Divesh Makan, who founded the secretive $80 billion wealth management firm Iconiq Capital back in 2011, has declined to talk to reporters for more than a decade.
There are some obvious reasons. For one, Iconiq’s clients include some of the wealthiest Americans—many of whom would rather keep quiet about where they park their money. It’s well-known that Makan made his name within the Facebook universe, managing the wealth of Facebook cofounders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz. And Makan started working with Sheryl Sandberg before she joined Facebook. Other clients have been reported over the years, including Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, as well as Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively.
So when Makan agreed to chat with me for a story I was writing on Iconiq’s venture capital arm and its latest (and largest) $5.75 billion fund—Iconiq Growth—I was a bit surprised, and I asked him why, after all this time, he was changing his tune.
Makan said that the partnership kept getting feedback from entrepreneurs that they wanted the firm to talk more about itself. While he didn’t address whether the firm’s secrecy has hurt the fund’s efforts to get into hot deals, he said that founders told them that “every other firm” had a brand people recognized, while Iconiq Growth did not.
“We left a white space that, if you don’t fill it, someone else fills it for you,” Makan said. “So suddenly, everyone else is telling our story.”
In my latest feature story, Makan and Iconiq Growth founding partner Will Griffith share details of Iconiq Growth’s history in the venture capital world, the people behind its launch, Iconiq’s advisory council, and the network Iconiq says has set it apart from the competition when it comes to getting on a cap table.
You can read about the fund, and what its partners plan to do with its latest $5.8 billion, here.
Scoop…Coins2Day’s Allie Garfinkle last night was first to report that Wiz, valued at $12 billion, has walked away from a $23 billion deal with Google parent Alphabet. Read the whole story here.
See you tomorrow,
Jessica Mathews
Twitter:@jessicakmathews
Email: [email protected]
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Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.
VENTURE DEALS
- Monarch Tractor, a Livermore, Calif.-based developer of a fully electric smart tractor and farm management platform, raised $133 million in Series C funding. Astanor and HH-CTBC Partnership led the round and were joined by At One Ventures, PMV, and The Welvaartsfonds.
- Maurten, a Gothenburg, Sweden-based sports nutrition company, raised €20 million ($22 million) in funding. IRIS Ventures led the round and was joined by others.
- Endless Health, a Austin, Texas-based testing and preventive medicine company, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Next Coast Ventures led the round and was joined by Antler Elevate and Asset Management Ventures.
- RxDiet, a New York City-based AI-powered platform designed to create medically tailored food plans, raised $3 million in seed funding. Giant Ventures led the round and was joined by others.
- NetFabric, a Zurich, Germany-based network observability company, raised $2.2 million in pre-seed funding from Founderful and Playfair Capital.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Ardian acquired a majority stake inMasco Group, a Milan, Italy-based provider of engineered solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Ballymore Safety Products, a portfolio company of One Equity Partners, acquired a majority stake inDOC Services, a Fort Mill, S.C.-based provider of asset maintenance services for electromechanical and commercial HVAC machinery. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Diversis Capital acquired a majority stake in Decision Lens, an Arlington, Va.-based developer of planning software for government processes. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
- The Yokohama Rubber Co.Agreed to acquire the Off-the-Road tire business of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, a Akron, Ohio-based tire manufacturing and sales company, for $905 million.
- Loar Group acquired Applied Avionics, a Fort Worth, Texas-based manufacturer of interface solutions for aerospace and defense platforms, for approximately $385 million in cash.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- Bregal Sagemount, a New York City-based private equity firm, raised $500 million for their first small-cap fund focused in software, information / data services, financial technology & financial services, and other sectors.
PEOPLE
- FalconPoint Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm, hired VijayMaharaj as chief financial officer and chief compliance officer. Formerly, he was with GreyLion Partners.
- Flexpoint Ford, a Chicago, Ill. And New York City-based private equity firm, hired Josh Tamaroff as a managing director on the healthcare team. Formerly, he was with Avista Capital Partners.