How Do RAISE Global Invites Work?
We have released the final GP invitations to the 2022 RAISE Global Summit. Given that our application deadline was June 30th, we understand that many people are probably wondering why it took two full months to finish the selection process. This blog post answers that question!
This year, we revamped the conference to better serve the needs of our LP and GP audiences, and we set a limit of around 100 GPs to attend the event. We were thrilled that more than 500 funds applied… but this meant we had the very challenging task of narrowing this down to just 100 funds we could invite to attend.
To get through all 500 applications, we split the task of reading and rating them randomly among 24 different reviewers on the Limited Partners Selection Committee (“LPSC”). We are so appreciative of the volunteer effort that the committee put in over the summer months.
The LPSC reviewed each deck twice using a standard questionnaire that we have used for the past three years. We also held sessions with the reviewers in an attempt to reach a reasonable level of common understanding.
Rating decks - just like picking which fund to invest in - is an inherently subjective process. As a result, there was some variation among reviewers. Some reviewers were tough; others were kind. In order to ensure that the “luck of the reviewer” did not impact the selections, we normalized the ratings among reviewers.
We also implemented additional checks to the system when reviewers had very different views of a particular fund. These funds were often re-read and reviewed by new reviewers, to further improve result quality.
As has always been the case, funds that applied in the past but hadn’t been selected received extra points. We subtracted points for funds that presented the year before.
For funds on the “bubble” (ranked spots 90 - 110), their applications were also reviewed three more times by new reviewers to get to the final list of invites. These selections were the toughest, and we relied heavily on strong endorsements from the LPSC that had personal knowledge of the funds involved.
And thus, we landed on our top 110 or so funds that would receive an invite (sponsors received a few invites as part of their sponsorship package, which meant that the number of invited funds ended up at around 110).
The 20 funds that were selected to present on the main stage were chosen from the top 40 funds ranked purely on the ratings from the LPSC. These funds were reviewed three more times by different reviewers. From this group, 20 were selected for the main stage.
We then sent out invitations based on the final rankings and moved down the list as some funds elected not to attend (usually because they had recently closed their funds).
As you can see, we tried to design a process that was as fair and inclusive as possible. There were many outstanding funds that did not get invited this year. These funds will get extra points if they apply again next year.
One final note on the GPs selected by the LPSC. The RAISE Global Summit has always been about spotlighting the future faces of venture. This year, the selected funds are about 20% more diverse than the general application pool. In fact, 66% of the funds invited have at least one female partner, and 89% of this year’s attending GPs have at least one woman or person of color on their investment team - up from 61% just three years ago.
Again, thanks to everyone who applied to present, and to the members of our Selection Committee for your hard work and support.
- The RAISE Team
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer
The Tipping Point Series, which includes Featured at RAISE, (“Tipping Point”) is a collection of interviews with fund managers who (a) have previously raised a venture capital fund and (b) are providing advice and insights into the formation and management of venture capital funds (the “Presentations”). Tipping Point is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security issued by any venture capital fund, including without limitation, any venture capital fund managed by Tipping Point’s speakers, presenters, or producers.
The Presentations do not (a) provide investment advice with respect to any security or (b) make any claim as to the past, current, or future performance of any security or venture capital fund, and Tipping Point expressly disclaims the use of the Presentations for such purposes. The Presentations are not intended to constitute legal, tax, accounting, or other advice or an investment recommendation. Prospective fund managers should consult their own advisors about such matters with regard to their venture capital funds. Raising a venture capital fund involves significant risk of loss of income and capital, including loss of the full amount raised and invested, which may occur as a result of identified or unidentified risks.
Tipping Point is produced by Raise Conferences, LLC (“Raise”). Raise is a private invite-only venture capital conference, which provides a forum for venture capital funds to network with and present to potential venture capital investors. Although Raise produces Tipping Point, the Presentations are independent of Raise’s conference and do not provide any forum for the Tipping Point speakers, presenters, or producers to solicit the sale of any securities.
