By Muskan Arora
The $44B Texas Municipal Retirement System has named Yuri Lee head of venture capital, as the plan continues to build its innovative venture ecosystem.
According to a LinkedIn post by Yup S. Kim, the pension fund’s chief investment officer, Lee will be joining effective July 14th. She brings vast experience in building businesses, having developed her own game called Arena of Kings that grew to 30,000 users while working as an investment banker for Morgan Stanley’s technology team in 2021. Lee joins TMRS from IVP, where she served as an investor for two years before transitioning into her role as a partner.
“Yuri will architect a world-class, multi-billion-dollar global venture and growth portfolio, winning the hearts and minds of the boldest founders and visionary investors from around the globe,” said Kim in the post.
As of March 31, 2025, the pension plan allocated 14.5% to its private equity portfolio against a target allocation of 20%. The private equity bucket returned 9.88%, 6.22%, and 16.05% for its one-,three- and five-year returns, outperforming its benchmark of 6.03%, -1.04%, and 9.32%.
Within venture capital, TMRS is focused on investing through VC and growth equity funds, secondaries and co-investments with a target commitment size ranging from $25M to $125M.
(Image: Yuri Lee’s LinkedIn profile)
