Established in 2014, Manhattan Venture Partners (MVP) is a secondary direct venture capital investor located in New York, New York. As a boutique merchant bank, it exclusively focuses on investing in mid- to late-stage, up to pre-IPO, venture-backed technology companies. MVP acts as both a principal investor on behalf of discretionary portfolios it manages and an agent facilitating direct securities transfers and co-investment vehicles through its wholly owned broker/dealer arm, VNTR Securities.
2014
Year founded
$1B
AUM
Nicholas Gupta
Partner
Bradley Fishman
Co-Founder and
Managing Partner
Paul Morris
Senior Associate
As fund managers seek liquidity and alternative exit paths in a challenging landscape, secondary markets have emerged as an avenue of growth and opportunity. Within a manager’s scope, these transactions include LP interests in portfolio holdings and the purchase and sale of individual direct equity stakes in distinct businesses within LP portfolios. MVP pioneered the institutionalization of this once-undeveloped asset class through its participation in the latter—secondary direct purchases.
Since 2015, PitchBook has helped MVP as it provides liquidity to early investors, entrepreneurs, and executives via secondary direct purchases through buy-side and sell-side transactions. These have become especially important in today’s market.
As the PitchBook Platform has evolved and grown to include new features, MVP has achieved significantly more value with only a small incremental increase in its overall costs. Thanks to the number of deals PitchBook helps MVP close, they achieve a return on investment within the first two weeks of their license.
“We’re seen as a leader in the space, and I believe that our leveraging of PitchBook early on has been part of the evolution of our success. PitchBook bridges the opacity of secondary market deals to a large extent. And that is critical for us,” said Bradley Fishman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner.
By providing a very deep repository of institutional and other existing shareholders within venture capital-backed technology companies across the age and stage spectrum, PitchBook helps MVP identify potential selling shareholder counterparties with whom they can engage. On the buy side, PitchBook’s granular data on the identities of and contact information on swaths of registered investment advisor and broker-dealer communities supports a substantial portion of their buy-side investment and transaction activity, according to Nicolas Gupta, a partner in the firm.
Identifying shareholders seeking liquidity using private market data
The MVP team recently sourced an off-market seller in a top asset class by discovering exclusively through PitchBook that the seller had made an investment. In a typically opaque process, where the seller would be an unknown, PitchBook data offered a creative path to a win.
“We approached them and let them know that we found them on PitchBook. We understood they held this share class in this security type, and they confirmed it. Ultimately, we went into a negotiation and made a purchase of $20 million of a phenomenal enterprise software company that sits within our fund business, and we made as a co-investment, and that was the first of what will be many transactions in that company for which we now sit on the cap table.”—Bradley Fishman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Manhattan Venture Partners |
Transparently emphasizing that they obtained this information from PitchBook resulted in a more seamless engagement with the seller. While this pattern of success happens several times throughout the year, in this instance, it only took six weeks to finalize the deal.
It would be challenging to compete at the same level without access to the PitchBook database, said Fishman. He noted that having Morningstar public data provides a significant advantage, essentially offering two exceptional data sets in one product.
“The research library is a key repository that many of our team members utilize. The venture monitor is like the bible. If you don’t read it, you’re out of tune with what’s going on in the market.”—Bradley Fishman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Manhattan Venture Partners |
Efficiently executing deals with accurate models and forecasts
The firm circulates shared lists of aggregated deal flows curated through PitchBook that outline companies it is monitoring along with funding rounds to understand what’s happening across the spectrum of investments.
This process helps the team determine a fair market value for the security and understand the investor’s financial standing. During a market downturn, a significant amount of time is spent evaluating not just the business itself but also the security held and its pricing. Understanding these intricacies is essential for successful deal-making, as it involves considerations beyond simply purchasing shares. Factors such as the investor’s history, duration of participation, and overall financial performance must be considered to negotiate effectively.
“Data points are critical. They differentiate professionals from tourists in our market in terms of how you enter a conversation and how you end in negotiation. That’s part of where we’ve been successful because all of that data sits within PitchBook,” explained Fishman.
PitchBook resources utilized by Manhattan Venture Partners:
- Investor repository
Access comprehensive investor profiles, including information on past deals, current partnerships, contact information, and more. - Market maps
Chart emerging markets that matter most to you powered by analyst expertise and best-in-class private market data. - Research Library
Discover timely, institutional-grade private market research that delivers unmatched expertise and analysis. - Salesforce integration
Streamline workflows and optimize client engagement by syncing PitchBook data with your Salesforce CRM. - Screener tools
Leverage our powerful advanced search functionalities using specific criteria to find the data you need.
Raising capital faster by approaching the right co-investors
MVP’s investment analysis team supports business development reps and partners by building out what it calls an “opportunity screener” for new deals that bolster sourcing efforts. With a vast investment universe consisting of over 1,000 companies, maintaining a comprehensive database detailing factors such as the number of employees, HQ office location, and key investors is crucial.
The ability to cross-reference and cut across data points enables reps to develop a scoring system, enhancing their ability to efficiently screen and analyze potential investment opportunities. Ultimately, this approach allows MVP to delve into in-depth due diligence and identify promising prospects at a faster pace.
“Being able to source and perform due diligence in an efficient manner is invaluable, as it allows us to explore the most interesting opportunities faster” said Senior Associate Paul Morris.
“The key reason we renew is that nothing else compares to PitchBook.”—Bradley Fishman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Manhattan Venture Partners |
PitchBook’s Direct Data API seamlessly integrates with MVP’s Salesforce to streamline prospect sourcing. It enables the team to create lists, qualify contacts, and extract relevant and descriptive data directly from PitchBook. This process saves several hours each week and is an integral part of the organization’s workflow.
