General Partner (GP)

The general partner is the entity that manages a venture fund: it raises capital from LPs, sources and picks investments, sits on boards, and eventually returns money to investors. The GP bears unlimited liability for the fund's obligations and is compensated through a management fee plus carried interest. In practice the GP entity is itself an LLC or limited partnership so the individuals behind it are shielded, and 'GP' is also used loosely for the partners who run the firm.