Asymmetric Capital Partners launches $105m debut fund to invest in B2B startups

Asymmetric Capital Partners (Asymmetric), a new venture capital firm helmed by Rob Biederman, Co-founder, Chairman, and former co-CEO of Catalant Technologies, announced the close of its oversubscribed first fund at $105 million.

The new fund will invest primarily in Seed to Series C stage B2B technology companies across four overlapping theses: the digitization of legacy industries, next-generation software and business tooling, marketplaces, and the future of work, retail, and health care.

Rob Biederman, Founder and Managing Partner, Asymmetric: "I founded Asymmetric to build a new kind of venture firm, focused on partnering with world-class founders and providing operational support on their journeys. Venture capital is itself in the midst of profound structural change, as commoditized capital and reactionary sourcing give way to a service-oriented mentality and rigorous, genuine thought partnership between founders and investment firms. We see ourselves at the vanguard of that movement."

Biederman further noted his firm has been pleasantly surprised by the degree to which that organizing principle has resonated with founding teams despite a frenzied venture market, resulting in strong and often exclusive inbound deal flow.

Aligned with its orientation toward companies offering the potential for long-term compounding in the private markets, the firm elected to raise its first fund exclusively from family office and value-additive high net worth individuals, with exclusively private equity,venture capital, and operating backgrounds. Asymmetric utilizes a robust network of senior Sales, Marketing, Finance, BD, HR, and IT executives at leading tech companies – referred to as Advisor Partners – to augment its organic sourcing effort and to diligence investment opportunities.

After investment, the firm seeks to play an active role in value creation through strategic advisory and access to its network of founders, operators, advisors, and investment firms. Since its inception earlier this year, Asymmetric has closed a number of high-profile investments, including in Canvas, the Sequoia-backed diversity recruiting platform, Firstbase, the Andreesen Horowitz-backed remote work platform, and Clearco, the SoftBank-backed fintech platform.

Chris Herd, Founder & CEO, Firstbase: "We were so excited to bring Rob and Asymmetric into our Series A. Rob truly understands the future of work space and adds an important perspective alongside a16z and the other investors in the round."

Andrew D'Souza and Michele Romanow, Co-founders, Clearco: "Given his deep operating background as a founder, we've found Rob's insights on corporate strategy and execution to be invaluable."

The firm intends both to lead rounds and to co-invest alongside other leading firms, typically writing equity checks from $2 million to $10 million, as well as partnering with its LPs and others on select larger deals.

Unusual for a venture firm, the founding team at Asymmetric has both significant founder and private equity experience. Prior to founding Catalant while a student at Harvard Business School, Biederman worked as a private equity investor at Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs; he also teaches on scaling high tech companies at Harvard Business School. Partner Sam Clayman previously worked as a private equity investor at Sycamore Partners after graduating from Stanford Graduate School of Business, with earlier investment roles at Apax Partners and KKR. Partner and COO Sarah Unger Biggs comes from a similar private markets background at Bain Capital, Long Wharf Capital, and Goldman Sachs. Principal Nancy Chou joins with operating experience from London-based startup Beamery and previously worked as a private equity investor at Francisco Partners and investment banker in Goldman Sachs' Technology, Media, and Telecom group.

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