AVG Exits JUMP Bikes

The JUMP Bikes opportunity checked a lot of boxes for us. We saw a world-class management team, a large and growing bike-share market, demonstrated traction, a top co-investor, and a promising partnership with Uber—which looked like a potential acquirer.

The JUMP deal was led by AVG’s fund The Yard Ventures (for Harvard alumni), with participation from our Total Access Fund.

Relationships and an efficient investment process were AVG’s two greatest advantages in making the deal happen: We got access to the deal through a relationship with one of our Harvard alumni connections on the C-level team at JUMP. We managed a short deadline and small investment window through our team hustling to complete vetting and due diligence in just 10 days—working over Thanksgiving.

The upshot: We invested in JUMP Bikes in 2017. Six months later, JUMP was acquired by Uber in 2018 at a publicly reported price of $200M through a mixture of cash and Uber stock. Once Uber’s post-IPO lock-up period expired, AVG was able to sell its non-escrowed Uber holdings for a strong return for our investors.

Two Takeaways

• No individual investor could have gained access to this opportunity alone. We used the power of our network and our honed processes to get into the deal.
• We play the long game in venture investing, as our funds have 10-year terms. This early win, only two years into The Yard Ventures Fund 2, defies the common wisdom in VC that “your lemons ripen first.” That’s reason to celebrate—and to congratulate JUMP Bikes, the Yard team, our investors, and the AVG community.

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