Smash Ventures, Backer of Epic Games and Manscaped, Raises $500 Million for New Fund
Harri is dot.LA's senior finance reporter. She previously worked for Gizmodo, Fast Company, VentureBeat and Flipboard. Find her on Twitter and send tips on L.A. startups and venture capital to harrison@dot.la.
Smash Ventures, a late-stage venture capital firm founded by former Disney executives, has raised $500 million for a new venture fund, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Hollywood-based Smash has announced only a handful of tech investments since launching in 2018. The firm, led by co-founders and managing partners Eric Garland and Evan Richter, has backed Fortnite-creator Epic Games, sports betting giant DraftKings, conspicuously named grooming brand Manscaped, and search engine DuckDuckGo.
Smash maintained a relatively low profile until March 2021, when it announced a $75 million fund. At the time, the founders claimed that they had already deployed a total of $500 million in capital.
Nine-figure raises aren’t unusual for late-stage VCs like Smash, and some established names have pushed the envelope further. Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, for example, secured $2.2 billion last year solely to invest in cryptocurrency-related ventures.
Smash Ventures did not respond to a request for comment on the new fund.
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Harri is dot.LA's senior finance reporter. She previously worked for Gizmodo, Fast Company, VentureBeat and Flipboard. Find her on Twitter and send tips on L.A. startups and venture capital to harrison@dot.la.
