As access becomes a defining factor in venture capital, understanding how capital reaches the most promising companies requires looking beyond individual deals. In this interview, Dmitry Volkov, Founder of Social Discovery Group, explains SDV’s fund-of-funds approach, the role of early conviction, and how value is built across global venture markets.
1. How did you come to building an investment firm that invests in funds rather than directly in companies?
I started as an operator, not as an investor. I built Social Discovery Group and spent many years scaling technology businesses. Investing came later, almost as a consequence of being inside those companies and seeing how capital and access really worked.
What I noticed over time was that the most interesting companies were rarely accessible through direct deals. The earliest conversations were already happening inside a small group of venture funds that had deep relationships with founders. That is where conviction formed first.
Once that became clear, it changed how we thought about investing. Rather than trying to compete for individual allocations, we focused on working with the funds that consistently see those opportunities early. That is how the fund-of-funds approach became central to SDV.
2. Can you explain SDV’s investment model in simple terms?
In practice, we mainly invest in venture and private equity funds. We do make some direct investments, but they are not the core of the model.
A simple way to explain it is access. Many of the companies people care about are impossible to invest in directly. What is possible is investing in the funds that had the insight and conviction to back them early.
So instead of trying to pick individual winners, we spend our time identifying fund managers who repeatedly do that well. That gives us exposure to companies we otherwise could not reach, while also benefiting from diversification and professional judgment.
3. You often speak about early access to unicorns. How many unicorns are in your portfolio today?
Across the portfolio, we currently have exposure to 69 unicorns.
That number is less important than how it breaks down. If you remove companies that were already valued above one billion dollars when funds entered, the number is 48. Those are companies that were backed early, before outcomes were obvious.
That distinction matters because early-stage exposure is where most of the value tends to be created.
4. How do you spot future unicorns so early — especially indirectly, through funds?
At this stage, we do not really think in terms of spotting individual companies. The focus is on people.
We look closely at fund managers. How they think about risk, how consistent they are across cycles, and how disciplined they are with capital. Over time, those traits become very clear.
Strong founders build strong companies. What great funds do well is find those founders early and support them through the difficult phases. Our job is to identify those funds before the rest of the market crowds in.
5. SDV’s venture investment portfolio is more than $100 million. How does a fund of that size get access to top-tier funds like Khosla Ventures, NEA, Bain, or Oaktree?
Access today has very little to do with size alone. It is much more about how you behave over time.
We have built relationships across multiple fund vintages, and we approach them with a long-term mindset. We are repeat LPs, not opportunistic capital. That matters, especially when markets turn and capital becomes more selective.
Another important factor is that we come from an operating background. We understand what it means to build companies through uncertainty, not just through growth cycles. That shared perspective tends to create a different level of trust with fund managers.
Finally, we are decisive when we commit. We do our work early, we move quickly, and we stand by our decisions. For top-tier funds, that combination of consistency, understanding, and conviction often matters more than writing the largest check.
6. How difficult has it become for funds to get into top-tier deals today?
It has become meaningfully harder than it was even five years ago.
The market has grown more polarized. A relatively small group of established funds now sees most of the highest-quality opportunities early, often before rounds are broadly visible. By the time a deal reaches a wider audience, much of the allocation is already decided.
For newer or smaller funds, that makes access increasingly difficult. This dynamic has changed how value is distributed across the ecosystem and is one of the reasons manager selection has become more important than it used to be.
7. You’ve mentioned OpenAI, Revolut, Flo, Patreon among companies in your extended portfolio. How should investors understand that exposure correctly?
The key point is to understand the structure of that exposure.
In most cases, we are invested through funds that backed these companies early. That is different from holding direct stakes and comes with different governance, liquidity, and risk characteristics. We do have some direct investments as well, but they are not the primary source of exposure.
What this reflects is our ability to identify and access funds that consistently support strong companies at early stages. It is not about individual company selection in isolation, but about repeatable access through trusted managers.
8. What is the total value created by the funds SDV has invested in?
We tend to avoid headline valuation figures because they can be misleading.
If you look at value created based on the ownership stakes held by the funds we invest in, the combined figure is approximately $20 to $25 billion. That gives a more realistic picture of the scale involved.
What matters to us is the structure behind that number. With a portfolio of around $100 million, we gain exposure to funds managing assets many times larger. That asymmetry is central to how the strategy works.
9. Why not estimate the total valuation of all companies in your portfolio?
Because that number would not be particularly informative.
If you aggregated the valuations of all companies across the underlying funds, including large technology companies, the total would exceed $1 trillion dollars. But that figure would not reflect actual ownership, liquidity, or realized outcomes.
We prefer to focus on metrics that are defensible and meaningful. Looking at value created at the fund level provides a clearer and more honest picture.
10. What makes SDV uniquely positioned in today’s venture ecosystem?
SDV operates at the intersection of entrepreneurship, global venture capital, and long-term capital partnerships.
We bring an operator’s perspective, a global view across markets, and long-standing relationships with top-tier fund managers. Those relationships have been built over time and across different market environments.
In a venture landscape where access increasingly shapes outcomes, our role is to act as a steady, long-term partner. We focus on connecting capital with the managers who consistently demonstrate the ability to build enduring companies.
