Venture fundsFund closes, LPs & managers
RedBlue Capital's Olaf Sakkers holds first close on Fund II, targeting at least $50M amid emerging-manager squeeze
RedBlue's Olaf Sakkers has held a first close on a second fund he expects to reach at least $50 million, citing a $5 million debut fund whose strong returns rest largely on paper markups, as first-time managers face their toughest fundraising market in years.
From the TechCrunch · Venture article of November 11, 2026 and cited sources: RedBlue's roughly $5 million first fund, closed in 2023, reports a net IRR well above 50% with 15 of 28 investments marked up. [1]
SOURCES[1] Olaf Sakkers is betting he can beat the emerging-manager… techcrunch.com
AT Pulse research deskPublished · Updated · 5 min read · AI-assisted analysisAI-assisted, not human-edited. Methodology Corrections Who owns this site
- What happened
- RedBlue's roughly $5 million first fund, closed in 2023, reports a net IRR well above 50% with 15 of 28 investments marked up. [1]
- Original source
- TechCrunch · Venture article, independent perspective
- Brief by
- AT Pulse research desk AI-assisted; publisher and contact on the desk page
- When
- November 11, 2026 article published
- Covered
- Nov 13 edition
- Evidence
- 12 sources across 11 sites
- 1Olaf Sakkers is betting he can beat the emerging-manager…techcrunch.com
- 2VC Sheet: RedBluevcsheet.com
- 3FreightWaves: HappyRobot Series Cfreightwaves.com
- 4Q3 2026 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitornvca.org
- 5FreightWaves: Humble Robotics $51Mfreightwaves.com
- 6Pulse.bot: Humble $24M seed led by Eclipsepulse.bot
Reach: not measured yet
RedBlue's roughly $5 million first fund, closed in 2023, reports a net IRR well above 50% with 15 of 28 investments marked up. These figures are self-reported and unaudited. The only exit so far is an acqui-hire, so the performance depends mainly on markups set by other investors' later rounds. [1]
Later rounds at portfolio companies point to strong deal access. HappyRobot raised a $150M Series C at a $1.2B post-money valuation. Humble Robotics, where RedBlue joined an Eclipse-led seed, later raised a $51M Series A led by Obvious Ventures. None of this shows realized returns. [3] [5] [6]
The fundraising climate is harsh for new managers. Through Q3 2026, 81 first-time funds raised $4.9B, or 4.5% of US VC dollars, while fourth-plus funds took 88.2%. Emerging firms closing a fund fell from 927 in 2022 to 211. Carta data shows small funds beating large ones only at the top percentiles, which reflects how widely small-fund results vary. [4] [11] [12]
With one full-time principal, Sakkers says he built a relationship database with Claude Code that logs contacts, meeting notes and introductions so the team can work asynchronously and AI agents have written context. The model version, schema and any measured results are not disclosed. [1]
capital is concentrating in established firms, and small-fund outperformance appears only at top percentiles.
Read the full assessment
Implication: LPs backing RedBlue are underwriting deal access and markups rather than cash returns, and US emerging managers should plan for longer raises.
Executive brief
RedBlue Capital founder Olaf Sakkers told TechCrunch that his roughly $5 million first fund has a net IRR "significantly above 50%." Almost none of that is cash yet. The fund has had one exit, an acqui-hire, and the rest of the gains are paper markups. Sakkers has held a first close on a second fund that he says will reach at least $50 million. He's raising it in what PitchBook projects will be the worst year for first-time managers in at least a decade. No filing or independent report in the reviewed sources confirms the Fund II figures.
What changed and event timeline
RedBlue founded
Sakkers left Maniv Mobility, where he says he had become an equal economic partner, to start RedBlue. lists Prescott Watson, also ex-Maniv, as a co-founder.
Fund I closes
The first fund closed with about $5 million in commitments, mostly from family offices Sakkers already knew. The amount is self-reported in.
HappyRobot becomes a unicorn
HappyRobot, an early RedBlue holding, announced a $150M Series C at a $1.2B post-money valuation. Prysm Capital led and Eurazeo co-led (). The company announced the valuation itself.
PitchBook data shows the squeeze
According to the, 81 first-time funds raised $4.9B, or 4.5% of US VC dollars. Firms on their fourth fund or later took 88.2%.
Humble Robotics raises a Series A
The company raised $51M, led by Obvious Ventures, bringing total funding to $75M ().
Fund II first close reported
Sakkers tells that Fund II will be at least $50M. The source is the GP; no Form D or independent report appears in the reviewed sources.
Capabilities and access
- Strategy: RedBlue invests in "real economy" companies: robotics, logistics, manufacturing and energy (TechCrunch).
- Checks: $50K–$100K, mostly following other investors' leads. VC Sheet lists a typical check of about $625K, which doesn't match.
- Fund II adds institutions, which are not named.
Read the full section
- Strategy: RedBlue invests in "real economy" companies: robotics, logistics, manufacturing and energy (TechCrunch).
- Checks: $50K–$100K, mostly following other investors' leads. VC Sheet lists a typical check of about $625K, which doesn't match.
- Fund II adds institutions, which are not named.
- Team: Sakkers plus one full-time principal in New York.
Technical analysis for researchers and developers
- Tooling: Sakkers says he built the firm's relationship database with Claude Code. The model version, schema and any results from the system are not disclosed.
- How to read the performance numbers: Net IRR on a small, young fund with one exit depends mostly on markups. Markups follow the next round's price, which in a follow-on strategy is set by the lead investors.
Read the full section
- Tooling: Sakkers says he built the firm's relationship database with Claude Code. It logs relationships, meeting notes and introductions so two people can work asynchronously. His reasoning is that agents are "useless if they just have to guess," so everything gets written down (TechCrunch). The model version, schema and any results from the system are not disclosed.
- How to read the performance numbers: Net IRR on a small, young fund with one exit depends mostly on markups. Markups follow the next round's price, which in a follow-on strategy is set by the lead investors.
Claims and evidence
- 15 of 28 investments marked up; net IRR "significantly above 50%" — Self-reported and unaudited ()
- RedBlue was in Humble's $24M seed (led by Eclipse) — Confirmed by independent coverage ()
- Westmag: $11M seed led by a16z
Read the full section
| Claim | Status |
| 15 of 28 investments marked up; net IRR "significantly above 50%" | Self-reported and unaudited (TechCrunch) |
| RedBlue was in Humble's $24M seed (led by Eclipse) | Confirmed by independent coverage (Pulse.bot) |
| Westmag: $11M seed led by a16z | Company-announced (Business Wire). RedBlue's pre-seed stake is per Sakkers. |
| Flai: $27M Series A led by Base10, plus a claimed 20x growth | Company-announced, and the growth figure is self-reported (SaaS News). CB Insights lists RedBlue in Flai's Oct 2025 seed. |
| HappyRobot "5x" | Sources disagree: FreightWaves reports 5x valuation growth, while Pulse 2.0 reports 5x revenue growth. |
Context and prior work
- Concentration: Emerging firms closing at least one fund fell from 927 in 2022 to 211 through Q3 2026 (The Fund CFO, citing PitchBook). Emerging managers made up 57% of Q3 closes but got 9% of the capital.
- Small funds can win big: In Carta's data, $1M–$10M funds beat $100M+ funds at the top percentiles across recent vintages. For 2017–2018 vintages, net TVPI at the 95th percentile was 7.01x versus 2.63x.
Read the full section
- Concentration: Emerging firms closing at least one fund fell from 927 in 2022 to 211 through Q3 2026 (The Fund CFO, citing PitchBook). Emerging managers made up 57% of Q3 closes but got 9% of the capital.
- Small funds can win big: In Carta's data, $1M–$10M funds beat $100M+ funds at the top percentiles across recent vintages. For 2017–2018 vintages, net TVPI at the 95th percentile was 7.01x versus 2.63x.
Limitations, safety and contested findings
- Carta's advantage shows up at the top percentiles. That's about how widely small-fund results vary, not evidence that a typical small fund does well.
- Sakkers says secondary sales can provide liquidity for a $50M–$100M fund. No RedBlue secondary sale is documented.
- TechCrunch frames RedBlue as Sakkers' solo venture. Third-party profiles list Watson as a co-founder (VC Sheet).
Read the full section
- Carta's advantage shows up at the top percentiles. That's about how widely small-fund results vary, not evidence that a typical small fund does well.
- Sakkers says secondary sales can provide liquidity for a $50M–$100M fund. No RedBlue secondary sale is documented.
- TechCrunch frames RedBlue as Sakkers' solo venture. Third-party profiles list Watson as a co-founder (VC Sheet).
- The story came about partly because Sakkers pitched it to reporters, as TechCrunch notes.
Business and practitioner implications
- For founders: Small follow-on investors compete on introductions and practical help, not on capital.
- For LPs: Holdings like HappyRobot and Humble that later raised from top-tier leads show RedBlue gets into good deals. They don't show realized returns.
- For emerging GPs: Development finance institutions are the main backers of disclosed emerging-manager funds.
Read the full section
- For founders: Small follow-on investors compete on introductions and practical help, not on capital.
- For LPs: Holdings like HappyRobot and Humble that later raised from top-tier leads show RedBlue gets into good deals. They don't show realized returns.
- For emerging GPs: Development finance institutions are the main backers of disclosed emerging-manager funds. Nearly all of their commitments go to non-US funds, so US managers should plan for longer raises (The Fund CFO).
- For operators: Keeping firm knowledge written down so AI agents can use it is a cheap practice to copy, though nothing shows it caused RedBlue's results.
The source trail.
Sources (12)
Olaf Sakkers is betting he can beat the emerging-manager squeeze
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