Interview
20VC Exclusive: Mercury Founder Launches First $26M Fund with Immad Akhund
- Plans to close a new institutional fund with $26 million already raised, expecting to invest in five or six companies within the first two weeks of closing.
- Aims to scale the portfolio to incubate ideas or expand beyond the initial 60-company target, potentially writing the largest seed-stage checks or investing in 150 companies per fund.
- Expects deal flow to improve through continued active angel investing and anticipates increased difficulty for the "middle" venture market segment in paying higher prices.
- Predicts AI will enhance Airtable's position, potentially reaching a $50 billion valuation over 15 years, while revenue from labor replacement tools may compress to 1/10th or 1/20th of labor costs due to competition.
- Foresees the current "flashlight slash fart apps" AI era settling into defensibility comparable to SaaS leaders like HubSpot and Salesforce, with advancements occurring within the next five years.
- Anticipates engineering teams will grow in five years as productivity gains unlock ambition rather than reduce headcount, and expects most competitive landscapes to follow historical SaaS growth principles.
- Notes the current Mercury corporate credit card is dominant among customers and predicts banking and financial software will become a fully integrated single market within 10 years due to banks building their own software.
- Seeks to speak with three to four entrepreneurs weekly to provide support, leveraging a fundraising process that required only three weeks for core allocations.
- Expects multi-stage funds to likely IPO and go public in the next five to ten years, driven by more capital flowing into venture spaces as companies approach trillion-dollar valuations.
- Projects structural public market issues will delay IPOs until companies achieve at least a $10 billion valuation, though secondary market liquidity is expected to remain strong.
- Identifies a global opportunity for an integrated banking and financial software model that will persist as the market evolves.