About This Fund
CRV (formerly Charles River Ventures) is one of the world's oldest active venture capital firms, backing technology founders continuously since 1970. The CRV 20th Flagship Fund is the firm's twentieth primary fund vehicle, raised at $750 million and formally closed in August 2025. The fund represents a deliberate downsize relative to CRV's prior $1 billion flagship, reflecting the firm's conviction that early-stage returns compress at scale. Notably, CRV returned $275 million of unallocated capital from its prior $500 million Select late-stage vehicle before beginning the new raise, signaling a full refocus on early-stage opportunity and meaningful ownership in each portfolio company.
The fund invests exclusively at the seed and Series A stages in the United States, organized around two founding themes: consumer companies and developer tools (devtools). These verticals distill CRV's observed edge over five decades: the firm has backed consumer-first breakouts including DoorDash and Mercury, and developer tooling leaders including Vercel and CodeRabbit. CRV leads rounds rather than following, with a stated commitment to deliver term sheets within 24 hours of meeting a founding team. No companion late-stage vehicle is being raised alongside this fund, ensuring portfolio focus and maximum ownership depth at entry.
The CRV 20th Flagship Fund raised commitments from a deep institutional LP base in approximately four weeks, with investor demand reported at double the $750 million hard cap — an unusually fast close pace for a fund of this size. Since 1970, CRV has backed over 750 startups, of which at least 80 have gone public. The fund entered an active Investing phase immediately following its August 2025 close and will deploy capital over a standard 3 to 4 year investment period into seed and Series A companies primarily in the United States technology ecosystem.