Industry Ventures Founder Hans Swildens - how secondaries became the dominant path for VC exits

Hans Swildens is a partner and Head of Industry Ventures at Goldman Sachs. Industry Ventures is one of the pioneers in the secondary market for venture capital, managing several billion in assets across LP stakes, direct secondaries, and primary fund investments. In October of 2025, Goldman Sachs announced they were acquiring Industry Ventures in a deal worth over $900 million dollars. 

In this episode of World of DaaS, Hans and Auren discuss:

• The evolution of secondaries from distressed deals to 70% of VC exits 
• Why Goldman Sachs paid almost $1 billion to acquire Industry Ventures 
• How Industry Ventures uses data from 700+ fund LP positions as a competitive edge 
• The future of venture fund structures and permanent capital vehicles

You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Hans Swildens on X at @hansswildens.

Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)