2021 at True: Our Year in Review

It’s tough to reflect on 2021 without also thinking about what our worlds were like at the end of 2020. What was once uncertainty turned into hope. We got more time together, cautiously, and we started to rewrite what life and teamwork look like. 

Amid all of the changes in 2021, our team at True grew triumphantly by seven. Dave Balter, Ariel Winton-Jones, Fiona O’Donnell McCarthy, Kyndel Sidore, Molly Pon, and Graham Hays all joined us. Gus Coldebella, our partner focused on public policy and regulation with a concentration on cryptocurrency, was our seventh. All of these new team members add their own unique expertise to our team and work to serve True Founders in irreplaceable ways. 

In support of some of the most creative, imaginative entrepreneurs in the world, we invested $139 million across 50 new companies and endeavors — and 87 new founders. These investments spanned infrastructure software, robotics, biotechnology, decentralized finance, nutraceuticals, climate technology, and more. 

Additionally, True invested another $262 million in follow-on financing for 55 True companies over the course of 2021. Total capital raised for the whole True Portfolio, from all capital sources including initial public offerings, was $4.4 billion! Total capital raised in 2020, sans IPOs, was $1.5 billion and $1.2 billion in 2019.

Throughout 2021, our community celebrated the IPOs of HashiCorp, Sweetgreen, and Zymergen. We also celebrated a number of acquisitions, including that of autonomous tractor technology company Bear Flag Robotics and adtech company TripleLift. 

This is the first time in True’s history that the portfolio saw five outcomes of this size in one calendar year. While we are ecstatic, we are not entirely surprised given what we know about the founders of these companies. They, and their employees, worked with conviction, passion, and pride to add value to the world. Together, they’ve done just that. 

While we did gather safely in small groups for 13 True Founder dinners leading up to our online Founder Camp in the fall, we continued to host most True Platform events online so they were available to all. This didn’t slow down the momentum of our community one bit, and if anything, it carved new avenues of connection. We hosted 70 online events total to keep True Founders and their teams connected until we’re all comfortable being in large groups again, which we anticipate in 2022. 

We could go on for days about our pride in all of the founders True supports, but we’ll close the year with this: again and again, community is the answer. Thank you to all of the entrepreneurs who trust us as their partners, our limited partners who trust us with their capital, and all the friends of True who bring their skills to our community so True Founders and their teams can excel professionally and personally. 

We see you 👀, 2022, and we believe there’s much more to look forward to.