Drive Capital announces $750 million strategic investment, new minority owner
Photo: Drive Capital
Columbus-based Drive Capital has announced a strategic investment of at least $750 million in future fund commitments while also selling a minority stake in its management company.
Drive says the commitment by Collective Global and Collective Global Asset Owners will advance its ability to invest in world-class technology companies across its target market in the “Driveway”, a $12 trillion region in North America between the Hudson River and the Rocky Mountains.
New York-based Collective Global is jointly owned by leading asset owners alongside a management team led by co-CEOs Sheel Tyle and Daniel Adamson. The collective, backed by a coalition of California and UK pension funds, creates strategic partnerships with venture managers and founders, serving as a bridge between the innovation economy and sophisticated institutional investors. Drive represents the first venture firm to debut Collective Global’s venture strategy, introduced in November 2023.
Collective Global started with $1 billion in assets under management. The amount of its stake in management company Drive Capital LLC was not disclosed.
What it Means to Ohio
The investment by Collective Global comes as Drive expands on its commitment to underserved regions across the U.S. Drive in 2022 announced two new funds totaling $1 billion and last year launched an $80 million seed program to support up to 160 early-stage founders. Founded in 2012 with a $250 million inaugural fund, Drive has grown to a seed-through-IPO platform with $2 billion in assets under management and portfolio successes including Duolingo and Columbus companies like Forge Biologics and Root Insurance.
Drive, which is the largest VC firm in the Midwest with $2.2 billion under management, touts the partnership as unprecedented.
"I’ve never heard of anyone approaching a venture firm with such a massive commitment,” Drive Co-Founder and Partner Chris Olsen told Columbus Business First. “We view it as a validation."
What They’re Saying
“Our partnership with Collective Global is a natural one because we share an obsession with building toward long-term, repeatable outcomes. With the backing of Collective’s premier asset owner institutions, Drive is fundamentally transformed in our ability to support founders as they pursue industry-defining and world-changing innovations from all corners of the U.S.”
- Chris Olsen, Drive Capital Co-Founder and Partner
“Collective Global creates a unique, strategic opportunity for asset owners to partner with the world’s next generation of great venture capital firms. We believe Drive Capital is a prime example of this, as demonstrated by the top-quartile performance of their latest funds, on a DPI basis. It is clear to us that Drive Capital is well suited for the future.”
- Daniel Adamson, Founder and Co-CEO, Collective Global
