Starts CrunchFund
Arrington starts the fund with $20 million. He will run it with Gallagher and Siegler. Arrington:
I don’t claim to be a journalist. I hold myself to higher standards of transparency and disclosure.
He will take a reduced role at TechCrunch but continue to report to Huffington. Investments will be disclosed on the blog. AOL is putting about $10 million into the fund. Armstrong:
We have a traditional understanding of journalism with the exception of TechCrunch, which is different but is transparent about it.
Earns 20%-30% from over 80 investments
The fund has deployed just over half its capital, and the internal rate of return (IRR) is 20%-30%. It is reported to be in the very early stage of pre-marketing for a second fund, having reached out to just a few of its 61 limited partners, including AOL. Armstrong is due to sit down with Gallagher later in the month.