Carta – VC Fund Performance, 4Q 2025

This introduction discusses how company-level returns in venture capital translate to fund-level performance, with funds that invest in successful outliers generating high returns.

The top decile of funds are those with home-run investments that outweigh any struggles in the rest of their portfolio. However, for funds that miss out on these unicorns, returns may be less attractive. The analysis in this report covers recent fund vintages, suggesting that winners have not yet been decided and middling return profiles could eventually rise. Regardless of the outcome for individual funds, venture capital is noted as a game where the winners tend to win big. In terms of specific data highlights, the median net IRR for 2021 and 2022 VC funds on Carta have turned positive, with net IRRs for vintages from 2017 all sitting at least at 4.2%. Furthermore, recent vintages have a significant amount of dry powder remaining, with the 2025 vintage still holding 72% of its committed capital in this form. Returns to LPs are becoming more common, with over half of the 2020 vintage funds generating DPI and beginning to return capital to LPs, while a similar trend is seen in the 2021, 2022, and 2023 vintages.