Ex-Twitter execs secure $134M in new VC fund

Two former social media executives have been working on moving from the boardroom to fintech.

Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and ex-COO Adam Bain teamed up to launch a consulting and investment firm, called 01 Advisors, and are quickly raising venture capital for future investments. The inaugural fund, called 01 Advisors 01, secured $134.7 million this week and is aiming for a total of $200 million, according to SEC filings. The news was first reported by Axios.

The duo has been active in venture capital investing since departing the social media giant. After leaving Twitter in 2015, Costolo joined the investment firm Index Ventures as a partner. Bain also left Twitter in 2015 and invested in companies like Reddit, Tonal and Lyric, according to LinkedIn.

A spokeswoman for 01 Advisors declined to comment.

Twitter stock symbol
A monitor displays Twitter Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. U.S. stocks fell as losses in energy and industrial shares offset gains in defensive industries, as investors weighed a tweet from President Donald Trump mentioning a "very major" border tax. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Former Twitter investor relations executive David Rivinus is also a partner at 01 Advisors, according to a LinkedIn profile, although he is not listed in the SEC filings.

Costolo and Bain wouldn't be the first prominent executives to make the jump to the venture space. Former LPL CEO Mark Casady and his business partner David Blundin invested $5 million in Vestigo Ventures, a fund that invests in wealth management startups, especially those focused on blockchain and big data.

Vestigo, which closed at $60 million in 2018, has invested in a handful of companies so far, including LifeYield, Digital Assets Data and Vestmark, according to company data.

While it is not immediately clear which sectors the 01 Advisor fund will focus on, it will certainly enter a crowded marketplace. Venture capital funding for fintechs got off to a hot start this year, with early-stage companies raising millions of dollars in late March and April. While funding slipped in the first quarter of 2019, the number of deals ticked up 4% quarter-over-quarter, according to CB Insights Global Fintech report.

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