Square Peg

Bold. Brave. Brilliant. Brazen. The founders we back are all this, and more. They are unreasonable, they are crazy ambitious, obsessed with solving hard, gnarly problems. Problems whose solutions transform lives and impact society. And, it takes a revolutionary founder, and a transformational company to solve these problems, and effect change. We back these transformational companies, and their revolutionary founders early, and remain lifelong partners. How does Blume evaluate early stage startups? In our framework, we look at three criteria to evaluate startups – size of market or opportunity, team quality and finally, investability or probability of the next round of capital. Our approximate weightage for Opportunity : Team : Investability is 40 : 40 : 20. Let us double click on these three criteria. Market size or opportunity: Pick too small a market and even the best team can’t build a large scalable business. The best founders know how to reshape a market opportunity and build solutions to fit the largest of the market opportunities. That said, one has to begin with the aggregate opportunity being very large. For example, are Ola and Uber a ride hailing app or a large scale urban transportation business? The market size expands 5-10x when the latter is applied. At Blume, we try to find a portfolio balance between founders who can chase a large market opportunity domestically or build a tech-led differentiated product for global markets (which increase Founding teams: These are the most important variables for us or even most VCs at our stage. In every decision, once the other two factors are seen as a go, the clincher element in a yes/no decision boils down to the founding team – their expertise in solving for this space, as well as the integrity, mission, passion and persistence that one can gauge at this early stage of business. Investability or probability of next rounds of capital: The reality of how the later stage funding market is shaped to take risky bets in the ecosystem is important to consider while funding, especially in young and concentrated ecosystems like India, and that’s why we attribute 20% weightage to this element in India. We force ourselves to evaluate how much capital may be required to build to exitable scale and how challenging it is to raise that capital. As the funding ecosystem matures, we may shrink weightage of this in the future. Great founders overcome all of this but if we can select such that we have better odds at the starting point, why not? The above framework helps us shortlist but finally, it is a (increasingly improving) trained gut call that ends up building out the portfolio. What is Blume's investment criteria? Blume prefers ventures that have achieved some degree of customer validation, where the product is already launched in market and we are getting customer signups and feedback. We do make exceptions on the above for seasoned operators and second-time founders, but typically with first-time founders, we do not do idea stage or pre-MVP investments. If you are a B2B startup or an ecommerce / consumer transaction play, an annualised revenue rate (or revenues) of $375k (₹3cr) and above is a good milestone to reach out to us. If you are a marketplace startup, then reach out to us when you are nearing or have crossed a monthly GMV of ₹50 lacs a month. If you are a consumer app that isn't monetising yet, then ping us when you near or cross MAUs of 25k / DAUs of 5k. The above are broad guidelines, and not hard rules. We do make exceptions. If in doubt, reach out! How much does Blume invest? We are a seed / pre-Series A fund. While we are fairly flexible on the investment quantum, typically we have seen our investments range across from $1.5 to $3m (₹12 to 24 crs). We do optimise however for a stake of anywhere from 12 to 20%. These stake requirements reflect the depth and extent of support we provide to the startup – from fundraising and hiring to business development etc. We also anticipate the rounds of dilution that every successful startup will undergo, and the desired holding that we need to hold at the point of exit. Does Blume invest in international startups? We invest in startups that are Indian at heart or origin, but are willing to conquer the world market if needed to build scale. About a third of our portfolio is of this nature – taking Indian engineering skills to build products for global markets. Unfortunately, We DO NOT invest in startups that are international and have NO strong Indian connection / founders. We are also strong believers that to invest as a ‘generalist tech VC’ as we are, we need to be more and more focussed on a particular geography. We need to see as much of the available annual pipeline to know that we’ve truly picked 10 great founders / startups to invest in. We have no such advantage when we are looking outside the country; which is why we stay away from the temptation of looking at pipeline from international markets. What kind of sectors does Blume invest in? With our new Fund, our fourth since inception, we are looking to invest about 60-65% of the new fund in domestic-heavy sectors such as healthcare, financial services, commerce and brands, jobs and education, and digital media and gaming. The other 35-40% of the fund will focus on SaaS, and DeepTech (including CleanTech, manufacturing, blockchain) companies, typically in B2B, that can innovate and engineer with local talent pools, and yet scale globally. Does Blume have a preference between B2B and B2C? We like both. India is a consumer market that is poised to explode, as people move to the digital economy to spend an increasingly larger share of their wallet’s purchasing power. That makes it attractive to build a strong consumer proposition in India. And thus our B2C portfolio. We are also now very good at taking our science and engineering skills in software and other areas, and building commercial applications at scale, often for the global market. These constitute the majority of B2B ideas in our portfolio and we like this space a lot. Where do I send my pitch? How do I reach out to Blume? We get anywhere between 4,000 to 5,000 ideas pitched to us annually, across the team, across all formats. This includes referrals, cold mails, DMs on social channels etc. We have given up counting :) We invest in about 10-12 of these per year. As Blume has grown, we've looked at the empirical data and discovered that the vast majority of our investments were referrals from our contacts in the ecosystem. You can count the exceptions to this rule with one hand in every cycle, and still have a few fingers to spare! These referrals come from our own founders we have backed, other founders who know that we will do right by their angel investments and our extensive set of friends, investors and well wishers in the ecosystem. The exceptions, while not impossible, are indeed rare. Ceteris paribus (all things considered), you are better off reaching us through a trusted common friend. In a highly networked startup ecosystem, it is not that hard to reach us through the strongest possible mutual connection. But if that is not possible, do reach out to us cold. Your email will certainly be read, even if it is not always responded to. We have ensured that our internal systems catch every pitch - cold or warm or hot. When writing in cold, a considered and researched mail (much like a quality college application) is the only way to attempt such a reach out. Please check out the team page, find the best person in the Investment team who has invested in and / or covers the sector you're building in. Do check out their social profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter) to access their contact info. Our email ids are not hard to guess as well! Preferably write to one person at a time, in the firm. The above are good principles for you irrespective of which firm you approach / pitch to. Nothing works better than a warm, referred introduction - it always gets the rightful attention. Please note that we have done away with a pitch form, or a common email id. From our experience, we found that the volume of inbound traffic was indeed high, but not always relevant, and thus almost impossible to assign a resource to just monitor these inbound gates.

CCV Capital is a global venture capital firm with a Silicon Valley pedigree, specializing in early-stage investments while inheriting the legacy of KPCB. Founded by Wei Zhou, the former managing partner of KPCB China, together with the original technology investment team, we seamlessly blend Silicon Valley DNA with unparalleled global reach and deep Asia resources. Drawing from extensive entrepreneurial experience, our founding team has proven exceptional in identifying and nurturing high-potential startups, achieving a 35% unicorn formation rate within our first decade. We have taken the lead in 80% of Series A funding rounds, guiding many to become sector pioneers in going public. What sets CCV Capital apart is our global approach. As globalization evolves, CCV Capital embraces Globalization 2.0 principles, supporting a decentralized, multi-centric approach to global expansion. We enable startups to establish a global presence through strategic regional offices, localized market involvement, and intelligent use of international resources.We empower startups on their strong competitive advantage, fast business growth, international footprint expansion by leveraging the synergies, such as supply chain, talent resource, and proven business model, among East Asia, Southeast Asia and America. Our globally diversified portfolio exemplifies our collaboration with visionary founders propelling innovations across industries. It spans the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania, featuring prominent enterprises like Perfect Corp. (NYSE: PERF), MetaApp, Multiway Robots, U Power, Newrizon, Palmpay, Realchar, Aventurier, Pebble, as well as sector leaders including JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), VenusTech (002439), CreditEase (NYSE:YRD), Rong360 (NYSE:JT), Arrail Dental (HKSE:06639), KJY water (301372), TanTan (acquired by NASDAQ:MOMO), Ximalaya FM, and Shukun Technology, underscoring our steadfast commitment to nurturing transformative global leaders.

G Squared is a global venture capital fund manager that deploys a differentiated investment strategy to deliver access and exposure to some of the world’s most exciting growth-stage technology companies. We serve as a transitional capital provider to our portfolio companies and leverage structural inefficiency in an endeavor to methodically construct portfolios that offer elite access to value creation in private markets. Founded in 2011, G Squared is aligned to a fundamental shift: venture-backed companies are staying private longer and longer. As a result, those companies need both primary capital to fund their continuing growth and transitional capital to provide liquidity to early investors, current and former employees, and other shareholders. Positioned at the crux of this liquidity access challenge, G Squared invests in primaries and secondaries, and leads and structures employee tenders – partnering with portfolio companies throughout their lifecycles using a fundamentally different approach to traditional VC firms. We invest in companies that are tackling big problems, shaking up industries, and challenging the status quo. G Squared funds have invested in over 150 companies, including household names like Airbnb, Bombas, Bolt, Coursera, Instacart, Lyft, Spotify, Toast, and Turo, as well as companies which we believe to be the next generation of disruptors including airSlate, Anthropic, Brex, Fanatics, Lambda, Monzo, PandaDoc, Tipalti, and Wiz. G Squared is headquartered in Chicago and has offices in San Francisco, Zurich, and Miami.

500 Global is a venture capital firm with more than $2.7 billion in assets under management that invests early in founders building fast-growing technology companies. We focus on markets where technology, innovation, and capital can unlock long-term value and drive economic growth. We invest far and wide, across sectors and geographies. 500 Global’s Southeast Asia family of funds have backed over 270+ companies, including $1B+ companies Grab, Bukalapak, Carousell, Carsome, and FinAccel. This is just the beginning – we are actively growing to serve more founders, as well as connect startups with capital, expertise, and global networks to help them succeed. To uplift people and economies through entrepreneurship We believe these will be the growth areas in Southeast Asia, and actively invest in the region’s most talented entrepreneurs shaping the future. Sustainable Cities Cities are the lifeblood of Southeast Asia which we believe will be home to almost 400 million people by 2030. Can technology transform our cities into environmentally sustainable havens through innovations in energy, transport, waste management, food and agriculture? Can these cities bring us closer in a safe and empathetic way? Rural Digitization The story of cities is only part of the story. Can we include and uplift the rest of our region and seize the rural technology opportunity? Can we build solutions that help leapfrog rural development and provide people with the same access and conveniences as cities? Fintech for All The digital economy depends heavily on financial infrastructure to connect us together. We believe financial technology and embedded finance can usher in a new era of financial inclusion and returns, from smoothing income volatility, access to credit, to insurance that matters. Can we architect a financial-savvy world where no one is left behind? All-Commerce Ecosystem e-Commerce of the past decade seems to have expanded into “all-commerce” where consumers demand to buy anything, anywhere (whether online or offline), and have delivered to their doorstep anytime they choose. What innovations in global trade, logistics, supply chains and trust are needed to make this a reality? Human & Machine Productivity Technology can profoundly impact a nation’s future through increases in productivity and GDP. Likewise, we believe competition is also making technology adoption among MSMEs and large enterprises a necessity. Can ed-tech, machine middleware, low and no-code software solutions, SaaS platforms, and other innovations build more resilient economies? Healthcare & Self-care We believe healthcare is often overlooked and underinvested, until it is too late. The recent pandemic has underscored the importance of taking care of ourselves. To us, this “self-care” extends beyond just the body and also into the mind and spirit. How will technology help us take care of ourselves and each other holistically? Web 3.0 The internet is ripe for evolution, and users are discovering unprecendented ways to own, sell and trade digital assets. What do we need to create a new and completely decentralized ecosystem that’s safe and inclusive The Creator Economy Independent creators are building successful businesses through sharing their knowledge, skills and creativity. We believe this will be the main way we teach, learn, and entertain each other, and more importantly, grow together. How can technology help creators foster more authentic connections with people? Our expertise is local We have team members across Southeast Asia who bring experience as entrepreneurs, investors, and operators from leading technology companies. A regional investment strategy based on diversification and scale Across 500 Global’s Southeast Asia family of funds, we invest in founders building technology companies that drive economic growth in fast-growing markets in the region. In doing so, we provide investors with both diversification, scale and returns. Our goal is to back the best wherever they’re based. Our early stage funds typically invest US$250,000 to US$500,000 in founders based primarily in or serving Southeast Asia. After our wire reaches you, our team becomes your first call for strategy, capital growth, marketing, and all-things company building.

The most powerful ideas, companies, and industries aren’t created overnight. With a community built on collective experience and fueled by curiosity, Slow understands the entrepreneurial journey. Investing at the center of technology and on the edges of science, society, and culture, Slow gives curious founders the resources, connections, experiences, and empathy required to build strong, sustainable companies. We are generalists and invest in early stage teams and ideas ranging from Social Networking to Consumer Brands to SaaS, and Crypto. We believe - and have seen proven time and again - that great things frequently take time to inflect, and believe that our number-one job is to back great founders on their journey. In the last ~decade we have invested in the earliest rounds of over 500 companies, including… Consumer-Ish Nextdoor Private social network for your neighborhood Hipcamp Discover and book the best campsites in California Postmates Same day urban delivery platform Birchbox Subscription commerce for beauty products Allbirds Environmentally friendly footwear. Casper Digitally introduced brand of mattresses. Birdies Fashionable women’s slippers. BarkBox Subscription commerce for dogs Even Interest-free credit to keep your paycheck steady. Citizen People protect each other Good Dog Find puppies from responsible breeders. Fintech-Y Robinhood Mobile stock brokerage Venmo Social payment app Teamshares employee ownership for small business. Eco One balance to save, spend, and make money HM Bradley Unlock your money’s potential VGS Payment data security & compliance infrastructure Human Interest 401(ks) for SMBs Astra The Automation Platform for Money Movement Wax Insurance Protect your passion SaaS-Ie Airtable Modern database software. Domino Data Lab Enterprise data science platform. Frontapp Customer management platform Tonkean Next generation management platform. Otter AI-powered voice translation app. OpenPhone Mobile app for a business phone number Slack Work messaging Amplio Risk prediction & component sourcing Consumer-Medical-Ish Ro Direct-to-consumer telehealth. Livongo Health Personalized Tools for Chronic Condition Management Plume Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy From Anywhere Pillpack Simplified Pharmacy Fairsquare Medical Your Medicare One-Stop-Shop Wheel powering virtual care Brightside online treatment for depression and anxiety Embark Dog DNA & health testing Flossy For patients without dental insurance Creator-Y Juice Banking trusted by the best creators Stem distribution and payments for musicians Human DAOs lead by creators Pearpop creator collaboration on demand Real-World-Ish Astra Lower cost rocket launches. Common Technology-enabled residential operator. Running Tide Automated ocean harvesting technologies. Zipline Global on-demand delivery. Metropolis mobile commerce and modern parking Pollen Own your network Crypto Solana Scalable blockchain infrastructure. Klaytn The Ground for All Blockchain Services Chia A new blockchain and smart transaction platform Aleo Where Applications Become Private. Algorand A pure proof of stake blockchain platform. Diem A trusted and innovative financial network. Ampleforth The rebasing currency. Lightning Labs layer-two bitcoin. Fold Wallet Bitcoin wallet. River The best place to buy, sell BTC And Many More….

We're a Copenhagen-based VC fund that specialises in providing seed funding for outstanding Danish startups. If you think VC is all about money, you’re wrong. We’re here on the mandate of our LPs to back founders that are able to form grand companies that solve some of the most important problems of our time and approx 70% of our portfolio converts to series A, which is well above the European standard among venture funds. We also participate in follow-up funding rounds syndicated with new international VCs. We have existed since 2004 and have raised close to €500M across 4 funds and 1 growth fund.. We raised €140M for our latest fund and have already made our first 11 investments with more to come. We take pride in helping our portfolio companies all the way to exit. We back exceptional Denmark-based founders all the way to exit. More than 70% of our companies convert from seed to Series A, making us one of the best-performing funds in Europe. We’ve made 60 investments, 10 exits and 5 IPOs over the past two decades and have just raised €140M for our next round. Come and grow with us. OUR STAGE: Seed - 12-18 months before Series A or early A-rounds OUR TICKET SIZE: €2-4M initial investment Is this the next category winner? It’s the first and most fundamental question we ask when considering any investment - and it’s why 70% of our investments convert to Series A. We gravitate towards solutions that ride the wave of underlying macro trends with transparency and/or user generated content. Our portfolio contains both consumer and Deep tech but the majority of our investments are within Fintech and SaaS. Actually, we’re the largest Fintech investor in Denmark. So what we really love...Team: Team is the numero uno driving force behind any startup success. For us, the perfect founding team are die hard executors with a bold and ambitious vision. We seek a strong mutual chemistry as - in our experience - it’s the foundation for a great long-term partnership. Early Customer Love: Being a late seed investor implies a true love for initial traction. While initial traction isn’t a guarantee of future success, it says something about your execution power and the initial product-market fit, both of which are important markers for us. Traction isn’t a uniform thing, but to give an example, we typically wouldn’t invest in a SaaS business before it reaches 50 KEUR MRR. Scalable Business: We invest in tech startups with the potential to reshape an industry, category, or vertical within 8-10 years. When investing, we understand that you’re not there yet but we still look for early signs of strong scalability - i.e. profitable repeatability. Timing: Timing (and also a bit of luck) are often key ingredients for success. We need to understand why the market needs your solution now? We love solutions that are built on strong forward-looking macro trends such as transparency, user-generated content, or you tell us. Deep Insights: There’s no ‘one’ way of building a category winner, but they are all rooted in tackling a unique and big problem. This often starts by having experienced the problem first-hand, or through substantial industry experience. We love founders who are extremely nerdy with the problems they solve. They have first-hand experience on the pain of their customers and know where the gain is. What typically makes us fall out of love...Business-to-government (B2G) - selling to the public sector A solution that solves low-priority problems - i.e. must be in top three for customer Solving overly time-bound problems - i.e. the problem becomes less relevant over time Inexperience combined with over confidence Homogenous founder team - though, we have invested in several solo founders 🤔 Not aware of what success demands in terms of organisation, product and commercial expertise Messed up cap table - Let's fix this together With you all the way Since 2004, we’ve made 60 core investments and doubled down on breakout companies like Dixa, Endomondo, Fullrate, Lunar, Templafy, Trustpilot, VEO and Vivino. To date, the companies that we’ve invested in have gone on to raise more than $2.6BN. When we invest, we invest far more than just capital. We know how to stay the course In almost 20 years of investing, we’ve lived through more than a few economic crises. We’ve invested in almost every type of industry and been on almost every type of venture journey. It’s this collective body of experience that is the essence of our value to you as a founder. We know which steps to take, which corners to cut, and when not to panic. A partner all the way to exit. We’re *not* spray and pray. We only ever invest in a few companies per fund and we have the time and money to help you to the finish line. Deep knowledge and a long-term commitment. We and our network of SEED Friends & Family have all been on the growth journey multiple times. We truly understand your business, share your vision, and will be by your side through the ups and downs. We collaborate with our founders on setting a strong board and management team. Someone you can confide in - both on what works and, even more importantly, what does not work. Close to founders. Proximity matters because it helps us build closer relationships with our founders. Plus it gives us the time and opportunity to have physical meetings when needed - some conversations are just easier face2face. The founder to CEO journey. We help the team grow from seed stage founder-centric team to a Series A mature management team (initial growth stage). Shape company for Series A. We re-engineer the process of raising a Series A and work methodically with GTM, metrics, unit economics, and a fundable team. We use our strong local network to help our companies find initial traction and make key hires. Raise next funding round. We have a strong network of international venture funds and we have worked with several of them for years. Furthermore, we have set aside a substantial amount of the fund for follow-on capital to provide you with a solid commitment going into the A round and beyond. Proven track record. Approx 70% of SEED Capital’s portfolio companies convert to series A, which is well above the European standard among venture funds, and a testament to our strategy of only investing in 3-5 new companies per year allowing an experienced team and capital to actually work with and support founders throughout their full journey. Join our #SEEDfamily. At times, the founder journey can be lonely. At other times, it can make you the happiest person on earth. With us, you’re not alone - you’ll be in great and mighty company.