Marcy Venture Partners, a venture capital firm founded by rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z, merged with Black-owned Pendulum Opportunities (the investment arm of Pendulum Holdings), as reported by TechCrunch. The combined company will be called MarcyPen Capital Partners, with a reported $900 million AUM.
Before the merger, Pendulum Opportunities aimed to raise Fund II with $250 million in commitments. This is still moving forward with the name MarcyPen Opportunities Fund II. And TechCrunch found in an SEC filing that it has secured over $100 million toward that goal.
Jay-Z, Jay Brown, and Larry Marcus initially launched Marcy Venture Partners in 2018. Brown had also co-founded Roc Nation and Marcus co-founded Walden VC. They managed Marcy Venture Partners together, backing several companies, including Partake Foods, Altro, Madison Reed, Andie, AVALINE, Fabletics, Wyze Labs, and Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty.
Pendulum was launched in 2019 by Robbie Robinson and his wife, D’Rita. Robbie previously served as an advisor to the Obama family. Pendulum invested in companies like Greenwood Bank and Adwoa Beauty.
Marcy Venture Partners was named after Marcy Houses, the Brooklyn-based housing projects unit where Jay-Z lived as a child. When Marcy Ventures launched, the firm’s marketing materials said that the firm invests in Consumer & Culture, emphasizing positive impacts such as sustainability, inclusivity, empowerment, and health and wellness.
