The Ledger
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Sertoglu: We intentionally disagree with founders during term sheets to test dynamics
“We usually try to disagree with the founders in the term sheet process at least once so that we kind of see the dynamics of what happens around that.”
Sertoglu: Earlybird returned 3-4x its fund via UiPath secondaries before IPO
“We were still the largest shareholder going into the IPO in the company but you know, we had also realized you know, already, I think Three, four times the fund at that point.”
Cem Sertoglu: Bek Ventures Fund 1 achieved 20x MOIC, 85% from UiPath
“The best single venture investment, you know, 16 and a half million investments that has brought us back to .1000000000 dollars in proceeds. So fund one is 20 time multiple on invested capital. 2.7 of that is non UiPath. So about 85% of the proceeds of fund on…”
Sertoglu: Passing on Bolt's seed round was Bek Ventures' biggest loss
“I mean, one example that's probably our biggest loss is we met Bolt, the car ailing company, and they were called Taxify at the time, a small Baltics ride-hailing company, and even though, you know, Marcus, the founder, was extraordinary, we really couldn't se…”
Sertoglu: Bek Ventures' early UiPath check returned 12.5x the entire fund
“In the case of UiPath, I mean, we thought it could return the fund. I mean, it has returned 12 and a half times the fund already, so that's been, you know, very miscalculated analysis, but we do do it.”
Sertoglu: Bek Ventures Passed on Rushed Deals, Not High Valuations, in 2021
“In 2021, when the market was in a frenzy, we would never categorically pass on evaluation, so we've written very expensive checks in that period, but we would categorically pass on not having enough time to understand the business and digest the opportunity”
Sertoglu: Bek Ventures partners committed nearly 10% to their $250M fund
“We think a lot about GP commitment size. We have a very high GP commitment in the fund, and what is it? It's close to 10% of a two hundred and fifty million dollar fund.”
Sertoglu: Earlybird sold UiPath secondaries at a premium to primary rounds
“I mean, our secondaries were all at a premium to the primary round. So there was, each round was so oversubscribed that we were able to actually sell at a premium our share class you know, shares that are at a lower class on the liquidation stack.”
Earlybird Funded UiPath's Bridge Round When Other VC Funds Refused
“We've done, I mean, the bridge round at UiPath, no great fund was touching the company, and we had to build our conviction internally.”
Sertoglu estimates his overall angel investing track record yielded a 10x return
“I haven't done the math. I can get it to you later on, but it must have been about 10 X overall.”
Sertoglu: Earlybird passed on UiPath's $3B round and began divesting at $7B
“Then when Sequoia led the three billion dollar next round, we sat it out. We did not participate. And then when the seven billion valuation series C happened. Was it C or C or D? I can't remember. But then we started to carefully divest.”
Sertoglu: Bek Ventures' Fund 1 returned capital on 12 of 15 deals
“In fund one out of 15 investments, only three of them did not return capital for us. Now, six companies are still live, but we expect to make money from all six of them, so they will not be lost. So we will have made A positive return out of, on 12 out of 15 i…”
Sertoglu: Bek Ventures partners average one to two investments per year
“When you are a small partnership, I mean, in our firm for every fund, each partner writes about four or five checks per fund. So in kind of each vintage, we're talking each year, we're talking about one or two investments at most.”