20VC Exclusive: Mercury Founder Launches First $26M Fund with Immad Akhund

Immad Akhund is the CEO of Mercury. Launched in 2019, Mercury has raised $500M in funding from Sequoia, Coatue, CRV, Andreessen Horowitz and others. He is a former part-time partner at Y Combinator and is an active angel investor, with more than 350 investments in startups including Rippling, AirTable, Rappi, Applied Intuition, and Substack. ---------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 00:53 Exclusive News: New Fund Announcement 01:49 Lessons from 350 Angel Investments 07:26 How Sequoia Came to Lead the Series C for Mercury 12:51 Biggest Wins and Misses in Angel Investing 33:09 Why Move From Angel to VC 38:52 AI Investments: Overhyped or Worthwhile? 48:52 Is It Wrong For Founders to Also Have Funds with LP Capital? 51:54 Raising a First Time Fund: Challenges & Surprises 53:56 The Future of Venture Capital 59:31 Quick-Fire Questions & Reflections ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on X: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Immad Akhund on X: https://twitter.com/immad Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #immadakhund #ceo #mercury #banking #founder #ai #vc #sequoia #investing #startup