OpenView Venture Partners, a Boston-based venture capital firm that has backed enterprise software firms such as Calendly and Expensify, laid off most of its staff and will no longer make new investments, leaders told staff Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
The sudden fall of the firm, which employed at least 74 people and had raised a total of $2.4 billion, could be a sign of rising pressure on VC firms to generate returns in an era of higher interest rates. Its 2020 fund has lost money on paper, according to documents seen by The Information. And in a memo sent to startups it has backed, it said that “after extensive discussion and evaluation, the partners do not have confidence in the ability to deliver on our commitment” to its most recent fund, and it will enter a “voluntary suspension period” for the fund.