Greycroft Founder Dana Settle on the VCs $1 Billion Raise and Their Plan for the Future

Venture capital firm Greycroft, which has an office in Los Angeles' Arts District, closed a combined $1 billion in capital commitments across several new funds. The money will be used primarily to invest in varying stage companies with a focus on AI, co-founder and managing partner Dana Settle told dot.LA.

Greycroft’s two flagship funds, the Greycroft Partners VII and Greycroft Growth IV, closed a combined more than $980 million, the firm announced Wednesday. Following the deal, the VC firm now manages a total of $3 billion in capital. Settle clarified that a small portion of the $1 billion total came from additional capital Greycroft raised throughout the last year.

The bicoastal VC outfit is no stranger to big fundraises; just three years ago it closed a raise for two funds worth a combined $678 million. This most recent raise came from a combination of undisclosed limited partners both existing and new, Settle said.

The new funds invested in two local companies so far: Data-sharing startup Bobsled, which raised a $17 million Series A led by Greycroft April 25, and retail investor management platform Stakeholder Labs, which raised a $4.2 million seed round on February 14.

In addition, Settle told dot.LA that while Greycroft invests in a diverse set of companies, its main goal is driving the largest returns. “The thematic areas [of the new funds] are certainly AI and the opportunities that we see for companies that are foundational models in AI, as well as applications that are being enabled by AI,” Settle said. “If you look across the spectrum, it's literally every single industry in the world.”

Greycroft has backed around 400 companies since its launch in 2006. Some of Greycroft’s biggest exits include Santa Monica-based electric scooter firm Bird, mobile game maker Scopely, and tech news outlet Axios Media. Bird went public via a SPAC deal in 2020, while Scopely was bought by Saudi investor Savvy Games Group earlier this month for $4.9 billion.

“We believe deeply in the LA ecosystem,” Settle said. “The opportunity set here is incredible and expansive, just because of how diverse the set of industries is and what an entrepreneurial community it is.”

It’s worth noting too that Greycroft closed the large deal in the midst of what is otherwise a difficult funding environment for VCs. According to PitchBook data, the looming recession has prompted VCs to scale back their investments into startups. Their latest report found that VCs across the country have only raised a combined $11.7 billion across less than 100 funds.

“I feel we could not be more fortunate than to have raised this fund when we did, just in terms of having such an incredible team,” Settle said. “Sometimes you just get lucky on timing.”