Moderne Ventures l1as held a final close 011 1nore than $230 1nillion for its third flagship fund, maki11g it the second-largest women-led venture fu11d raised this year.
The Chicago-based firm, fou11ded in 2015 by ma11aging partner Co11sta11ce Freed1nan, has shown significant growth with eacl1 fund. It raised $43 millio11 for its debut vehicle in May 2018, then closed on $200 million for Fund II in August 2021, according to fundraising data fro1n affiliate title Buyouts.
MV Core Fund III began fundraising i11 August 2022 a11d held a first close on $117 million from 74 investors on October 4, 2023, a regulatory filing shows. The fir1n has not filed an updated Form D for Fund III, but it said in a statement that the fu11d held a fi11al close on 1nore tha11 $230 million.
"Notable institutional investors i11clude GCM Grosve11or a11d the Illinois Growtl1 and Innovation Fu11d, and so1ne of the world's largest strategic part11ers like AvalonBay, Essent, and leading real estate co1npanies of the world," Moder11e said i11 the state1nent.
The new fund is the second-largest women-led fund raised this year, according to Venh1re Capital journal research. (See our exclusive list of more than 200 women-led VC funds.) The year's largest fund so far was raised by Engine Ventures, a 1nulti-stage i11vestor targeting compa11ies across deeptech, healtl1care and AI. It closed its third fu11d at $398 million onJu11e 17, above its target of $350 millio11.
Overall, 48 won1en-led funds raised a combined $1.44 billion in the first half of this year, putting them 011 track to raise close to the $3 billion they raised in 2023 and 2022, as VC]previously reported.
REandmore
Moderne backs technology compa11ies i11 real estate, fina11ce, i11sura11ce and sustainability.
The fir1n is led by Freedman, wl10 is listed i11 regulatory filil1gs as the "sole member of the general partner" for Fund ITT, with support fro1n part11er Liza Benson, who joi11ed Moderne as a venture part11er i11 April 2018 a11d was promoted to partner i11 October 2018, according to her Linkedln profile.
Prior to founding Moderne, Freedman lau11ched a11d 1na11aged Second Century Ve11tures i11 partnership with the National Association of Realtors, where she led early investments in and was a board me1nber of companies like DocuSig11, Updater a11d August.
"Moderne's ve11h1re platform, imn1ersion program and 1nassive corporate network co11siste11tly generate synergistic value for our portfolio co1npa11ies a11d industry partners whicl1 leads to top-tier retur11s for our investors," Freed1nan said in the state1nent. "MV Core Fund III is an expa11sion of our existir1g strategy where we apply decades of vertical specialization experience to curate custo1ners for our companies and advance entire industries, producing outsized returns for our investors."
GCM Grosvenor vice-chairman Derek Jones said of the 11ew fund: "011 behalf of our clients, we are thrilled to participate in Moderne's Core Fund III, given the firm's impeccable track record, robust value-add strategy, and strong team. We value the opportunity to back a differe11tiated manager who brings customers to portfolio compa11ies."
