TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. (NYSE:TPVG) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Vilas Abraham: All right. And one on expenses. It looks like G&A was up a little bit here. And in Q3, I think you said something about $500,000 in legal expenses, I think, is a part of that. Is that the main item that is going to potentially come out here in Q4?

Christopher Mathieu: Correct. Yes. So the elevated level of legal will not likely be that high and excise tax could be similar as I think Chris had mentioned earlier.

Vilas Abraham: Okay. Got it. And then just maybe a bigger picture question. You guys mentioned investment activity picking up here a bit. And I’m just curious, do you think that’s a function of the VC investors being very comfortable with where valuations are and the kind of opportunities there, they’re seeing now? Or is it more a function of they have to do something with the dry powder that they have had for a little while now? And if it is the latter, what do you think that means for the quality of the deals that we may see over the next 12 to 18 months?

Sajal Srivastava: Yes, I can handle that. I can speak only in terms of the select investors, the smaller universe of what we consider to be the top venture investors that we deal with and it is absolutely not the latter. There is not — they are — investments are not driven by the pressure to deploy. That’s certainly in the background, but it’s the opportunities that are emerging in what we’re calling the new market realities here today, particularly at the very early stages, which is a little less focus of TPVG, but in many sectors, and there’s just many opportunities particularly now that there’s been a shift. And as I mentioned, it’s more the path to profitability for these new companies, managing cash burn as opposed to several years ago where it was growth. We’re pretty excited or at least they are in terms of the opportunities here in the future.

Operator: The next question comes from Ryan Lynch with KBW.

Ryan Lynch: First question I had was, you mentioned on this call and in the past, your guys’ focus is working with really a select group of what you would call kind of top-tier VC sponsors to source your investments. Given the credit issues that you guys have experienced in this most recent venture sort of down cycle, have you guys put any consideration to modify that strategy and maybe branch out to a wider group of VC sponsors versus focusing on what you guys would call a more selected top tier or top — kind of top group but much more curated group?

James Labe: Yes, Ryan. So a very interesting question. Listen, I think, again, from our perspective, we look to our long-term track record. So obviously, we’re looking to our relationships and our interactions with these funds and our portfolio companies over multiple years, multiple cycles. And so again, I’d say our track record continues to be strong over the 10-year time period since TPVG’s inception. Having said that, we always review and evaluate the selected inter capital funds that we work with based on our interactions with them, our performance with them, their position in the market, their track record. So it’s not a fixed list forever, right? It’s a living, breathing list that benefits from experienced track record.

And so I would say it’s fundamentally a combination of both. So yes, it has the folks that we have deep relationships with, but it also adjust and correct based on performance and experience and it also deals with the realities of changes in the venture capital landscape.

Ryan Lynch: Okay. Understood. And then I believe, and correct me if I’m wrong, I believe you said that as we move into 2024, you expect credit stress effect to decline in your portfolio. I’m just curious, I guess, what are the assumptions that you guys are using to give you confidence in that statement? Is there any sort of macro changes that would need to occur in order for you to continue to have that sentiment? Or what sort of gives you that confidence in that? Because it seems like right now, based on the current VC trends, unless there’s going to be a big shift in sort of recovery in the VC marketplaces, whether it’s fundraising or investment or exit opportunities, it feels like it could last well into 2024. So I’d just love to have you unpack that statement a little bit more?