Fund Commitments, Co-Invest & Secondaries: The $120B LP Playbook

**Thomas Kristensen** (0:00)
Sometimes I wonder if the world is going to run out of capital to fund CapEx for AI right now.
We always say, listen, if you come into Venture Capital as an asset class, if you're an allocator, you can go in when it's hot, you can go in when it's not. You will only really figure out in hindsight. The most important thing if you start committing to venture is, make sure that you can commit at a steady pace over a long, long period of time because it's a market you cannot time. There's just no way.

**Nick Chirls** (0:35)
Welcome to Origins, the podcast that dives deep into the business of Venture Capital, where we learn how the people behind the capital, both GPs and LPs, make decisions. I'm Nick Chirls, partner of Asylum Ventures.

**Beezer Clarkson** (0:48)
And I'm Beezer Clarkson, your LP co-host, managing director at LGT Capital Partners.

**Nick Chirls** (0:54)
New title, congrats. Very exciting. You've officially joined, the whole team at Sapphire has officially joined LGT Capital Partners. Very excited to understand what that means, what that means for all your GPs, for the market, for me.
And we're going to dig into all that on this special episode of Origins.

**Beezer Clarkson** (1:15)
Yes. Thank you. I'm very excited to talk about all of this with you. And for those of you who haven't heard, my core team at Sapphire Partners, myself, Laura, Nate and others have all joined LGT Capital Partners.
It's a huge move. We're incredibly thrilled about it. And today we get to have my new partner on Origins, Thomas Kristensen. He's someone I've known and co-invested with now for over a decade. He oversees the venture capital business of LGT Capital Partners. And I've always just really admired his approach to the craft of venture. It's been quite complimentary. His views and his perspective, although he's so much better spoken and articulate and funny than I am, has always been very complimentary to the approach we took at Sapphire Partners. And that was one of the reasons, and we can get into all the reasons, we thought this transition would work well and have lots of great synergies for us and for GPs, especially you, Nick.

**Nick Chirls** (2:12)
Thank you for introducing me to Thomas maybe five years ago.
I've gotten to know him separately. You always spoke about him very glowingly. So as two folks I really respect, it's pretty awesome to see you guys come together.
And great for me because I get to work with both of you now, which is cool. It's also a huge new platform for you guys. We'll talk about it today, but I think over 110 billion in assets. Big jump up in AUM for you and the team.

**Beezer Clarkson** (2:49)
LGT Capital Partners does manage a considerable amount of money in assets. Over 110 billion, and Thomas can walk us through all of the numbers.
And it is one of the most globally sophisticated multi-asset class investors out there. It's headquartered in Switzerland, has 16 offices globally, including two in the US, New York and San Francisco. I will be moving back to San Francisco once I get my son launched to college, which is very exciting.
And for the GPs out there, the firm has been deeply committed to venture capital and private equity for decades. And Thomas has been instrumental in building out the venture platform. He's been there, I want to say, for two decades, but we'll let him tell us his story. And our team, the ex-Sapphire Partners team, now has the opportunity to join forces with LGT Capital Partners to meaningfully increase our US presence and exposure. And I just want to give Thomas huge credit because he's, he's got an amazing perspective on the asset class that spans geographies, vintages and fund strategies. And in a way that I, again, I'm biased, but I think very few people can match. So it's an honor to get to do this alongside him and have him on as our guest.

**Nick Chirls** (3:58)
Awesome. Let's dig into it. And no better way to do that than bringing your new partner Thomas on.
Shall we?

**Beezer Clarkson** (4:05)
Yep, let's do it.
Thomas, welcome to Origins. And I have to say, it's a much different kind of welcome than when we last had you on a bit over a year ago, as we are now colleagues, which is excellent. But before we get into all the big LGT Capital Partners and Sapphire Ventures news, I wanted to take a brief moment to give you time to talk about your entry into the LP world and how you came to join LGT Capital Partners. And just for me to give you a little bit of, I'm gonna brag on your behalf that you've built a career that spans some of the most respected names in venture investing, both from the managers you back and your LP base. I guess it's my LP base now. Could you walk us through how you first got into this world and what drew you to LGT Capital Partners?