London, 23 February 2010 - The Founders Club, (www.founders-
VC backed CEOs and founders that become members of The Founders Club agree to pay a small percentage of their personal cash exits from an IPO or M&A transaction which is then distributed to all the members in that specific portfolio. Each portfolio balances risks of 30 different VC-backed early and later stage companies to maximize returns and synergies among participating entrepreneurs and VCs.
All participants must be already funded by tier one VCs to qualify to apply to join and each portfolio closes when 30 members join. The Founders Club is global in nature and includes 15 active VCs and advisors from Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, London, Paris, Stockholm, Munich and Tel Aviv who source deals, vote on the admissions committees and work with members to achieve higher value exits.
Before establishing his own asset management advisory firm in Switzerland in 2009, Ji Portfolio Services LLC, Jaeggi was managing director of Adveq (1998 – 2009), a leading private equity fund of funds management company that completed more than 250 investments into VC, buy-out and special situation funds. He helped develop Adveq from a two partner entity into a group with more than $4 billion under management from institutional investors worldwide and 70 employees and offices in Europe, the USA and China.
Jaeggi is still a major shareholder of Adveq and a member of its board of directors. Prior to joining Adveq, André was executive director at Prevista, a leading Swiss investment foundation for pension funds providing pooled investments in all traditional asset classes, real estate, and private equity.
André Jaeggi, chairman, commented: “Having met just about every major VC fund seeking to raise funds, I immediately recognized that The Founders Club was new, different and a logical progression for the ecosystem of entrepreneurs and investors. The club offers entrepreneurs a unique cocktail of diversification, liquidity and a truly international CEO support network that will result in lowering risk and increasing the size of exits. For VCs and investors it’s simple – easier access to raising new capital and higher IRR’s. The incentivised CEO network and global Keiretsu model is the core value proposition. I intend to draw on my relationships with senior VCs globally to scale The Founders Club and deliver on its ambitions to accelerate entrepreneurship.”
The Founders Club is currently accepting new members into three separate portfolios:
• Healthcare & Life Science Portfolio (Biotech Pharmaceutical, Medical Devices, Healthcare IT & Services)
• Technology & Cleantech Portfolio (classic ITC, Mediatech & Environmentally Friendly Technology)
• Later Stage Technology (all companies with revenues of at least $25M USD)
Andrew Romans, founder and general partner, said: “As one of the largest investors in the venture capital asset class over a period of decades, André Jaeggi brings The Founders Club a unique global perspective on the successes and failures of venture capital coupled with direct relationships with the leading general partners and fund managers in the industry. Having André as a cash investor and chairman demonstrates we are onto something big.”
Earlier in his career, Jaeggi was a financial journalist for the Swiss economic paper “Finanz und Wirtschaft” for whom he was resident editor in New York in the late eighties and deputy to the editor in chief in the early nineties.
Jaeggi holds a PhD (Dr. phil.) from the University of Zurich and studied in Zurich, Switzerland, and England at the University of Essex.
Contact details
Richard Botley, Chameleon PR
Tel: + 44 207 680 5500
richard.botley@
Andrew Romans, General Partner, The Founders Club
Silicon Valley: +1 (650) 209-6677
London: +44 7815 901 066
ar [at] founders-club.com
www.founders-
