Sound Ventures

As a "first money in" investor, we support founders in gaining their first momentum. ROCKET FUEL We invest in DACH-based technology-driven B2B startups in pre-seed and early seed rounds. BIZDEV BOOST We catalyze your market entry with our network of more than 100 executives from Scale-ups, mid-sized and large enterprises. FAST-TRACK FUNDRAISING We streamline the communication with other Angel and VC investors for your current and future funding rounds. FAMILY ACCESS We multiply your social capital with access to our community of experienced founders, industry professionals and domain experts.

Frontier Ventures is a venture fund investing in early-stage technology companies with network effects in the United States and globally. Our investment team is based in the United States. The fund was founded by serial entrepreneur Dmitry Alimov, co-founder of IVI.TV, the largest video service for Russian-speaking consumers worldwide serving over 60 million users globally. Frontier Ventures partners with talented entrepreneurs to help them build global market-leading businesses. We stand out by helping our portfolio companies scale globally in Europe and Asia where our partners have access to strong networks of technology entrepreneurs, investors, and tech company executives. We open these powerful networks to the companies we invest in, which helps them scale across borders faster. We also help our portfolio companies raise follow-on financing by giving them access to more than 1,000 US and global VC, growth funds, and family offices where we have long-term business relationships. Our founding team has more than 30 years of collective experience in venture investing, having backed over 50 early-stage companies. Frontier Ventures is backed by family offices, technology entrepreneurs, and financial investors as limited partners. Most of our limited partners are current or former technology entrepreneurs. WHY ARE WE CALLED “FRONTIER VENTURES”? In the history of the exploration of North America, the term “Frontier” was used to determine the boundary between inhabited and unknown territory, where from the 18th to the 20th centuries, settlers developed new areas. Unlimited free land in this zone was available, and thus offered the psychological sense of unlimited opportunity. This, in turn, had many consequences such as optimism, future orientation, and shedding of restraints due to land scarcity. The development of new land to the West and the North of the United States became a catalyst for the settlement of the North American continent and its subsequent rapid economic development. By analogy, the name of our fund – Frontier Ventures – is intended to symbolize the limitless possibilities that are open to entrepreneurs and investors in the development of the software and Internet. Our team and our entrepreneur partners share the spirit of optimism and belief in success, combined with a rational willingness to take risks to achieve great goals, which at one time united the North American pioneers, during their advance towards the unknown.

At Upfront, we like to come in at the earliest stages and stick with you as you grow. In today's world, that means we're your first check in at the seed (or even pre-seed) stage. And as you build and raise subsequent rounds, we can support that with our growth fund as well. Bottom line - we want to get to know you as early as possible and work together for a long time. With investment professionals in both LA and the Bay, we invest nationally and even globally for the right deal. Working With Upfront Some VCs have great networks. Some have great megaphones. Some VCs offer great counsel. We value all of those but most strongly believe in rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard work alongside you in your moments of need. When your company goes immediately up-and-to-the-right, everybody is your friend. When your company hits a bump in the road we’re there - even if that means telling you the tough messages others may not. The LA Advantage We invest nationally (sometimes internationally) but our entire team is in LA, giving our portfolio valuable leverage. How? Los Angeles is at the crossroads of Asia, Latin America, and North America, providing global perspective and a diverse talent pool to compete with any city in the world. As the country’s second largest city, LA graduates the most engineers of any US market, so we have the talent and resources to build world-changing companies. Of course, LA is also the world’s creative soul, home to the film, music, art and fashion industries as well as the influencers who set the trends and put companies on the map. Upfront Summit Every year, the Upfront Summit hosts more than 1,000 top investors, entrepreneurs, and thought-leaders for an invitation-only event in Los Angeles. With two days of compelling content and conversation, our Summit showcases the best of technology, innovation, and creativity – from established global brands to bleeding edge disruptors. We take on issues like race, gender, freedom of the press, and bullying, and we tackle the conflicts and contradictions of technology industry successes. And, of course, Upfront portfolio companies are center stage, helping you build your reputation and network. Diversity & Inclusion Upfront Ventures is dedicated to increasing equality, both on our own team and with the companies and founders that we fund. It’s the right thing to do - and diverse teams make better businesses.

Beta Boom is led by two general partners, Kimmy and Sergio Paluch. Yes, they share a last name because they are married and have been partners in life and business for over twenty years. They are both passionate about making the world a better place through technological innovation and giving overlooked founders a fair shot at fulfilling their visions. Kimmy and Sergio have two boys, Rafael and Adrian, who were Beta Boomers from the beginning, hanging out with founders in Beta Boom’s office over the summer of 2018. Rafael wants to work for Beta Boom one day and Adrian wants to be a professional footballer (soccer player). We'll work alongside you from day one. A lot of VCs say that they’ll be there for you, but few are as involved as us and most give generic startup advice. Depending on what you need, we support you on getting things done across product development, sales, marketing, and fundraising. We meet you where you are. Not literally, but figuratively. We work with you and your team to figure out where our support can be most impactful. If your team is strong on engineering and marketing, but need help with sales, that’s what we’ll help with. If your team is great at sales but needs help with engineering and marketing, that’s what we’ll focus on. If all you need is fundraising support, that’s all we’ll do. Focus on the "how" not "what." We don’t like telling founders what to do or spouting useless startup advice. You know your business and customers better than we ever will, and you should make decisions for your company. Plus, you don’t need dark overlords. What we try to help with is the “how.” How do you set up your CRM for fundraising? How do you test marketing channels? How do you generate sales leads? How do you reach out to investors or get introductions? Collaboration sessions rather than lectures. We do collaboration sessions to work through challenges or get stuff done. We don’t lecture you. For example, in a collaboration session we might work on your positioning, review usability testing plans, improve your investor tracker, edit your cold sales emails, etc. When we say we work alongside you, we mean it. Vetted experts at your fingertips. Beta Boom has an extended network of vetted experts that we’ve worked with or our portfolio companies have worked with and loved. We do this so you don’t have to waste time searching for effective support, and can get things done while you build your permanent team. Here are examples of the kinds of experts that you’ll have access to, among others: Growth marketers that can help with setting up and running Google, Instagram, and Facebook ads; Lead generation experts that can get you qualified sales leads via email campaigns; Sales coaches that can help you set up your CRM and walk you through sales conversations; A near-shore engineering firm that specializes in APIs and securely handling large data sets.

We invest in world-class entrepreneurs looking to solve long-term global issues that Japan and the rest of the world will face over the next 30 years (Domain Theme) with the competitive technology that OIST and Japan have a competitive edge in (Technical Theme). We invest in startups at Pre-Team (before full co-founding team) or Pre-Seed (before product launch/ PoC), with follow-on investments at Post-Seed/ Series A (after traction/ PMF). Our motto is “Provide any growth support we can as a part-time ambassador to to our portfolio”. Through weekly meetings + alpha (any ad-hoc support depending on the need), we provide hands-on support to our portfolio companies, from business strategy to execution support most needed at each stage of the company growth. Team Formation Introduction to co-founder/CXO candidate Support for recruitment PR plan Support for building relationships with recruiters Support for formulating Mission-Vision-Value Support for building OKRs Support for implementing in-house collaboration tools ……etc Product Business plan Support on product validation Support for product design specifications Support for introduction of design sprint Introduction to initial product development partner Introduction to product experts ……etc. Growth Business development support for initial sales Support for implementing a system for marketing (content, inbound, B2B, CRM and lead gen) Introduction to digital marketing experts ……etc. Corporate Support for building a KGI/KPI management system Support for building an accounting/ CF management system Introduction to accountants, lawyers, patent attorneys, etc Support for equity financing Support for debt financing Support for corporate finance including M&A ……etc.

We’ve built products and made them profitable. We still do. But now we invest in our fellow builders. Investing in products, not ideas 115 years ago, Wright brothers did it right - their Flyer One became the first plane to take off and land successfully. Today at Flyer One Ventures, we invest in doers - extraordinary founders who are not scared of setting ambitious goals, who build complex products, reach significant traction and solve big global problems. Avg investment sizeSeed stage: $100K-500K Series A: $500K-1M