A vintage year benchmark groups venture funds by the year they started investing and ranks their returns against peers from the same cycle.

How it works

When a fund holds its first close in 2019 and begins deploying, its vintage is typically 2019. Data providers aggregate IRR, TVPI, and DPI for all 2019-vintage US venture funds (or relevant geography/strategy).

LPs compare:

• Median vs fund — are you above average for your vintage?
• Quartile rank — top quartile fundraising narratives rely on this
• DPI maturity — young vintages show paper marks; older vintues show real distributions

Macro matters: 2012-vintage funds rode a long bull market; 2021 vintages faced sharp public market corrections and slower exits. Absolute returns without vintage context mislead.

Benchmarks lag — private marks update slowly. GPs and LPs supplement with peer references and public comparables for recent vintages.

Founders rarely cite vintage benchmarks directly, but fund behavior (follow-on appetite, reserve strategy) shifts when a vintage is underwater vs outperforming.

Why it matters

• Founders: Funds raising Fund III in a strong vintage may compete aggressively for deals; weak vintages may pull back or push portfolio companies to exit sooner.
• Investors / LPs: Allocation decisions use vintage-relative performance, not headline IRR alone. Re-up commitments depend on quartile placement within the same year cohort.

Common mistake

Comparing a 2018 fund’s current TVPI to a 2022 fund’s — different exit windows, mark policies, and deployment pacing make the comparison meaningless.

Related ideas

See also benchmark, TVPI, DPI, and XIRR.