November 20, 2024

Press Release: Accolade Partners Continues its Leadership in Blockchain Investing, Closes its Third Blockchain Focused Fund of Funds

Firm Closes Accolade Blockchain III at $202m in capital, a fund of funds dedicated to investing in Blockchain focused venture funds


November 20, 2024

Wall Street Journal: Accolade Gathers $202 Million for New Blockchain Fund of Funds as Crypto Market Recovers

The investment manager has been buying secondary interests in crypto venture funds at a discount.


November 4, 2024

Wall Street Journal: Venture Investors Stirred the Political Pot This Year. LPs Weren’t Thrilled.

“The biggest issue facing VC right now is liquidity. That’s their biggest issue, not who’s president,” said Atul Rustgi, managing partner at Accolade Partners, an investment firm that backs venture funds.


April 22, 2024


February 29, 2024

The 10X Capital Podcast: Atul Rustgi of Accolade on What is LP Value-Add and Can it Lead to Alpha?

Atul Rustgi sits down with David Weisburd to discuss his role as a GP & LP, the paradoxes of selling and building relationships in VC, and the strategy of focusing on funds under $100 million. They also delve into including biotech as a diversification strategy, the importance of blockchain and crypto exposure, family office investments, and the challenges and rewards of raising a fund during a market downturn.


February 14, 2024

Wall Street Journal: Accolade Gathers More Than $1 Billion for Three Funds of Funds

Accolade Partners said it raised a total of more than $1 billion to invest in venture capital and growth equity funds. “This is a really good vintage to put money to work,” said Atul Rustgi, managing partner at the Washington, D.C.-based firm, about investing at a time when company valuations are more reasonable.


February 14, 2024

Press Release: Accolade Partners, a Top Performing Venture Capital & Private Equity Growth Fund of Funds, Caps Off 2023 with Three New Vehicles

Firm Closes Its Ninth Combined Venture Capital and PE Growth Fund, Third Dedicated PE Growth Fund, and First Dedicated Venture Capital Fund


October 24, 2023

The Sure Shot Entrepreneur Podcast: Concentrated vs. Diversified Investments: Pursuing Top-Tier Returns vs. Targeting Average

Aram Verdiyan, Partner at Accolade Partners, offers a comprehensive exploration of the LP landscape and the strategies that drive success in the world of venture capital. Aram emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with VCs and sheds light on how general partners (GPs) think. He also discusses his views on returns generation, comparing concentrated and diversified investments.


October 9, 2023

Wall Street Journal: Accolade Partners Raises $325 Million to Back Venture Funds Led by Women, Minorities

The new fund-of-funds shows that institutional limited partners still have an appetite for diversity in venture capital.


April 28, 2023

Origins Podcast: LP Market Perspective – Nick & Beezer co-host Atul Rustgi, Accolade Partners

Origins is a podcast about the VC and LP ecosystem, co-hosted by Nick Chirls of Notation and Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners. In this episode, we are joined by Atul Rustgi, managing partner of Accolade Partners, a top-performing venture capital, growth equity, and blockchain fund of funds.


February 28, 2023

Capital Allocators Podcast: Venture Panel with Beezer Clarkson, Chris Douvos, & Joelle Kayden

Beezer Clarkson, Chris Douvos, and Joelle Kayden are three of the most respected investors in venture capital funds, manning their forts at Sapphire Ventures, Ahoy Capital, and Accolade Partners, respectively. The conversation covers what got us here, re-up and new fund decisions facing allocators, challenges for venture capitalists and their portfolio companies, funding discipline across stages, dry powder, tourists exiting the game, and valuations.


November 11, 2022

Forbes: Emerging VCs Struggle To Raise Funds As Nervous Investors Park Their Money In Big-Name Firms

VC firms have raised a record $151 billion from their investors this year. But for newer VCs, many of whom are from underrepresented groups, fundraising has become paradoxically harder.


July 11, 2022

Evercore Independent Thinking: Q&A on Healthcare with Joelle Kayden

Judy Moses of Evercore discusses healthcare transformation, spending and efficiency with Joelle Kayden of Accolade Partners and Debra Netschert of Jennison Associates.


April 23, 2022

SineCera Capital Podcast: Fund of Funds: Accessing Top-Tier Venture Capital & Growth Equity Funds With Aram Verdiyan (Ep. 24)

In this episode, Kevin Kaylakie talks with Aram Verdiyan, partner at Accolade Partners and one of SineCera Capital’s partners, to break the stigma around fund of funds’ high-cost structure. Aram also shares his experience using concentrated capital allocations to enhance portfolio returns.


April 1, 2022

Press Release: Accolade Partners Announces Two New Team Members

Firm Looks Forward to Building on Two Decades of Success


February 14, 2021

Capital Allocators Podcast: Canvassing the Landscape at Accolade Partners – Joelle Kayden and Ted Seides

Conversation with Ted Seides covers Joelle’s nearly two decades in technology investment banking, the launch of Accolade into the dot.com bubble, and its evolution over twenty years. We then discuss her perspectives on the four ways to win in venture capital, assessing culture, adding value as an LP, portfolio construction, re-upping decisions, and investing in the current environment.


May 28, 2021

Women’s PE Briefs: Showcasing the Achievements of Women in Private Equity & Venture Capital

Raising a $200 million fund to invest in venture and growth funds led by women and diverse managers was a “herculean effort,” Accolade Partners’ Joelle Kayden tell Women’s PE Briefs.


May 26, 2021

Wall Street Journal: Limited Partners Devote New Capital to Venture Funds Led by Women, Minorities

Accolade Partners has raised a $200 million fund to invest in funds started by underrepresented groups.


May 26, 2021


April 6, 2021

Breaking Down The Chain: How Blockchain Is Disrupting Industries

With the rise of Bitcoin, blockchain has gained much popularity in recent years. In this FEG Insight podcast episode, Atul Rustgi from Accolade Partners joins to break down the “chain.”


March 1, 2021

Evercore Wealth Management │ Independent Thinking, Volume 41: Q&A with Accolade Partners

Evercore Wealth Management supplements its core investment capabilities with carefully selected outside funds across the range of the firm’s asset classes. Atul Rustgi discusses opportunities in venture capital.


September 8, 2020

The Inquisitive VC: Aram Verdiyan — Accolade Partners

Aram Verdiyan is a Principal at Accolade Partners, a Venture Capital and Growth Equity Fund of Funds which has invested in the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, Kleiner Perkins and others. We talk about how Accolade picks fund managers, why Accolade is raising a blockchain-focused fund of funds, the importance of references, their framework for direct investments and more!


June 3, 2020

Atul Rustgi, Accolade Partners on Origins - A podcast about Limited Partners, created by Notation Capital

In this episode, Atul discusses his unique experience evaluating VC managers over the past decade, and Accolade's strategy investing in both very small early-stage venture funds and much larger late-stage growth equity funds.


May 21, 2020

Wall Street Journal: Accolade Makes Push Into Blockchain

Accolade Partners, a limited partner in venture funds from such firms as Accel, Bond Capital and Mucker Capital, has decided to launch a blockchain-focused fund of venture funds.


May 18, 2020

Medium: Accolade Partners Launches a Blockchain Fund of Funds

Since the Firm’s inception two decades ago, Accolade has been a leader in identifying many of the most important technology trends and investing against those opportunities. Three years ago, Accolade launched a dedicated effort to survey and meet the blockchain manager universe.


December 13, 2019


December 13, 2019

Wall Street Journal: Accolade Partners Raises $580 Million for Growth Equity, Venture Funds

The fund-of-funds manager shifts more to investing in growth-equity funds, but will remain active in venture capital, as well


February 7, 2018

Bloomberg: Can LPS Fix Silicon Valley's Gender Inequality?

Atul Rustgi, Accolade Partners LP Partner, discusses how to solve gender inequality in Silicon Valley. He speaks with Emily Chang on "Bloomberg Technology." (Source: Bloomberg)


February 1, 2018

Wall Street Journal: Venture Funds Get Larger, Testing LP Patience

Firms are raking in more fees as they raise larger funds to capture the upside of their successful startups, but limited partners say they may well be getting a worse deal in the process. Atul Rustgi, partner at Accolade Partners, a funds-of-funds, discusses the appeal for venture firms raising larger funds.


December 20, 2017

Medium: How to Win in Micro VC - Accolade Partners

In the business of investing, ownership matters - a lot! At Accolade Partners, a private equity fund of funds, we believe that portfolio company ownership is a significant driver of returns in the Micro VC market. The VC model is predicated on exits: either write downs (which nobody wants), secondaries (albeit not a common option yet), IPOs or M&A.


November 1, 2017

Preqin's Private Equity Fund of Funds Report ranks Accolade Partners the #1 Fund of Funds Manager. 

 

Accolade Partners, a Washington DC-based firm specializing in investments in venture capital and growth equity investments, leads the field with an average quartile ranking of 1.71.


 July 10, 2017

Wall Street Journal: Venture Fundraising Haul Isn’t Letting Up

Atul Rustgi, Partner at funds-of-funds Accolade Partners, discusses strong performance of venture capital firms in 2017.


May 31, 2017

Strictly VC: LP Conversation No. 3: Atul Rustgi of Accolade Partners

Semil Shah interviews Atul Rustgi from Accolade Partners, a 17-year-old Washington, D.C.-based fund of funds that invests in both venture firms and private equity outfits.


April 26, 2017

Press Release: Accolade Partners Closes Sixth Fund at $235 Million Hard Cap

Firm Continues Disciplined, Successful Approach to Venture Capital & Growth Equity Investing


February 17, 2017

Sun Basket cooks up another $15 million for gluten-free and paleo meal kits

Meal kit delivery startups, at this point, are nothing new. They send pre-measured ingredients in an insulated package right to a subscriber's door, and promise to alleviate the inconvenience of grocery trips. One company in this burgeoning channel of food retail, Sun Basket, has just raised $15 million in a Series C round of venture funding to put a health-conscious twist on the meal kit.


December 19, 2016

Bloomberg: Will Unicorns Go Bust in 2017?

Atul Rustgi, partner at Accolade Partners, discusses valuations in tech, the rise of unicorns and the venture capital game. p>


May 3, 2016

 
 
 

Origins - Episode 5 - Notation Capital And Joelle Kayden, Accolade Partners

Joelle Kayden, Accolade's founder and Managing Member, discusses her experience in the tech IPO market of the 90's, founding Accolade Partners and closing their first fund 2 weeks before the tech market crash of March 2000, and the evolving venture and and LP landscape.

 

September 11, 2015

PitchBook: Accolade Partners Closes Fifth Fund-of-Funds

Accolade Partners has announced the closing of its fifth fund-of-funds on $200 million, surpassing its target by $50 million. Accolade V will continue the firm's singular focus on investing in venture capital and growth equity funds. The vehicle is Accolade's largest to date.


September 10, 2015

Wall Street Journal: Accolade Partners Hits Hard Cap of $200 Million for Latest Fund

With Fifth Fund, Firm Continues Focused, Successful Approach to Venture Capital & Growth Equity Investing


September 19, 2013