vintage year

Definition

The year a venture capital fund closes and begins making investments, used to compare fund performance across similar time periods. It's like birth year for wine or funds—context that matters for quality assessment.

Example Usage

Our 2015 vintage fund is performing in the top quartile compared to other funds from that year.

Origin

Borrowed from wine terminology, adopted by private equity and venture capital in the 1980s.

Fun Fact

Vintage year matters enormously because market conditions vary dramatically; a 2007 vintage fund (pre-financial crisis) faced very different conditions than a 2009 vintage (recovery period).

Source: Cambridge Associates and PitchBook venture capital benchmarking methodologies

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