CalPERS Increases Venture Capital Investments Despite Market Turmoil

Despite the recent turmoil in the startup market and lackluster performance of its VC portfolio, California's public pension fund, CalPERS, is looking to increase its venture capital exposure in the coming months. The pension fund's managing investment director for private equity, Anton Orlich, is signaling CalPERS is eager to step into the domestic funding vacuum and become a bigger limited partner following a brutal year in the tech private markets. CalPERS' private equity investment strategy had been "inconsistent," and the firm missed out on an extended bull market and vintage years that would deliver "strong investment returns."