The Communication Challenge

A venture capital and private equity firm headquartered in Beijing was preparing to raise a new fund from international limited partners (LPs). 

With an experienced leadership team, proprietary deal-flow, and a strong track record of investing early in fast-growth companies, the firm looked – at a glance – to be qualified for institutional funding.

 

But institutions don’t write eight-digit checks based on a glance.

To raise their fund, the general partners would need to communicate their vision, strategy, and investment process clearly, compellingly, and consistently to LPs over the course of a year-long fundraising cycle:

  • Fund introductions and strategy meetings with the managing partners
  • Case study analysis and due diligence interviews with the mid- and back-office teams
  • On-sites and data-room deep-dives
  • AGMs, thematic webinars, and portfolio update calls
As emerging managers in a competitive market, facing concerns about US-China financial decoupling and restricted to video conferencing, they faced a real challenge:

How could they communicate to win trust – and investment mandates – from international LPs?

The Next Level Solution

The firm’s founder and managing partner was referred to Next Level Communication by the private placement agency that was advising their fundraise.   Over the course of six months, we delivered an integrated package of coaching and consulting solutions to enhance the quality of communication between the fund and its potential LPs.

Fund presentation coaching

The firm’s founder and managing partner was referred to Next Level Communication by the private placement agency that was advising their fundraise. Over the course of six months, we delivered an integrated package of coaching and consulting solutions to enhance the quality of communication between the fund and its potential LPs.

Due diligence prep

Group workshops to prepare the mid- and back-office teams for DD interviews.

IR & data room consulting

Advised on the drafting and presentation of virtually all investor-facing materials, from webinar scripts to portfolio updates, GP letters, investment memos – even down to the copy on the website.

The Result

After dozens of hours of coaching and hundreds of interactions with global LPs, it was time to see who was going to back them. The fund received over $300m in its first close, with strong interest in subsequent rounds. We continued to work with the fund on their investor follow-ups to capitalize on their fund-raising momentum.

“How did Next Level Communication continue its work with the fund?”

After the first close of fundraising, the firm decided to expand their partnership with Next Level Communication to offer executive coaching and consulting support to all of its VP+ staff across the investment, value creation, and operations teams, as well as portfolio company CEOs.

This partnership continues to date.