Definition
Co-Investment
Investing alongside a lead investor or fund in the same round, usually on the same terms.
A co-investment is a direct investment made alongside a lead investor in the same financing, typically on the terms the lead negotiated. Funds offer co-investment rights to their own LPs to deploy more capital into their strongest positions without breaching fund concentration limits; family offices and angels take co-investment to get direct exposure with lower fees than a blind-pool commitment. Co-investments are commonly pooled through an SPV so that thirty co-investors present one line on the cap table rather than thirty. The practical constraint is timing: co-investment allocations are usually offered late and close fast, which favours investors who are already onboarded and ready to fund.