Tyler Doremus

Big things happened in the Techstars network in January: →  8 portfolio companies secured funding →  2 portfolio companies were acquired →  2 portfolio companies combined →  1 new global network partner ➕ U.S.-based rare earths processing startup Phoenix Tailings (Techstars 2020) closes $43M Series B funding round. ➕ Tive (Techstars 2017), a startup developing tech to pinpoint freight shipments in real time, raises $40M Series C. ➕ The Helper Bees (Techstars 2016) raises $35M Series C for home care. ➕ First Ascent Biomedical (Techstars 2021), a personalized oncology drug prediction platform, gets $6M to accelerate lab openings. ➕ Crypto tech startup Dfns (Techstars 2021) raises $16M to increase its workforce and expand in the Middle East. ➕ AI-powered mass tort company Parambil (formerly MedThread; Techstars 2023) announces $2M in pre-seed funding. ➕ Accenture Ventures invests in QuSecure (Techstars 2021) to advance PQC solutions for government and business. ➕ Vessl Prosthetics Inc. Prosthetics (Techstars 2023) secures a pre-seed round to drive innovation in prosthetic solutions. ⭐ Infinite Reality will acquire virtual shopping platform Obsess (Techstars 2017). ⭐ Hook Security acquires Haekka (Techstars 2021), a Slack-first training platform. ⭐ Transmute (Techstars 2018) and mesur.io (Techstars 2018) announce a strategic combination to remove disruption from global supply chains. https://lnkd.in/gn5wJZur 

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Villi Iltchev on the importance of track record in VC. Seems obvious, but a lot of young VCs don't have this sorted. It's proprietary info and many leave their venture gigs without access to it. That can be a major handicap for landing future venture jobs or raising their own fund. Good interview with Turner Novak. 👍🏻

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I thought this was an interesting financing for both its scale and technique. General Catalyst launched their Customer Value Fund in which they “lend” growth capital to businesses that have found product-market fit, but their primary use of capital is to fund the burn caused by S&M spend (Sales & Marketing) or CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost). In Canada, ClearCo have been doing this for years with Ecommerce companies. According to GC’s website “With this strategy, GC pre-funds a company’s S&M budget. In return, GC is entitled only to the customer value created by that spend, and GC’s entitlement is capped at a fixed amount. After GC reaches that fixed amount, the remaining lifetime value of the customers is the company’s to keep forever. On the flipside, if the S&M spend does not pan out as expected, GC owns the downside – GC only gets paid if and when the company gets paid. The company never comes out of pocket to pay GC back.” The main advantage of this type of financing is to avoid the dilutive impact of financing. In this particular case, it might also appear to be an effective way to deal with the impairment in the value of the investment held by existing VC’s. The question is how is “customer value” calculated and what happens when there is no “customer value”. Is customer value simply the gross revenues generated from the S&M spend or is it the gross margin? What is the implicit cost of financing? What is the security in a downside scenario? https://lnkd.in/gC45QkPR

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An emerging VC manager's fundraising lessons... the first two funds are a grind. Now, we’re on our third fund, it feels like we’re almost over the hump, but fundraising never gets easy for most of us. I want to congratulate the emerging VC firms presenting at this year’s RAISE Global conference. As former RAISE presenters, and (soon-to-graduate) emerging managers, we thought we’d share this LP Translator, a lighthearted guide to decoding what LPs really mean during the fundraising process. Fellow GPs, which ones did I miss? 👇 The LP Translator 📣 "Let’s stay in touch.” Translation: We’re not interested. “We want to see your track record develop.” Translation: Either we don't believe in your strategy, or we’re focused on managers with more buzz. “We’re not allocating to new managers right now.” Translation: We’re not allocating to you right now. "Show us your deals so we can get to know you.” Translation: We’d like free co-invests if you get something hot. “We need to see more DPI before we commit.” Translation: We don’t really understand VC, but we’re pretending to. “We’re fully allocated for this year; check in early next year.” Translation: Next year we’ll still be fully allocated (just not to you). “Call us before final close.”  Translation: I’m too polite to say no at this time, so I’m kicking the can down the road. “Your fund is too small.”  Translation: Okay, that one might actually be true (for some LPs). “We went through your data room and want to meet face-to-face.” Translation: We’re genuinely interested, keep going! “Can you send us your LPA for signature?” Translation: Let’s go! 🚀 -------------------------- Fundraising is a long game, longer than we ever expected. We're now seeing how LP relationships are built across several funds, not several months. If they’re investing time to learn about you and your strategy, that’s your best signal of real interest. #emergingmanager #venturecapital #LP #RAISEGLOBAL

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What many Founders don't appreciate is that fundraising isn't just a "necessary pursuit of capital." It's an unforgiving crucible that strips away illusions and sharpens your grasp on the business you're building. Fundraising crystalizes what you fundamentally believe to be true about your business, but it also exposes what assumptions you've been coasting on and what you need to test to have any knowledge about whatsoever. Good VCs probe relentlessly, revealing if your idea is built on firm ground or just wishful thinking in disguise. It's a wake-up call that forces you to confront the gaps and the shaky premises that could unravel everything if left untested. The process no doubt forges you in fire. Rejections can bruise the ego and feedback can sting. But if you lean into it, you emerge with a refined strategy, a tighter product, and a team that's aligned on what matters. The pain? It's just the price of building something that the world has never seen before.

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Capital formation isn’t just about fundraising; it’s about building trust through transparency and clarity. I just wrapped moderating a panel at SVB’s Venture Connect conference, joined by Erlina Yeo Terwelp, Geoff Taylor, Brian Chen, and Stephen Bluestein. The goal: an interactive discussion on how GPs can build enduring partnerships with LPs in today’s fundraising environment. Key themes and takeaways from the conversation: • Relationships are paramount: Provide access to multiple investment team members across levels. Authentic, consistent engagement is foundational to long-term partnerships.  • Show your fund math: LPs want to see how ownership stakes and exit expectations map to net returns—at the actual fund size. Scaling isn’t a strategy unless supported by fundamentals. Help LPs draw clear conclusions. • Transparency builds trust: Be transparent on valuation methods, revenue multiple assumptions, even succession planning. Consistency and openness go a long way. • Investing in venture: LPs are active, but the bar is higher. Two deliverables I’ll be focusing on in our next cycle: 1. Elevating the operations DDQ. Now the second most-viewed item in any data room, right behind the investor deck. 2. Ensuring our deck clearly communicates fund math. From ownership to exit to net DPI—at the fund size we’re marketing. This experience reaffirmed that transparency and trust-building are critical, especially when the fundraising environment is as bifurcated as the markets we’re investing in. Thanks to Silicon Valley Bank, Bobby Donnelly, and Mark Lau for the opportunity, and to everyone who joined the discussion! 

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Announcing the Founders Community Fund! This summer, we’re excited to launch the Founders Community Fund (https://lnkd.in/g8ig2VY4), a new investment initiative designed to help founders build and grow their startups and small businesses by providing a new capital source. As I explored in my recent article for Inc., “Venture-Backed Startups Are Raising Revenue-Based Financing,” (https://lnkd.in/g9BnS64K) many founders today are rethinking how they finance growth. Traditional equity financing doesn’t always fit every company’s needs, and founders are increasingly turning to Revenue-Based Financing (RBF) for greater flexibility and founder-friendly terms. This flexible approach also helps founders of small businesses who may not qualify for venture capital investment and are still building their banking relationships so they can eventually secure bank loans. RBF can provide these steady-growth businesses with a new source of capital. At the Founders Community Fund, we believe in backing entrepreneurs who want to grow sustainably. Our mission is to provide capital that scales with your success, along with strategic support and a community of like-minded founders. Stay tuned: as we launch the Founders Community Fund, we’ll be sharing more about how we can help you take your business to the next level. Sign up on this website for updates or get in touch today to learn more about how we can support your journey.

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Raising Capital Is a Journey. Founders raising capital go through stages and the smartest strategies are the ones aligned with where you are now, not where you think you should be. At DFX, we see many early-stage deals each month. The most successful ones? They tailor their capital raise to their stage, metrics, and market timing, not a generic pitch deck. Here’s a breakdown of the Founder's Capital Lifecycle: 1. Pre-Seed / Angel Round Stage: Idea to MVP Focus: Proving the problem, building product-market fit Capital Source: Angels, syndicates, early operators 2. Seed Round Stage: Product launched, some traction Focus: Growing users, refining monetization Capital Source: Micro-VCs, accelerators, angel groups 3. Series A Stage: Scaling and proving repeatability Focus: Hiring, growth, infrastructure Capital Source: Institutional VCs, family offices Key Takeaway: Your fundraising strategy should evolve with your startup’s stage. Don’t raise like a Series A when you’re still pre-seed, and don’t wait until you’re running out of runway to build investor relationships. #StartupCapital #PrivateMarkets #AngelInvesting #VentureCapital #RaiseSmarter #DFXInsights #DFX #FoundersJourney #StartupTips #CapitalRaising #PitchSmart #SeedToSeriesA

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CrunchBase’s AI Makover—Seeing the Future of Startups! Crunchbase isn’t just tracking startup history anymore—it’s using AI to predict what will happen next. CEO jager mcconnell joins Alex Wilhelm to reveal how CrunchBase is leveraging machine learning & engagement data to forecast funding rounds, acquisitions, layoffs, and company growth before they happen. • Historical data alone is no longer enough—once it’s in an LLM, it’s everywhere. • CrunchBase’s AI pivot: From a startup database to an AI-driven intelligence platform that predicts the next big moves. • What they’re predicting: Funding rounds, acquisitions, closures, layoffs (for private risk analysis), and more. How accurate are the predictions? Jager shares what they’ve learned after launching 18 AI-powered insights & forecasts just this week. Is AI the future of private market intelligence? CrunchBase is betting big on it.

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