October 28, 2026

Venture Capital Vintage 2012: A High-Level Performance Read

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Data sourced from Dakota Private Markets, the private fund performance platform powered by Dakota. Learn More | Request Access

The median vintage 2012 venture capital fund in Dakota's data posts a 12.9% net IRR, and every fund that reports DPI has already returned more than its paid-in capital: the lowest is 1.19x and the median is 1.39x, 14 years after the vintage year. That is the bar allocators now hold venture managers to, and most recent vintages are nowhere near it.

Vintage 2012 by the numbers

The median vintage 2012 venture fund sits at a 12.9% net IRR, a 1.90x TVPI and a 1.39x DPI. The most notable feature is the floor: the weakest fund in the sample still posts a 6.9% net IRR and a 1.48x TVPI.

Steady, not spectacular

Vintage 2012 did not produce the headline winners of its neighbors. Across vintages 2009 through 2015, it has the lowest median net IRR (12.9%, versus 14.6% to 19.7% for the other six) and the lowest median TVPI (1.90x, versus 2.17x to 3.39x).

The top end shows the difference. The 90th percentile TVPI for 2012 is 4.24x, versus 7.17x for 2011, where a single fund reached 23.78x. But 2011 also carried the losers: its weakest fund shows a 0.64x TVPI and a negative 42.1% net IRR. Vintage 2012 had a lower ceiling and a much higher floor.

That tight distribution is the useful part. Across 7 funds, the gap between the 10th and 90th percentile net IRR is 27 points, and no fund in the sample is underwater.

What it means for today's fundraise

The first lesson is that allocators are underwriting DPI, and the gap between old and new vintages is wide. Vintage 2012 shows a 1.39x median DPI. Vintage 2019 shows 0.30x, vintage 2021 shows 0.68x, and vintage 2022 shows 0.10x. Much of the value in recent vintages is still on paper, so investment firms that can show realizations will stand out.

The second is patience. The 2012 results are measured 14 years in, and they describe a vintage that is only now fully mature. Managers pitching a fund with a few years of history should be ready to explain their path to distributions, not only their marked TVPI.

The third is consistency. Vintage 2011 had the bigger outliers, and vintage 2012 had the cleaner floor. Which profile an allocator prefers depends on the portfolio it already holds.

Dakota Private Markets

Dakota Private Markets gives allocators and GPs fund-level performance data (Net IRR, TVPI, DPI, RVPI) benchmarked at the strategy, sub-strategy, and vintage-year level, so lower middle market managers can be compared against true peers rather than the asset class as a whole.

Request Access to Dakota Private Markets.

Written By: Sammy Wilson, Investment Research Associate

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Venture Capital Vintage 2012: A High-Level Performance Read

Vintage 2012 by the numbers

Steady, not spectacular

What it means for today's fundraise

Dakota Private Markets

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