Picture a venture firm. You probably imagine a team of partners, a Monday meeting, associates screening decks and an investment committee that votes. For a growing share of the funds writing first checks, none of that exists. The firm is one person.
Let’s look at the numbers behind that shift, two investors who chose it, and what it means for GPs raising small funds and for founders looking for a first check.
The Middle of Venture Is Emptying Out
The Q3 2026 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor (October 2026; data through September 30) shows fund sizes pulling apart:
- The median US VC fund size fell to $10 million, extending “its five-year run of consecutive annual declines.”
- The average fund size rose 87.2% year over year to $165.4 million, the second-highest level in a decade.
- Funds of $100M–$500M fell to just 10% of funds closed, down from roughly 17% in the years before 2021, “the lowest in our dataset.”
PitchBook’s explanation: managers are “either scaling up into the multistage, megafund tier or staying small and specialized at the pre-seed/seed stage.” Midsize firms are “too large to compete on speed and flexibility with the smallest seed funds, and too small to write the check sizes AI-native companies now command.”
LP money is following the big end. Carta’s VC Fund Performance: Q2 2026 report (September 23) found that in 2025, 64% of capital raised by VC funds on Carta went to funds with more than $100 million under management, up from 38% in 2017.
The Small End Is Increasingly One Person
VC Lab’s August 30 report looks at managers forming funds now, across 20 cohorts, 950+ firms and 90+ countries:
- 61% of VC Lab’s forming managers are solo GPs.
- 85% invest at pre-seed or seed.
- Generalist funds fell from 22% of new funds in 2020 to 5% in Q1 2026.
- Managers under 40 rose to 38%, up from 25%.
That’s VC Lab’s own population, not a count of every fund. There’s no market-wide tally of solo GPs. But it shows who is lining up to write the earliest checks: one person, focused on a niche.
The LP side looks similar. Per VC Lab, roughly 90% of emerging-manager commitments go to funds under $15 million, at an average LP check of $159K.
Angels are moving the same way. Angel Capital Association groups reported $491.3 million invested in 2025, up 12% from $437 million in 2024 (ACA, July 13), and they “are writing larger checks while funding fewer companies.”
Two Solo GPs, Two Stages of the Journey
Eileen Burbidge: Back to the First Check
Burbidge co-founded Passion Capital in 2011, an early backer of Monzo and GoCardless. On September 17, Pathfounders reported she’s returned as a solo GP with NFG, a first-check fund targeting about £20 million, possibly up to about £30 million. She has held a first close backed by UK firm Thema and a Singapore-based family office, and has started signing term sheets.
Her thesis: “being the first check, being very early,” often “alongside friends, family and angels,” before larger institutions arrive. On going solo: “I do want to be able to therefore behave like an angel would,” with “a bit more of a meaningful cheque.” She calls herself “100% founder-led.”
Matt Cheng: Ten Years as a Solo GP
Cheng founded Cherubic Ventures in Taipei in 2015 and runs it as a solo GP. On September 1, he announced Fund VI at $68.88 million, which takes assets under management across six funds past $500 million. He’s backed 200+ companies, including early stakes in Hims & Hers, Flexport, Calm and Astranis. Separately, Cheng says Fund VI’s portfolio has already drawn more than $500 million in follow-on funding.
On why he works alone: “so I could judge independently, decide quickly, and be there early when I truly believe in a founder… I don’t wait for an investment committee.” On sourcing: “some of my most important investments have grown out of relationships built over years.”
New firms keep arriving at the small end, too. On September 21, Sifted reported that Project Ventures, founded by solo GP Shahryar Barati, hit a £1.2 million first close to back pre-seed and seed AI and deeptech startups with ties to Imperial College London.
A note of realism: no verified data shows solo GPs outperform larger firms. The appeal is speed, focus and relationships, not proven returns.
What This Means If You’re Raising a Fund
- Small is normal now. A focused $10M–$25M fund sits where most new funds are, and where most emerging-manager LP checks actually go.
- Budget for the relationship load. In VC Lab’s worked example, a $10 million fund at the $159K average check means about 63 LPs to source, close and report to for ten years.
- Your network is your whole firm. VC Lab warns that a solo GP’s “sourcing is capped by one network,” and that it “bites in year three.” Build co-investor relationships, scouts and referral sources before you need them.
- Map before you pitch. Find who in your extended network has already written checks into small funds, then ask for introductions.
What This Means If You’re Raising a Round
- Pitch the person. Read what they’ve written and learn who they’ve backed. There’s no committee to win over, and no one else to change their mind if they pass.
- Reach them through people they trust. Burbidge invests next to “friends, family and angels.” Cheng’s best deals grew from long relationships.
- Plan the path past the missing middle. With midsize funds at about 10% of closes, find out early which larger funds your first backers have co-invested with.
The Firm Is a Network
When the early check comes from one person, the old ways in disappear. What’s left is that person’s network: the co-investors they trust, the founders they’ve backed and the angels they invest alongside. The same is true for a GP raising from dozens of LPs.
Much of that web is public. Form D filings name a fund’s related persons, Form ADV shows advisers and their funds, and IRS 990s and business registries show shared boards and companies. ConnectLab.live maps those paths, so you can see who already knows a solo GP or an LP before you reach out.
Connection is the currency of the 21st Century, and it runs both ways. Solo GPs need great founders and loyal LPs as much as those founders and LPs need them.
If your firm is just you, what are you doing this quarter to make your network bigger than it was last quarter?
If you’d like help with that, here’s an open invitation:
- Fund managers: Click here to claim your fund on ConnectLab, so founders and co-investors can find you.
- Founders: sign up for ConnectLab’s connection system for founders at https://connectlab.live/founder
All the best,
Ken McArthur
Best-Selling Author and Producer