Type of Investing: Venture Capital
Managing Partner, Addition
Meet Lee Fixel: Low-Key Investor Who Turned Bets On Flipkart And Peloton Into Billions -And Has A $1.3 Billion Fund To Do It Again
Peloton CEO John Foley was used to hearing "no" by the time he met with investor Lee Fixel in early 2014. Hundreds of venture capitalists and investment firms had passed on his fitness startup; Peloton's internet-connected stationary bike had even turned to Kickstarter for funds.
www.forbes.com
Lee Fixel is already raising a massive second fund
On Friday, former Tiger Global Management investor Lee Fixel registered plans for the second fund of his new investment firm, Addition, just four months after closing the first. According to a report on Friday by the Financial Times, the outfit spent last week finalizing the fundraising for the $1....
techcrunch.com
History
- Started out in Alkeon Capital, a New York tech-focused tech fund. Then went to Tiger Global where he was Partner and head of Tiger Global's PE Division.
- Tiger Global is a $36 billion fund with both public and private equity arms
- Recently raised $3.75 billion venture fund
- Known for later stage investments before the company goes public.
- Investments in Stripe, Peloton, Spotify, Flipkart and a late stage investment in Facebook
- Left Tiger Global in March 2019 to launch his own investment shop called Addition, a $1.3 billion fund. Recently raised second fund for Addition at $1.4 billion. The fund has a duration of 15 years.
- Tired of the decision-making process at Tiger, where multiple partners had to approve each deal
- One-third of capital for early-stage investments, the rest goes to growth-stage deals
- Expects to deploy the $1.3 billion within 18 to 24 months
Investing Style
- Has invested across the United States, India, and Brazil.
- Fixel does "lots of upfront research, like with Freshworks, where Fixel showed up in Chennai for a meeting, then surveyed his first 200 customers and provided the findings back to the startup."
- Shopped around at Peloton stores pretending to be a customer before investing
- Not a very activist VC. Expects entrepreneurs to focus on the details and go to him for high level strategy.
- Low profile: no interviews or Tweets.
"I interviewed your customers, your employees, your ex-employees, your competitors. And we want to talk about why margins in San Diego in Q3 of last year were off." -Lee Fixel to Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman
Recent Deals
Snyk - $200 million round in London-based startup that helps companies securely use open-source code.
Lyra Health - $110 million round in a California-based provider of mental health care benefits for employers.
Inshorts - $35 million round in New Delhi, India-based popular news aggregation app