Sidecar funds primer: Learning about sidecars

A few weeks ago, someone asked us where they could find good educational materials about angel group sidecar funds. Our answer was:

So we got to work, and last week we and Venture Carolina held a lunch and learn about sidecar funds.

A big virtual crowd joined us – both VentureSouth members and others from across our region interested in learning more.

But as there little educational material available on sidecar funds, we decided to turn the workshop into a blog primer.

As we set off, a quick recap of our earlier series of posts about the different angel investing methods. There are several ways to be an angel investor, from the lone wolf, to the angel group, to the online platform. Obviously, around here we think our model (of network of angel membership groups, run by a professional team, whose members meet in person to invest their own capital in early stage companies across the southeast) has a good balance of advantages to disadvantages; but there are lots of successful efforts on all the established models – and plenty of information on them all.

Sidecar funds, in contrast, are relatively overlooked. Over the next few posts, we’ll explore what sidecar funds are, how they work, and what to consider when evaluating them. Buckle up!

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