What does it look like when one of the world’s most longstanding institutional investors ($120B) decides to go deeper into venture capital? And what happens when one of the most respected LP teams in the business joins forces with them?

Thomas Kristensen, who is responsible for the venture capital business at LGT Capital Partners, joins hosts Nick and Beezer for a wide-ranging conversation that doubles as an announcement: the Sapphire Partners team – including Beezer, Laura and Nate – have joined LGT Capital Partners. Thomas explains why the fit made sense.

LGT Capital Partners manages over $120 billion on behalf of more than 700 institutional clients and is owned by the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. That ownership brings a long-term perspective, often measured in decades rather than years, and it shapes how Thomas and his team approach venture: with patience, close partnership and a willingness to be both buyer and seller in private markets.

Together with Nick and Beezer, Thomas unpacks the firm's recently published white paper on the case for increasing venture allocation, built on three pillars: lifecycle diversification, an innovation hedge against AI-driven displacement and the maturation of secondary markets as a liquidity tool. He also offers a frank assessment of the current market, noting that the pace of deployment feels reminiscent of 2020-2021, and that a valuation dip may be coming regardless of how transformative AI ultimately proves to be.

From the endowment model's stress test to the temptation of clinging to a single fund-returner, this is a thoughtful conversation about long-term thinking from an investor who has spent more than two decades refining his approach.

Quotes

“It’s not new that incumbents are challenged by new entrants. I think what’s new is the speed at which this is happening. In the age of AI, it feels like there is a risk that many incumbents could be displaced quite quickly. And so including venture capital in your portfolio is a way of hedging against this.”

“Are LPs gonna run out of capital? I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if the world is going to run out of capital to fund CapEx for AI right now. We always say, ‘Listen, if you come into venture capital as an asset class, if you're an allocator, you can go in when it's hot, you can go in when it's not. You will only really figure out in hindsight.’ The most important thing if you start committing to venture is, make sure that you can commit at a steady pace over a long, long period of time because it's a market you cannot time. There's just no way.”