250K with 50% reserves, you need $9.375M in investment capital. At a 2% management fee over a 5-year investment period, total fees consume ~10% of the fund, bringing your target fund size to roughly $10.4M.
Why This Matters
Getting fund size right is one of the most consequential decisions an emerging manager makes. Too small and you can't build a diversified portfolio or sustain operations on management fees. Too large and you'll struggle to deploy capital efficiently or deliver returns at scale. Your fund size should be driven by your thesis — check size, portfolio construction, and reserve strategy — not by an arbitrary target.
Industry Benchmarks
Micro-VC Fund
$1M–$10M
Typically 15–30 investments, solo GP
Emerging Manager
$10M–$50M
20–40 investments, small team
Institutional Fund
$50M–$250M
25–50 investments, full team
Standard Reserve Ratio
40–60%
Of initial deployment capital
Typical GP Commit
1–3%
LPs expect skin in the game
Standard Mgmt Fee
2%
Annual fee on committed capital
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