CONTEXT
Founded by a team of highly regarded healthcare investors spun out from a leading firm, the manager raised a first fund in excess of €500m on the strength of the founders’ track records, with strong early performance.
For Fund II, the objective was to build on that reputation: to be recognised as a GP in its own right, an institutional platform with its own brand and voice in the market.
Moving to Fund II was an inflection point. The market admired the founders as outstanding entrepreneurs; the next step was for the firm to be recognised as a GP in its own right, an institution and a platform with a brand and a voice in the market.
Three shifts defined that step change:
- From star founders to institutional platform: LPs had backed the founders’ personal reputations. For Fund II, they needed to see a platform, a team and processes built for the long term.
- From early results to a repeatable performance model: Fund I’s results were strong. LPs now needed to see what drove them, and why that performance would carry into Fund II.
- From a network to a brand recognised by a growing number of LPs: The founders’ reputation opened doors. An institutional GP also needs its own brand and a voice in the market, recognised well beyond its first circle of LPs.
APPROACH
Accellency approached the move to Fund II as an inflection point and helped the firm completely reposition its message, anchoring a consistent institutional positioning across top-tier AGMs and through the publication of a reference white paper.
- The AGM as pre-marketing for Fund II: Accellency helped the team reposition its message in the context of the AGM, making it the first building block of a systematic positioning and, in effect, the pre-marketing of Fund II. The firm presented itself not just as a successful first fund, but as a platform with a repeatable model.
- A white paper to set the tone in the investment community: A published white paper gave the firm its own point of view on the transformation of its sector. Enriched by interviews with C-suite executives of global healthcare groups, it was shared with existing and prospective LPs.
- An institutional platform focused on LPs: Across the AGM and the white paper, the firm showcased the attributes of an institution, from a growing multinational team and senior hires to a distinctive culture and a presence in Europe and the US.
RESULTS
Fund II reached its hard cap doubling in size, compared to Fund I. The large majority of Fund I LPs reinvested, and new top-tier institutional investors joined.
More than a larger fund, Fund II marked the firm’s step change from star team to institutional platform.
