VC fund performance is reported in five figures, and a limited partner reads them together because each one hides what another shows: TVPI for the whole multiple, DPI for the part that is cash, RVPI for the part that is opinion, MOIC for the deals before fees, and IRR for how fast. This page describes each figure as a venture fund's quarterly letter reports it, works the paid-in multiples on this site's own investor update worksheet, and says what a venture fund's performance figures look like at each stage of its life, without publishing any benchmark, because a benchmark is a figure this site did not measure.
The five figures, and what each one hides
TVPI is total value to paid-in and hides how much of the value is realised. DPI is distributions to paid-in and hides everything still held. RVPI is residual value to paid-in and is entirely the fund's own valuation. MOIC is value to invested capital and hides fees. IRR is the annualised rate and hides the size of the money that earned it. On this site's worked example a fund with six and a half million paid in reports a TVPI of one point eight five times, a DPI of zero point four zero and an RVPI of one point four five, and the split says that most of its performance is still an opinion about unlisted companies.
Where each figure comes from in the record
Paid-in capital is the sum of every received capital call, so it comes from the record of calls. Distributions are the sum of every distribution, from the same record. Residual value comes from the fund's valuation of its holdings, formalised by an administrator once there is one, and enters the record as one figure per quarter. The three paid-in multiples are ratios over those; MOIC needs each deal's cost from the portfolio job; IRR needs the dates of every cash flow, which the record holds against each call and distribution. A letter whose figures come from one record agrees with itself.
What a venture fund's figures look like across its life
Early, paid-in is small and mostly invested, residual value is near cost, and TVPI sits around one while IRR means little. In the middle years the markups arrive at new financing rounds, RVPI rises, and TVPI rises with it while DPI stays near zero, because nothing has exited. Late, the exits move value from RVPI to DPI, TVPI stops moving much, and the fund's IRR settles. An investor reading a young fund's high TVPI knows it is RVPI, and reading an old fund's knows it is DPI; the letter should make that easy by reporting all three.
Net figures, and what a letter should say
Every paid-in multiple should be reported net, with fees in paid-in and distributions after carry, because that is what the investor can check against their own account, and the letter should say net beside the figure. The gross figures belong to the portfolio section, deal by deal, where MOIC lives. A venture fund's performance is judged by its investors against other funds of the same vintage, and that comparison is theirs to make from the sources below; this site computes the fund's own figures and publishes nobody's benchmark.
Questions people ask about vc fund performance
Which VC fund performance figure matters most?
To an investor deciding whether to re-up, DPI, because it is the only one that has already happened. To a fund early in its life, TVPI, because DPI is zero for years. Reporting all five is how a letter avoids arguing about which.
How is IRR computed for a fund?
From the dated cash flows: every capital call as an outflow on its date, every distribution as an inflow, and the residual value as a final inflow at the quarter end. The record holds the dates; the rate is the one that sets their present value to zero.
Does Rapportvo compute IRR?
It holds every dated call and distribution the computation needs and computes the paid-in multiples on the page. The IRR itself is the administrator's or the fund's calculation from those dated flows.