FROM: Don Pierce, Chief Investment Officer
SUBJECT: Drive Capital MCA
RECOMMENDATION:
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Recommend that the Board approve the establishment of a Master Custody Account (MCA) with Drive Capital, including a $200 million initial allocation, subject to completion of due diligence and legal documentation.
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BACKGROUND:
US Venture Market
The US venture market, today valued at approximately $240 billion, has historically been focused on two main coastal regions - Silicon Valley in California and the Boston/NYC corridor. This concentrated region receives nearly 75% of all venture capital funding and is home to 70% of the GP firms.
Drive Capital: Philosophy & Approach
Drive Capital ("Drive or Firm") was founded on a core belief: venture capital's coastal bias has left the vast middle of America - everything between the Hudson River and the Rocky Mountains - largely overlooked. Drive treats this region as an emerging market: underserved, undervalued, and ripe for disruption across large, traditional industries. This imbalance exists as a structural inefficiency and a durable competitive advantage for investors willing to commit to the region, which represents 80% of the US population and 74% of US GDP.
Deal sourcing is driven by both outbound and inbound strategies, anchored by the Firm's proprietary technology platform ("Herbie"). Built and maintained by a dedicated data science team, Herbie tracks over 400,000 companies and 100,000 founders - enabling the team to build market maps, develop sector theses, and monitor portfolio companies. To data, Herbie's algorithms have directly sourced 15 investments.
Complementing Herbie is Drive's seed program ("F4"), which maintains a physical presence near six major research universities in Atlanta, Austin, Boulder, Chicago, Columbus, and Toronto. These offices serve as incubators, offering early-stage founders workspace, community, and initial checks of $500,000. Roughly 15% of F4 companies go on to rec...
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