For emerging managers the prospects of raising a second fund have become notably more challenging. Only one third of those who launched their inaugural fund in 2021, at the height of VC fundraising activity, have brought a second fund to market. In a further jolt to the system, that number drops to 12% for those who fundraised in 2022. It’s as if someone has activated the circuit breaker and diverted all the energy into a smaller cohort of large, established names LPs can trust. Concentration may offer stability today, but does it risk narrowing the imaginative bandwidth on which the industry depends?