Venture Glossary

Carried Interest, also known as “the Carry” and “the Promote” is typically the return to the managers or general partners of a fund. In the context of a venture capital fund, a typical carried interest is 20% with a catch-up provision. What this means is that once the investors’ capital is returned, plus any preferred returns (usually 8-10%), the fund manager then gets all distributable funds until the total distributions are split 80/20 between the investors and managers. Once this hurdle is cleared, funds are typically distributed 80/20 thereafter, meaning for each dollar distributed $.80 goes to the investors and $.20 goes to the managers. The concept of a carry exists in all kinds of fund structures – private equity, real estate, hedge funds – and can vary greatly.