In Writing & Letters | Written by Daniel Scrivner
Today, I’m excited to officially introduce Arcadea.
Arcadea is a new type of investment firm.
In private markets, we invest in early-stage venture capital — primarily Seed and Series A stage companies. To date we’ve invested in more than 100 including Palantir, Robinhood, Bridge, Notion, Anduril, Gecko, and CHEF.
In public markets, we invest in equities in global equities. At any given time, we hold 300+ securities trading in 10+ different currencies on 15 exchanges around the world. We run our own proprietary strategies focused around themes and trends we identify, develop, and track. These range from investing in companies with rich heritage that own the market they compete in; and investing in the best founder-led technology companies.
Over the last 8 years we’ve worked tirelessly to build the firm we wanted. One that:
Believes in the incredible power of entrepreneurship to change the world for the better.
Provides risk-on capital to ambitious founders at the earliest stages — when their ideas are far from consensus.
Invests long-term capital into the best companies around the world across public and private markets, throught the lens of durable long-term themes and short-to-medium term trends. (We’re invested in both AI beneficiaries and 100+ year old luxury brands.)
Brings a deep understanding of frontier technologies, 0-1 invention, and hyper-scaling to public markets from our experience in early-stage private markets.
And, vice verse brings a deep sense of operational excellence to our early-stage investing from our experience in mature public markets.
Founds and scales platforms like Ligature and Primal Funds.
Our goal from Day 01 was to build a highly idiosyncratic firm that’s unafraid to think and act differently. Which stems from a deep belief that creating differentiated alpha, and ultimately higher returns over time, comes from a differentiated approach.
Which is why we invest in early-stage private markets and global public markets. It’s why we’re unafraid to be both highly diversified and extremely concentrated. Ultimately, with each investment, we’re investing in passionate founders and owners operating at all stages and in many different geographies. We’re all-in on entrepreneurship.
Our goal from Day 01 was to build a highly idiosyncratic firm that’s unafraid to think and act differently. Which stems from a deep belief that creating differentiated alpha, and ultimately higher returns over time, comes from a differentiated approach.
Which is why we invest in early-stage private markets and global public markets. It’s why we’re unafraid to be both highly diversified and extremely concentrated. Ultimately, with each investment, we’re investing in passionate founders and owners operating at all stages and in many different geographies. We’re all-in on entrepreneurship.
We believe we’ve laid a strong foundation over the last 9 years. We think our returns speak for themselves, with an IRR for that period of 53.8%.
But I’m most proud of all fucks up, missteps, and bad decisions. Not because we made them — we’re certainly don’t take pride in them. But because we’ve rubbed our noses in them, took the time to reflect on them, and most importantly put systems in place to ensure we don’t make them again.
We’ve made a lot of progress toward our mission and goals over the last 9 years. Our goal now is to relentlessly improve what we do. To invest more in the core of what we do, to sharpen our approach, stay consistent and disciplined. Day after day.
The report that follows covers the progress we’ve made building Arcadea. As well as the hard lessons we’ve learned over the last 9 years. We’re sharing it in the hopes that other people will find it useful.
Gradatim ferociter,
Daniel Scrivner
Founder & CEO
Download the letter
Founder Letter (2016 – 2024)
Written by Daniel Scrivner
Arcade Group and its directors may personally hold assets discussed in this essay. This essay is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
This is not an offer to sell or a solicitation to invest. Under no circumstances does the information contained within represent a recommendation to buy, hold or sell any security, and it should not be assumed that the securities transactions or holdings discussed were or will prove to be profitable.
No part of this material may be copied, photocopied, or duplicated in any form, by any means, or redistributed without Arcade Group's prior written consent.
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