Revel’s Post

During a session on funding methods at Creative Destruction Lab Super Session today, the presenter asked what the audience believed is the chief motivation for VCs. One founder quipped that it's raising their next fund. I actually think this is a brilliant observation. Here's an example: a founder raises a good series A and sees a path to profitability without raising again. It'll be a little slower but ultimately more sustainable and a better exit for early investors. But... The series A lead is raising their second fund and needs to show a positive track record. With no exits yet, that track record will be built on the back of portfolio company markups, which can't happen without new, higher valuations from subsequent rounds. So we have a conflict of interest that can lead to substantial friction, and possibly serious problems for the founder if they don't still have a majority stake. Food for thought for founders.

We were just named as the 7th most active European VC investor by Sifted and we are not slowing down there!🚀🚀🚀 We’ve kicked off our next investment cohort and are looking for amazing founders of early stage business with the following criteria📌- 🌍 UK based (EIS qualifying) 🏅 any tech sectors 📈 with some early traction (£100k+ ARR) 💷 wanting £300k-£500k by December If you know anyone that could be a good fit tag them below⬇️ #venturecapital #venturefunding #seedfunding #eis Blackfinch Ventures

In the land of startup funding, there’s little tactical, actionable content that adds real value to fundraising founders. Here’s a piece by DC Palter I found useful and clear that can ground founders in the nitty gritty of deal terms - small words that make a huge difference. Well worth the read for early stage founders. #startups #fundraising https://lnkd.in/g9-XdcUR

🌍 Mastering Exits in VC! Here are some reflections from today’s fireside chat with EstVCA Chair Kaari Kink and Creandum General Partner Staffan Helgesson held at EBAN - European Business Angel Network Congress in Tallinn. 🙌 How to navigate the environment of lack of exits and liquidity: ⚪ If you’re an LP, dividing your investment ticket over 2-3 funds might make sense to diversify and not depend only on one fund’s returns. ⚪ The 3rd fund is the hardest to raise so there might be pressure on the second fund to push for exits and show returns. It’s important to understand that this industry is about riding the winners and not backing out too early. ⚪ Often the best returns come several years after the initial 10+1+1 year fund term so fund managers and LPs should expect a longer holding period, even as long as 18 years, and not get stuck on numbers on the paper. ⚪ That said, selling parts of your position in later-stage rounds and recycling the capital as well as providing LPs with some liquidity is a reasonable strategy. ⚪ It helps to be transparent with LPs at the start that the fund holding period may be longer to ensure good companies can grow to exits. Equally, it helps if you don’t ask LPs to pay for the “overtime” but get approval for holding the positions. ⚪ When it comes to companies that are not obvious winners in the portfolio, it’s important to ask tough questions. Mainly, is this company a complete platform or a feature? If the latter, it might make sense to be part of someone else’s offering and merge. ⚪ The one principle Creandum always promotes is to involve a professional banker: “I have never seen an exit where not including a banker gets you a higher price”. ⚪ Times are never as bad as u think, better times come faster than you think. European landscape is still relatively early in its development but there’s much reason to stay bullish. ⚪ The biggest mistake angels and VCs can make is throwing good money after bad money. When the startup struggles to raise the next funding, it’s a strong sign from the market and you should strongly consider if committing more capital is the way to go. #exits #vc #ebancongress

Here's what our Head of Ideation and Acceleration has to say about operating as a venture builder in a unique global startup environment where banks have tightened credit terms, making it more challenging to raise money in the VC landscape. Watch more on: https://lnkd.in/gfigFDpA

"Camels not unicorns - unicorns are mythical creatures but camels are strong, resilient and can survive for months without water." One of the many great (and more PG) soundbites from FinTech North's Manchester Funding Forum. Lots of interesting perspectives from both founders and funders on how to build effective investor relationships, how to best seek funding, master your pitch and get the right executive leadership into the right roles at a critical point in your businesses journey. Although 75% of venture capital is deployed to London and the South East there were investors from across the country in attendance, all looking to get a better sense of the state of play in the North. Most seem genuinely excited about the developments being made and perhaps, with the right investment and executive support, some of those camels will soon start to look more like unicorns. Thank you to all the panelists, speakers and attendees for putting on a great event as always #fintech #funding #investors #angel #investment #familyoffice

Today is the last day to apply to 757 Accelerate. If your startup has revenue and looking to raise capital, apply to be part of cohort 7! Here's what our program offers: ✅ $20,000 in non-dilutive funding ✅ Enhanced focus on investor readiness. ✅ Two lead mentors (Investor and Operations) ✅ Investor Roadshow ✅ And much more... 🔗 : https://ow.ly/38LR50RPlxi #757Accelerate #757Collab #SmallBusinessMonth

Most founders suck at pitching their teams to VCs. Meanwhile, 70% of Seed VCs say that team is the No1 thing they judge startups on. As a founder you cannot afford to be bad at this when fundraising. While working as a VC, I identified four techniques the best fundraisers used to make their teams sound compelling: 1. Borrowing clout from impressive organisations 2. Making your previous roles crystal clear 3. Emphasising domain expertise 4. Talking about specific highlights and achievements To help founders incorporate these into their pitches. I wrote a blog post explaining these techniques and how to use them complete with examples. It also includes a cheatsheet that walks through how to make a compelling bio for a team member from scratch. Check it out here https://lnkd.in/dFJSgYHK

Awesome blog Tunde Adekeye just dropped about what VCs are eyeing when it comes to your startup team. Tunde is in the zone advising founders on nailing their pitches and developing his own startup working on an AI model that helps founders improve their pitch. 💡 Some time ago, I hit up Tunde Adekeye for a mock pitch for my startup. His feedback amped up my pitch but also dished out some real insights on what VCs truly value. Heads up for young founders and those thinking about beginning their startup journey, we're taking the pitch party to the talktank podcast on 18th December! 🎙️Spoiler alert: it's not going to be about PowerPoint skills. 😉 #PitchPerfect #Startups #TheTalktankPodcast #VCInsights

According to new data from Carta seed-stage valuations are slowly but surely ticking back up. For primary (non-bridge) seed rounds, the median valuation rose 3% in Q3, hitting $13.3 million. We may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to marketwide valuation suppression. However, overall deal volume dropped 16% from Q2 to Q3, marking a new multiyear low for seed-stage deals. With less dry gunpowder to deploy, VCs are more selective than ever about which companies to back. For companies with communities, this may be the perfect time to add a #CommunityRaise to your funding strategy. VC is still tied up, but investor sentiment towards early-stage deals could be warming up. Schedule a call with us today: https://ow.ly/rarI50Q5bBg #CapitalMarkets #StartupFunding #SeedRound #EquityCrowdfunding #DealMaker