Homebrew targets $50M for new fund

Venture capital firm Homebrew is targeting $50 million for a new fund, according to a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing comes as a bit of a surprise considering that Homebrew nearly two years ago said it was pursuing a more stage-agnostic evergreen model that would be funded solely by Satya Patel and Hunter Walk, Homebrew’s general partners. But many firms raise more than one fund at any given time to target particular opportunities; for example, some early-stage firms raise a second, opportunity-focused fund as well to supplement their main vehicle.

TechCrunch reached out to Walk for comment regarding the new filing but he said he was not able to say anything publicly at this time. A source who wished to remain anonymous told TechCrunch that Homebrew has been using SPVs to write pro-rata checks into certain follow-on investments, but is seeking to raise a fund for this purpose instead.

The San Francisco-based firm, which historically focused on seed-stage investing, has made some 200 investments since its 2013 inception, according to Crunchbase. It has backed the likes of Winnie, Finix, Concentric AI, Mercury and Plaid, among others. Homebrew has seen at least three dozen portfolio companies exit, including Cruise, Weave and Cheddar.

Most recently, it led the $12 million Series A round into Slang.ai, a platform that automatically answers the phone for restaurants, retailers and other types of brick-and-mortar businesses.

In March of 2022, Homebrew said it would have an open-ended fund structure with no termination date.