Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

What were the expectations of Cendana Capital Partner Kelli Fontaine when evaluating funds for Nano?

1 Feb 2023 · 1 min

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In this interview segment, Kelli Fontaine, a partner at Cendana Capital, explains the rationale and evaluation criteria behind the firm’s Nano Fund program, which targets venture funds with less than $15 million in assets. She argues that smaller funds have a higher probability of delivering outsized multiples because it’s mathematically easier to achieve large returns on a modest capital base. The Nano Fund operates as a pilot initiative, allocating roughly $1 million check sizes to early‑stage funds that align with Cendana’s thematic interests. Fontaine notes that while earlier pilots focused on larger, sector‑specific funds—such as fintech, deep‑tech, and Los Angeles‑focused funds—the Nano program expands the scope to include truly small funds, applying the same pilot‑style, low‑commitment approach to assess fit and performance potential.

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Along with your core program at Sendana, you recently initiated a Nano Fund program focused on investments in sub-$15 million funds. So what expectations and considerations are made when evaluating funds for the Nano Program specifically?
So the Nano Fund came about really because small funds have a higher probability of outperforming, and that's just simple math. It's much easier to get a multiple on a $10 million fund than a billion-dollar fund, right? So, you know, we have always had a pilot program, or since Fund 2, we started our pilot program, which is $1 million checks into groups we like. What we weren't doing though is we weren't doing a lot of the really small funds. The pilots were going to funds, you know, with fintech. Our first fintech fund was done as a pilot. Our first deep tech fund was done as a pilot. Our first LA fund was done as a pilot.