Transition Capital
Capital and strategic solutions for venture-backed companies and investors navigating the later stages of the venture lifecycle.
Many venture-backed companies mature into durable businesses that outlast the traditional venture capital model.
As companies mature, the objectives and time horizons of founders, management teams and existing investors can diverge. These companies often require a different type of investor—one focused on alignment, flexibility and strategic outcomes rather than another traditional venture financing.
Transition Capital addresses the financing and ownership transitions between traditional venture capital and strategic liquidity.
Vive invests capital and acquires ownership positions in mature venture-backed companies and venture portfolios, structuring transactions around the requirements of founders, boards, investors and lenders.
Vive combines decades of Silicon Valley venture investing, corporate finance and transactional experience to evaluate and execute complex transactions.
Tailored Transitions
Transition Capital is designed for companies and investors whose circumstances no longer fit traditional venture financings. Vive structures each investment around the company, its stakeholders and the strategic objective.
New Capital Partner
Not every existing investor can — or should — continue funding a company through its next stage. Vive provides new capital alongside management teams, boards and continuing investors to complete financing rounds, strengthen the shareholder base and support the company through its next strategic milestone.
New Equity Sponsor
As companies mature, existing venture investors may lose the economic incentive or organizational capacity to continue providing capital and leadership. Vive helps establish new sponsorship by aligning founders, boards and continuing stockholders and lenders around a common path toward value creation and strategic liquidity.
Fund End-of-Life Partner
Venture funds approaching the end of their lifecycle often retain a small number of mature portfolio companies, escrow interests or residual assets that delay an orderly fund wind-up. Vive is an experienced and discreet partner for acquiring these positions, providing liquidity and administrative finality for the fund while supporting the continued success of the underlying companies.
How Vive works
Transition investments succeed or fail on alignment and execution. Three principles shape every investment Vive makes.
Successful transition investments depend on aligned interests.
Vive works collaboratively with founders, management teams, boards, continuing investors and lenders to strengthen companies — not replace them — and preserve enterprise value while aligning stakeholders toward strategic liquidity.
Transition Capital transactions rarely resemble traditional venture financings.
Vive brings a broad transaction toolkit, including bridge financings, preferred equity investments, recapitalizations, structured investments, secondary transactions and venture fund end-of-life acquisitions. Each investment is tailored to the circumstances of the company and its stakeholders and the intended strategic outcome.
We start with the strategic objective, not another traditional venture financing.
Whether the goal is additional runway, a new equity sponsor, or an orderly fund wind-down, we structure around the needs of the company and stakeholders.
Jack Helfand
Jack Helfand founded Vive Venture Capital and leads its investment and transaction activities. He has more than three decades of experience across venture capital, corporate finance, securities law and mergers and acquisitions.
Before founding Vive, Jack was a partner at VantagePoint Venture Partners and general counsel at Everest Group and Thomas Weisel Partners. Jack began his career advising technology companies and investors on mergers and acquisitions at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. This combination of principal investing, corporate leadership and transaction experience informs Vive’s approach to complex financing, ownership and liquidity transitions.
Jordan Simkin
Jordan Simkin is a Venture Partner at Vive and an experienced technology entrepreneur and operator. Over more than 15 years, he has founded and scaled internet and software businesses and worked through the operating, financing and strategic challenges that arise as companies mature.
At Vive, Jordan contributes an operator’s perspective to investment evaluation and works with portfolio-company leadership on strategy, execution and value creation.
Senior Advisors
Neil Wolff
Neil Wolff has spent more than 30 years advising technology companies and their investors across thousands of completed transactions. He has served as General Counsel of VantagePoint Capital Partners since 2006, advising on the firm’s investments and its portfolio companies, and was previously a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
Glen Luinenburg
Glen Luinenburg is a corporate partner in the Palo Alto office of Pillsbury, where he represents technology companies, venture capital firms and investment banks. For more than 25 years he has advised companies at every stage of development, from venture financings and corporate governance matters through public offerings and multibillion-dollar acquisitions.
Ryan Simkin
Ryan Simkin is a Managing Director and co-founder of Fortis Advisors, now a PNC company, where he leads client engagements from initial inquiry through the post-closing period, including indemnification claims and earnout disputes. He was previously a senior attorney at DLA Piper and Foley & Lardner, representing venture-backed companies on the sell side of M&A transactions.
The network behind Vive
Vive is backed by venture capital general partners, founders and operating executives who have spent their careers inside the venture ecosystem. Many have led firms, built companies and navigated the same transitions Vive invests in. That experience is available to every company Vive works with, through introductions, market insight, transaction judgment and direct operating support.
Start a confidential conversation
Who should contact Vive?
Vive welcomes confidential discussions regarding new investments and Transition Capital opportunities — whether the objective is new capital, new sponsorship, strategic liquidity transactions or an orderly venture capital fund wind-up.
- Venture-backed management teams
- Boards of directors
- Venture capital firms
- Venture funds approaching end of lifecycle
- Venture lenders
- Investment banks and transaction advisors