How to Raise a Venture Fund | Leila Zegna (Kindred Capital)

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Description To kick off Season 8, a series on ‘How to raise a venture fund’, Francesca and Tunde are talking to Leila Zegna, one the founding partners of Kindred, a stalwart of the European venture ecosystem. Hailing from the US, Leila boasts a background from Yale, Harvard and Bain before becoming an operator ultimately working as the COO of Genapsys before raising Kindred. Alongside operating she was also a prolific angel investor investing in companies such as Matterport, ID.me, Bloom & Wild, and Thread. Leila has served as a board member of several companies, including LabGenius, Gaia, Eleven Therapeutics, Ori Biotech, and Pave.

Kindred Capital is Seed fund known for its unique approach to investing, where every entrepreneur they invest in becomes a co-owner of the fund, called 'equitable venture.’ Kindred was founded in 2015. They have raised and deployed two $100m funds since then and when we spoke to Leila were extremely close to closing their largest ever third fund at around $130m.

Leila covers how she and her partners came up with the idea for Kindred, raising multiple fund while pregnant, finding the right LPs and building trust with them inside and outside of the fundraising cycle and much more.