I love hearing company origin stories. It’s always interesting to hear what led someone to start a company. I’ve started asking for the origin stories of younger VC funds too. Emerging managers are founders too, and going from zero to one with a fund can be difficult. I love hearing why they made the leap. I recently heard a VC fund origin story that was different than any I’d heard before.

Venture capital and its outsize financial rewards have been known in areas like San Francisco for decades. A founder from another country was able to take his start-up public and reap a massive windfall for himself and his investors. This hometown story caught the attention of founders and investors in his native country, who wanted to know how they could support the next local founder who’d have breakout success.

A multifamily office in that country was repeatedly getting asked by the families it managed wealth for if it could find some early-stage investment opportunities. Its leaders realized there was no venture capital in the country and decided to start the first venture fund there. They settled on a hybrid strategy of investing in other venture capital funds and making direct investments in start-ups.

Fast forward a few years, and they’ve raised a few funds and had one of their seed-stage start-up investments go public. The fund managers are happy, as are the founders they backed and the limited partners who invested in their fund.

What an interesting origin story.