Key Issue: Who is Industry Ventures?
Industry Ventures
Industry Ventures is a leading venture capital firm founded in 2000 by CEO and Founder Hans Swildens, headquartered at 30 Hotaling Place 3rd Floor, San Francisco, California, with additional offices in Washington D.C. and London, managing over $8 billion in assets under management across four complementary investment strategies spanning the complete venture lifecycle. The firm pioneered the modern secondary market for venture capital and has evolved to become the leading provider of flexible capital solutions for the venture ecosystem, from seed and early-stage investing to late-stage secondaries and VC-backed companies transitioning to buyout. Over 24 years, Industry Ventures has invested in 240 companies achieving 15 unicorns, 22 IPOs, and 99 acquisitions including marquee names like Uber, Upwork, and Pinterest, while building relationships with over 700 leading venture and tech buyout funds. Hans Swildens brings successful entrepreneurial experience from co-founding Microline Software (acquired by Blaze Software/Fair Isaac) and helping start Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai), combined with an MBA from Columbia Business School and 25+ years of venture capital expertise. As an early pioneer in venture capital secondaries, Industry Ventures has completed over 400 secondary investments and provides unique liquidity solutions in a market they estimate will exceed $120 billion globally in 2025, making them the go-to firm for institutional investors seeking comprehensive venture capital exposure with professional liquidity management.
Source: Fourester Research
What role do they play to a high net worth investor?
Industry Ventures serves as a sophisticated gateway for high net worth investors to access institutional-quality venture capital opportunities that would typically be unavailable or require specialized expertise to evaluate independently, providing professional portfolio construction and due diligence across seed-stage through late-stage investments. The firm acts as a diversification engine for wealthy individuals seeking venture capital exposure, offering access to over 700 leading venture funds and 240 portfolio companies including 15 unicorns through a single relationship rather than requiring direct commitments to multiple individual venture capital funds. Industry Ventures functions as a liquidity provider for high net worth investors' existing venture capital positions through their pioneering secondary market expertise, enabling partial exits or portfolio rebalancing in a market they estimate will exceed $120 billion globally in 2025. The firm serves as a risk management partner by providing professional portfolio construction methodologies, systematic due diligence capabilities, and access to emerging managers before they become widely available to broader institutional markets, reducing the complexity and time commitment required for individual venture capital investing. Industry Ventures operates as a comprehensive venture capital platform that transforms the traditionally illiquid and complex venture capital asset class into a professionally managed investment solution, enabling high net worth investors to participate in technology innovation and venture capital returns without building internal investment teams or developing specialized market expertise.