Kitsune VC: The Fund Announcement

Kitsune VC has just raised our first $10 million fund!!! 🤑

Well not really 😢.

Named after the mythical Japanese fox spirits 🦊 known for cleverness and illusions, this fund is not your typical venture play.

It’s the creation of two ambitious 20-year-old strangers turned partners who are out to see if they’ve got what it takes to thrive in venture capital.

Over the next two years, us two “partners” will vest around $5 million each going head-to-head to see who can generate more alpha 📈 . The competition should be intense, with each out to see who the better investor is.

This isn’t just about throwing money around. Kitsune VC is laser-focused on pre-seed and seed-stage startups, with a particular love for AI 🤖 and fintech 💳.

We are all about solving big problems—the kind that can redefine industries—and we’re splitting our investments between the UK and the US.

We’re hunting for undervalued gems with solid unit economics… because who doesn’t love a bargain? 💎

So, what are the rules?

We have laid out some clear guidelines to steer this challenge:

1. Stick to Smart Deals: Deal flow comes from existing networks or recent VC/angel deals, and we have a maximum of 2 months after a round closes to jump in. ⏳️ 

2. Diversification: The goal is a portfolio of 25-30 companies, strategically spread across verticals to balance risk and maximize returns. 🥚

3. Cheque Sizes: Investments range from $100,000 to $750,000, with a focus on reserving additional capital for high-performing portfolio stars. 🌟

4. Financials (“the boring stuff”): Us struggling GPs contribute 10% of the fund and LPs the rest. Management fees sit at 2%, and our carry is set at 20% with an 8% hurdle rate. 🌱

5. The Long Game: The fund operates with a 10-year horizon. High-conviction non-exited investments could eventually be spun out into smaller vehicles, with strategic acquisitions as the ultimate goal—especially in fintech and open finance. 🛫

But that’s not all!

The Kitsune founders are taking things up a notch by adding a competitive twist. 🥊 

The two partners will be pitted against each other to see who emerges as the ultimate VC mastermind. We both have our own stories that have defined our theses.

I'm Preet, a founder who's been through the fundraising gauntlet myself (so I know the struggle! 😅). My background is in a bit of everything - banking, visa consulting, recruitment, and data science. I'm betting big on open banking being the next wave 🌊 - there are some seriously cool companies building in this space. And let's be real - not only am I coming for Wail, I'm aiming to crush those big name VC firms! 💪".

I’m Wail, founder of Today in AI (the newsletter that you all know and love 😍) and have been into the startup and VC space for the past couple of years now. I’m also a Director at Kickstart Global - the UK’s largest student-led incubator, so it’s safe to say I’ve dipped my toes in the venture world 💦. My bets are going to be focused on startups building with AI to transform software. We’re now entering a world where AI is literally taking over the world 🤖 - in other words, there is no chance I’m letting Preet win this. Let the games begin… 🔥

How we’ll measure our success:

• Portfolio Performance: Which partner’s investments achieve the highest returns? 📈

  • IRR (Internal Rate of Return): A key metric to evaluate the efficiency of their investments over time. 📊

  • MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital): A measure of how much value each partner creates compared to the original capital invested. 💵

• Strategic Exits: Who can secure the most impactful acquisitions or IPOs? 🏆

• Fortune Teller: Who can predict the exact outcome/ exit for each start-up? Can we tell if the startup will IPO at $10 billion or be acquired for $5 billion?

• Founder Relationships: Which partner builds the strongest network and rapport with their portfolio founders? 🤝

• Extended team: We can both hire our friends as scouts, but only the founding duo gets to write those coveted cheques. ✍️ We take full responsibility for the failures and the successes that occur in our portfolio.

• Founders supported: Despite our monetary investment being hypothetical, we have the ability and the aim to help our portfolio babies and hence we will do our best to reach out and make relevant connections.

It’s a friendly rivalry with high stakes, and we will update you at every twist and turn. Will it be razor-sharp instincts or deep connections that tip the scale? Only time (and the numbers) will tell! 🚀

p.s. Keeping it real for a second, this whole adventure is our way of learning the way VC works. Think of us as those kids who - we're not actually managing real money (yet!) 👀, and nothing we say should be taken as financial advice. These wild ideas and hot takes? All ours, for better or worse! 😎

Goodbye for now 👋 

Wail and Preet
The Partners, Kitsune VC