• Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn As a venture partner withTTV Capital,Mike Hurstsaw the liquidity challenge firsthand after the tech market reset in 2022. • VCs were hesitant to call capital and were not actively investing at a time when valuations had reset, he recalls. • Founders with “excellent products and progress” were struggling to raise funds to finish the job. • Further, limited partners were suffering from the “denominator effect,” in which their public market accounts and real estate shrank in value, so their venture investments represented a higher percentage of wealth than they intended. • Around that timeframe, venture secondary sales started to require significant discounts, making secondaries a less appealing option for investors who could hold. • So Hurst teamed up withPeter Andes,Rob FreelenandKaare Wagnerto found and buildTurbine Financeto provide margin line-style lending to LPs and GPs who wanted to continue investing in venture “without sourcing an endless stream of capital from outside sources.” The Santa Monica, California-based firm’s goal is to provide venture capital and private equity firms with early liquidity options for their investors.

Article Summaries:

  • Beyond Secondaries: Turbine Wants To Unlock Liquidity For Venture LPs

After the 2022 tech market reset, venture capitalists struggled to call capital, and limited partners faced a “denominator effect” that pushed their venture stakes to a higher share of wealth. Secondaries became unattractive due to steep discounts and complex sales. In response, Mike Hurst and partners founded Turbine Finance, a Santa Monica‑based firm that offers margin‑line‑style lending to LPs and GPs, enabling continued investment without sourcing new capital. Turbine closed a seed round in early 2023, launched publicly in April 2025 with a $100 million warehouse credit line from Silicon Valley Bank, and has underwritten about 60 funds, with a pipeline exceeding $500 billion in assets under management.

  • Turbine Finance, founded by Mike Hurst and partners, aims to give venture capital and private‑equity firms early liquidity options for limited partners (LPs) without relying on traditional secondary sales. The Santa Monica‑based firm launched publicly in April 2025 after securing a $100 million warehouse credit line from Silicon Valley Bank, following a seed round in early 2023. To date, Turbine has underwritten roughly 60 funds and has a pipeline of more than 160 firms representing over $500 billion in assets under management. Hurst explains that LPs seek alternatives because secondary sales are complex, heavily discounted, and often involve significant fees and tax consequences.

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