Fundraising in a Freeze: Jenny Fielding on Waiting Out the Venture Slowdown
Stock market swings, global uncertainty, and a prolonged drought in startup exits have put venture capital in a holding pattern—and Jenny Fielding, co-Founder and Managing Partner of Everywhere Ventures, is among those choosing patience over pressure.
In a recent Wall Street Journal piece exploring how public market turmoil has rattled the venture ecosystem, the Everywhere Ventures co-founder and managing partner shared why her team hit pause on fundraising for their next fund, originally scheduled to kick off April 1.
“We raise mostly from individuals and they just saw their portfolios decline,” Fielding told the Journal. “It’s hard to ask for money right now.”
Everywhere Ventures, known for backing early-stage startups globally, isn’t facing an immediate capital crunch. Their current fund still has lots of dry powder. But with limited partners feeling the sting of market downturns, timing a new raise felt premature. “I hoped a couple of portfolio companies would go public this year,” Fielding said. “But that is now unlikely.”
And she’s not alone. Across the board, firms are delaying raises, public listings are being shelved, and acquisition deals are falling apart. Klarna, StubHub, and others have postponed IPO plans. M&A activity is slowing, too, with attorneys like Larry Naughton of Mintz Levin citing tariffs and market volatility as key reasons deals are falling through. “Clients pointed to the tariff situation as making the climate non-investable,” he said.
This climate isn’t just spooking VCs—it’s chilling entrepreneurs, too. The CEO of a generative AI startup in Canada told the WSJ that his team is now rethinking their planned $30M raise due to fears around valuation drops and negative sentiment. Waiting has its own risks, including slowing growth, but in this environment, it might be the safer bet.
According to Atul Rustgi of Accolade Partners, the venture market is stuck in what he called a “three-year drought” with no immediate end in sight. “Make it four. We could be in a five-, six-, or seven-year drought,” he said.
Despite the gloom, some believe early-stage and AI-focused funds may be insulated, at least in the short term. Maria Palma of Freestyle Capital acknowledged that “everyone was getting excited in anticipation of a better IPO and exit market,” but the trade war and market turbulence have reintroduced instability at the worst possible moment.
For younger firms and those reliant on individual LPs, like Everywhere Ventures, the implications are clear: don’t force a raise into an unfavorable climate. Fielding’s decision to wait reflects a broader wisdom being echoed across the VC world—sometimes the strongest move is knowing when not to move.
Read more on Wall Street Journal
Listen to Joe Essenfeld chat with Jenny Fielding on the Venture Everywhere Podcast: Fora for Thought. Now on Apple & Spotify and check out all our past episodes here.
