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Volition Vapita

 

$$$$$ Boston, US East

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Foundry Group

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$$$$$ Boulder, US Central

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4.2

Silverton Partners

 

$$$$$ Austin, US West

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4.2

Rincon Venture Partners

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$$$$$ Santa Barbara, CA, US West

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4.3 4.2 4.1 3.6 4.4

4.1

New Atlantic Ventures

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$$$$$ Reston, US East

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3.9

Andreessen Horowitz

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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3.9

Leapfrog Ventures

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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3.5 3.9 4.3 4.0 3.8

3.9

True Ventures

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$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

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3.8

Mangrove Capital Partners

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$$$$$ Luxembourg, Europe

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3.8

RRE Ventures

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Altos Ventures

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3.8

406 Ventures

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$$$$$ Boston, US East

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3.7

First Round Capital

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3.7

FLOODGATE

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$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

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3.7

Sequoia Capital

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 11

3.5 3.8 3.7 3.5 3.8

3.7

IDG Ventures SF

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$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 11

3.6 3.7 3.6 3.8 3.4

3.6

Flywheel Ventures

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$$$$$ Santa Fe, US West

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DFJ Mercury

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$$$$$ Houston, US Central

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August Capital

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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3.6

Updata Partners

 

$$$$$ Red Bank, US East

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3.7 3.6 3.4 3.4 3.9

3.6

Trinity Ventures

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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3.5

Wellington Partners

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$$$$$ Munich, Europe

Rated by 12

3.2 3.6 3.4 3.0 4.2

3.5

DN Capital

 

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 19

3.8 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.3

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Draper Richards

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$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 14

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Merus

 

$$$$$ US West

Rated by 48

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Menlo Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 31

3.3 3.3 3.2 3.6 3.7

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Clearstone Venture Partners

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$$$$$ Santa Monica, US West

Rated by 16

3.9 3.7 2.9 2.9 3.6

3.4

Versant Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 11

2.9 3.6 3.7 3.3 3.6

3.4

OpenView Venture Partners

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$$$$$ Boston, US East

Rated by 10

3.6 3.4 3.9 2.7 3.3

3.4

DFJ Esprit

Certified

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 13

3.0 3.8 3.5 3.2 3.4

3.4

Fidelity Growth Partners Europe

Certified

$$$$$ London, Europe

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Got an intro to Kevin and pitched him and Tony, despite it not being in their traditional zone.

Very down-to-earth, focused questions, honest and quick feedback. Didn't do anything - as the feedback confirmed what we suspected: we were too early for them. But a really efficient and positive experience.

Got an intro to Daniel Waterhouse and a meeting was set-up quickly.

Within 50 minutes we'd had a good hearing, been asked important questions and been given a clear signal about the two reasons why we weren't right for them (now).

When we wrote back to thank him for his time, he responded with useful advice, showing he'd given our proposition and challenges real thought.

For my new venture I need to raise $1.5M - $2M to get to profitability. The business is a local NYC retail opportunity leading to ecommerce in 2-3 years (dictated by pace of certain legal changes). It could be a great cash business or scaled with more investment to shoot for something huge.

I've found a bank that has made similarly or larger sized loans to restaurants and other businesses in NYC and can get an intro from a multiple-time successful loan recipient of the bank. I haven't started fundraising yet but have been planning on angel funding, have 250K committed so far, and am confident I can raise what's needed. Should I pursue both these options at once? Is a business loan I'm personally on the hook for, and a shorter-term plan to be more of a 'family' business a good idea versus raising money from angels, on a path to venture funding, with the goal of scaling asap? I'm confident the business can make money and be profitable if I go the loan route. I also imagine I could go the angel/vc route later if I start with the loan. Any ideas or thoughts or advice would be welcome.

I note that many of the comments here are 5+ years old, so I think it’s worth adding some updated opinion as the world has a habit of changing over time.

Julie Meyer is a formidable force for good in the British/European entrepreneur scene. She is fantastically well connected, and to the right people (which is no small thing if you have a b2b product and speed to market is key), understands the difficult dynamics of startup life, has real empathy, business insight and she will do as she says. If I had a penny for every VC who said they’d do something and didn’t….

It is true that Ariadne isn’t running a big fund, but that’s ok. Julie works tirelessly to help fund European entrepreneurs at the earliest (read 'hardest') stage and has successfully deployed capital. Furthermore, she believes passionately in the spirit of entrepreneurship and is a true champion of those who try.

I have observed Julie operating at startup Board level – behind closed doors where difficult decisions are made and real strategy is formed. She is energetic, creative and adds tremendous value and insight. She encourages the entrepreneur to think differently about their business model, asks insightful questions and is unafraid to dig deeper, at all times with a positive, proactive demeanour that is inspiring.

If you want an ex-banker/consultant/accountant with zero operating experience giving you money and advice from an ivory tower, then take your pick of the countless European VCs on offer. But if you seek someone who is wisened by experience, will open doors, help you navigate choppy waters and tirelessly stand by you when the chips are down, then Julie is your woman.

Whatever you do, make sure you know exactly what skills you want from an investor and then seek them out. If you don’t, you will only end up disappointed and critical of those trying to help.

Are you a seed-stage startup looking for funding or exposure?

Then apply to the Founder Showcase, TheFunded.com's free Pitch Competition, where previous presenters have raised over $75 million.

http://foundershowcase.com/apply

Any company less than two years old with less than $250,000 USD in funding is eligible, but the deadline to apply is Friday, June 14th.

The six finalists will get to pitch at the Founder Showcase on July 17th, in front of hundreds of Silicon Valley investors and press.

Don't miss this opportunity to apply.

For more information, visit http://foundershowcase.com.

While access to capital, cheap technology, and more have led to the proliferation of many new technology startups, the number of acquisitions has not kept up with the blistering pace. There are many debates as to why, but whatever the cause, the growing popularity of acqui-hires and relative reduction in corporate M&A could lead the startup ecosystem down an ominous path.

Last week I was interviewed by peHUB about this "liquidity crunch", who is to blame, and how it can be fixed. I personally believe that the current startup climate is a house of cards that will collapse if there isn't more corporate M&A.

What do you think? I would love to hear your comments below.

Read the full interview by Connie Loizos here.

This is a dinner club that charge startups to pitch their membership. They then use the money collected from the entrepreneurs to pay for their events (dinners, wine tastings, boat cruises).

Has anyone heard of or dealt with Jump Capital Partners based in Chicago? www.jumpcapitalpartners.com

We recently pitched First Round. Overall I like their brand and what they stand for (first round), but it seems as though the firm is 'severely' slipping and is no longer top of mind for founders. I've heard negative feedback echoed across the board from friends.

We met with Rob recently. We had a 1hr meeting scheduled. He showed up late - ergh already. Was engaged for 10mins, pulled out his phone, starting reading email, looked up to seemingly pretend like he cared, and pushed us to speed up. The meeting ended early. We followed up with a "thank you for the time" style note, and no surprise, never heard anything back. Guy seems like a total arrogant ass, frankly. Sure, it's cool to pass on us (we raised a ~2m seed so we found plenty of others interested) but at least have the nerve to write us back. We spent our precious time (we're busy too) pitching you and speaking on the phone prior to the in-person, and yet you couldn't even write us back or take some time away from your email to listen?

Not impressed with my interactions, have shared the feedback with friends, who funny enough those that had also pitched first round, came back with similar feedback. Avoid.

IDG was one of the first firms we met in the process of raising our A, which was our first outside capital. While I thought IDG might not be a fit, I still wanted to speak to them, mostly because of all the positive things I heard about Alex Rosen from other CEOs I know. We met with Alex first at our office, he came to us. He had lots of useful feedback and was engaged and very polite, basically smiled the whole time. I didn't think it would go anywhere, but then Alex came back with a lot of insightful questions, showing that he actually did listen (unusual for a VC) and actually did care about what we were building (unusual - same point as previous). I was impressed and Alex and I went back and forth over email for some time.

He invited us to come back to their office and pitch the partnership. You never know what's going to happen in these situations, but we were pleasantly surprised. The meeting lasted a full 1.5hrs, longer than expected, mostly due to the questioning of one of Alex's partners, Pat Kennedy. While Pat had VERY insightful questions, he asked them in a pretty brutal way, almost like we were being cross-examined in court, something my cofounder and I didn't appreciate. I'm not sure Pat has an appreciation for what founders are going through while pitching, but regardless, we all smiled and walked out.

IDG wanted to invest and although we had a pretty competitive round, we definitely wanted them in, mostly due to Alex and the firms deep connections in Asia (an area we'll need help in down the road). Post close, a few mos later, we're super pleased - Alex and IDG have been one of the most helpful funds in our round. While other big name funds have a huge portfolio, the attention you'll get (if you ask) is much greater at IDG, as their stated goal is to spend more time with each company. They're smart guys and you'll want to use that to your advantage... Would recommend them to any entrepreneur.