MaC Venture Capital, a seed-stage venture capital firm, has successfully raised $150 million for its third round.
This latest fundraising round brings the firm’s total assets under management to $600 million, a remarkable feat for the four-year-old firm founded by Marlon Nichols, Adrian Fenty, and Mike Palank.
The new funding will allow the venture capital firm to increase its investment check size to between $2 million and $3 million per startup, up from its previous average of $1.5 million in 2023.
Since launching its first fund in 2021, MaC VC has focused on nurturing high-potential startups at the seed stage, building a reputation for spotting and investing in emerging talent early.
Nichols, a former Intel Capital executive, co-founded the firm alongside Fenty, the former mayor of Washington, D.C., and Palank, who previously worked with actor Will Smith at Overbrook Entertainment.
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“Our growth has been about backing the right founders and making impactful investments,” said Fenty.
MaC VC’s Major Exits and Expanding Reach
MaC Venture Capital has already demonstrated its ability to generate returns through some strategic exits. In 2023, Autodesk acquired the AI-driven visual effects platform Wonder Dynamics, generating a 5.4x return on MaC’s investment.
Other notable investments include Big Cabal Media, Blavity, Pipe, Chef Robotics, and Stoke Space, which has since attracted funding from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
With this new $150 million fund, MaC will continue to expand globally and actively invest beyond the U.S., with recent investments in Nigeria-based Shekel Mobility as an example.
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According to Nichols, MaC’s long-term vision is to create a “multi-generational” venture firm that endures. This ambition has driven the team’s commitment to sourcing the best deals and providing comprehensive support to founders, from funding to strategic guidance.
Looking Ahead With MaC Venture Capital
Fenty, Palank, and Nichols founded MaC Venture Capital in 2019. The name is a tribute to the two firms that formed MaC: Fenty’s M Ventures and Nichols’ Cross Culture Ventures.
In the beginning, Fenty, Palank, and Charles King —entrepreneur and Oscar-winning producer, and now-MaC general partner—weren’t sure there was a chance that Nichols would be interested in teaming up.
“I wanted to build this large, multi-generational entity that was just going to survive forever,” Nichols told Fortune. “In order to do that, I realized I needed some real thought partners that were going to be in the trenches with me, day in and day out,” he continued.
It almost sounds like the beginning of a bit, right? “A mayor, a talent agent, and a CVC walk into a VC firm.” However, the interdisciplinary qualities MaC brings to the table have been part of what’s seriously drawn founders to the firm.
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The firm’s unique blend of expertise—politics, entertainment, technology, and finance—provides a multifaceted approach to venture capital that resonates with founders and investors alike.
As MaC Venture Capital enters this new chapter, the venture capital community will watch closely how this dynamic team leverages its growing resources and diverse expertise to shape the next generation of groundbreaking companies.
Left to right: MaC VC’s Adrian Fenty, Marlon Nichols, Charles King, Mike Palank in 2024. (MaC VC)
