View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2017

A startup can benefit in various ways from having a strategic investor involved in their company, but there are plenty of drawbacks too, both commonly known and more subtle. On the flip side, simply taking strategic investor capital because it’s there or it’s easier or cheaper than other capital rarely works out well for startups.

Strategic Investors 120

Strategic Investors Post-Money Valuation Seed Stage Cofounder 120

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

It’s an option, even though an expensive one. “ Strategic partner” investors: If you can find a strategic partner willing to invest in your enterprise, consider it a blessing. Better yet, the valuation of your enterprise is often higher than if the same investment were taken from a professional investor.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

NZ Entrepreneur

DECEMBER 13, 2022

This is why we’ve partnered with MPI to develop and deliver an innovative programme called Investment Ready. Within the programme we are also supporting alignment between those seeking funding and investors,” Andrew explains.

Strategic Investors 59

Strategic Investors Early Stage Government Campaign 59

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ).

Mobile 282

Mobile Management Southern California Application Development 282

SiliconHills

JUNE 4, 2019

Current investor Discovery Inc. led the round of funding, which also included participation from existing investors Causeway Media Partners, LP, Fertitta Capital, and DCM Ventures, as well as strategic investors World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. and Bertelsmann Digital Media […].

Venture Capital 58

Venture Capital LP Strategic Investors Media 58

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2014

This approach has been used for years, and implies very little risk, but many startups are still “too busy” to pursuing possible partners. Competitors can become strategic investors or merger candidates. Good strategic partnerships often lead to strategic investments, or great acquisition relationships.

Non-disclosure Agreement 257

Non-disclosure Agreement Intellectual Property Startup Non-Compete 257

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2012

The associate can be very productive with the company after the meeting and likely has more capacity to help with followup than the typical busy partner. There are some small investment firms where every 4th or 5th meeting a second partner attends the meeting. Just know that two partners talking = 2x the board influence.

Strategic Investors 289

Strategic Investors Early Stage Partner Naming 289

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 8, 2017

I’m familiar with many deals where a looming strategic investor froze all other fundraising. Just anticipate that time is perhaps the most critical dimension when you choose to engage with a “make the company” partner. The overhead won’t stop, but incoming investments and revenue streams may take an unwanted hiatus.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Strategic Investors Hiring Software Review 48

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2009

The third scenario I’ve seen is with “strategic&# investors. Strategic is often a euphemism for investors that are from the industry you serve rather than from a purely financial investor. I’ll cover strategic investors in a different post.

Advisory Board 215

Advisory Board Strategic Investors Venture Capital Later Stage 215

Rob Go

DECEMBER 14, 2016

In almost all cases, when a term sheet doesn’t result in a deal, it’s because of the investor feels like there was some form of indiscretion on the part of the company, or something catastrophic has happened in the outside world or to the partner or fund itself. M&A is much less of a multi-turn game.

Term Sheet 28

Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence Private Equity 28

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 26, 2020

Strategic investors might be willing to give you a higher or lower valuation than VCs because they have different priorities, etc. He is also a venture partner at several VC firms. Of course, there are other reasons to not always take the highest valuation. You can follow him on Twitter.

Finance 205

Finance Silicon Valley Valuation Startup 205

The Equity Kicker

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

I’m stoked that Appear Here , brainchild of Ross Bailey and one of our portfolio companies has raised £1m in funding from a range of strong investors. Howzat Partners led the round with participation from Playfair Capital and a small number of strategic investors from the property industry.

Strategic Investors 94

Strategic Investors Later Stage Portfolio Early Stage 94

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

Had a great chat with Jim Armstrong who is a General Partner at Clearstone Venture Partners today on TWiVC. We also talked a lot about Geodelic , a portfolio company of Clearstone, who is trying to change the metaphor of how people discover location based information by partnering with large companies and brands. AppDynamics.

IPO 236

IPO .Net Venture Capital Strategic Investors 236

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures). Are “strategic investors&# (e.g. Total raised: $5.0mm.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Non-Compete Vertical Europe 225

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

She had so much insight to share that we broke the interview into two parts, 1) Corporate Venture Capital and more broadly, 2) How the Fortune 500 Can Buy, Invest and Partner with the Innovation Economy (coming soon). . The alternative model is to set up a dedicated venture fund and even supplement it with outside limited partners.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Technical Review Portfolio 60

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

Strategics (ie industry investors vs. VCs). For some reason many strategic investors don’t like to lead rounds and they don’t like to name a price. This isn’t true of all strategics but it is true for many of them?—?particularly When SHOULD you name a valuation expectation?

Valuation 324

Valuation Post-Money Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder 324

The Next Web

APRIL 22, 2013

After making and trying to sell Android smartphones for a few years, Geeksphone shifted to Firefox OS not long after hearing about Mozilla’s plans to throw its hat into the smartphone ring from partner Teléfonica’s R&D division. Betting on Mozilla’s new mobile OS.

Video 138

Video Europe Mobile Strategic Investors 138

The Next Web

APRIL 6, 2013

My daily work consists of connecting innovative A round startups with potential investors or strategic partners. Perhaps it’s the time to connect with a corporate or strategic investor who can open doors to new clients. Build the confidence – be assertive but leave the ego at the door.

Term Sheet 126

Term Sheet Due Diligence Strategic Investors Valuation 126

Hunter Walker

APRIL 4, 2014

strategic investors (including corporates). traditional institutional LPs such as fund of funds, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds ( our investors ). It’s being a partner of conviction to an entrepreneur and working with them for several years. high net worth individuals. family offices.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Private Equity LP Syndication 102

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Strategic partner” investors: If you can find a strategic partner willing to invest in your enterprise, consider it a blessing. Better yet, the valuation of your enterprise is often higher than if the same investment were taken from a professional investor. It’s an option, even though an expensive one.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 18, 2011

Israeli startup Siklu Wireless Communications has raised a series B round of $19 million led by new investors Amiti Ventures , Qualcomm Ventures and joined by all existing investors: DFJ- Tamir Fishman Ventures , Evergreen Venture Partners and Argonaut Private Equity.

Bandwidth 90

Bandwidth Private Equity Israel Equity 90

VC Cafe

DECEMBER 8, 2010

The round was led by prior investor BlueRun Ventures which valued the company between $90 million and $100 million. New investors joined as well, including Magma Venture Partners and Vertex, together with Qualcomm Ventures who joined as new strategic investors.

Israel 87

Israel California Strategic Investors Video 87

BeyondVC

NOVEMBER 12, 2003

Strategic investments do not mean anything if you are not going to generate revenue for your company and for your partner. In addition, when you sign a reseller or OEM contract it means that the hard work has yet to begin-an early stage company has to throw resources behind a partner to make things happen.

Strategic Investors 60

Strategic Investors Due Diligence Early Stage Exit Strategy 60

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

The region’s power players can be integral in accelerating your company’s growth in Asia – more so than investors in the U.S. which will help with recruiting employees, finding the best partners, fast-tracking distribution in key countries, and landing marquee customers.

Asia 123

Asia Silicon Valley China India 123

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

Previous Celeno investors Pitango Venture Capital , Greylock Partners , Miven Venture Partners, and Cisco Systems Inc. Mobile gaming company Oberon Media raised a fifth round of $16 million – some of the funds raised are from previous investors Goldman Sachs, Infinity I-China Fund and Oak Investment Partners.

Israel 94

Israel Flash Venture Capital Acquisition 94

Hunter Walker

JUNE 7, 2016

Bettina Stern: My business partner Suzanne Simon and I have been cooking together for many years. UberEats – we recently partnered with this behemoth to get our food to more customers. BS: As co-founders, Suzanne and I are equal business partners 50/50. Hunter Walk: Can you share the founding story of Chaia ?

Caching 73

Caching DC Social Media Cofounder 73

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 17, 2012

Founded in 2005 by Aaron Levie (CEO) and Dylan Smith (CFO), Box provides a secure content sharing platform where content can be shared internally and externally, accessed through iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows Phone applications, among others, and extended to partner applications such as Google Apps, NetSuite and Salesforce.

Europe 114

Europe Entrepreneur United States San Francisco 114

Growthink Blog

OCTOBER 7, 2011

One of Harrison's companies received early funding from a strategic investor (a large corporation). > Get compatible partners and employees. In one venture he took on a partner, and in doing so realized quickly that your partner must be completely compatible with you if it's going to work.

Business Plan 83

Business Plan Jordan Strategic Investors IPO 83

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2016

When I run important meetings like my annual investor meetings I have my partner Stuart Lander watch the clock. Sometimes it’s because you have strategic investors. It’s really hard to manage a meeting and manage the clock. Letting loud mouths control the discussion. Here’s the reality. Many boards have observers on them.

Metrics 196

Metrics Strategic Investors Later Stage Management 196

VC Cafe

JANUARY 6, 2011

We firmly believe that superior discovery features and personalization are key to creating this experience, and we’re fortunate to have strategic investors who share our vision”.

Video 79

Video Semantic Strategic Investors Cofounder 79

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

Opening Night Happy Hour and Keynote with Scott Kupor Time : Monday, September 23rd, 6:00pm-8:00pm Location/Track : Capital Factory, Fundraising Track Austin Startup Week’s first keynote is with Scott Kupor, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz— where he is responsible for all operational aspects of running the firm.

Austin 48

Austin Startup Texas Community 48

Hunter Walker

JUNE 7, 2016

Bettina Stern: My business partner Suzanne Simon and I have been cooking together for many years. UberEats – we recently partnered with this behemoth to get our food to more customers. BS: As co-founders, Suzanne and I are equal business partners 50/50. Hunter Walk: Can you share the founding story of Chaia ?

Caching 48

Caching DC Social Media Cofounder 48

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2017

In AH's case, ultimately, the person we started talking with didn't actually wind up participating, but still remains a valuable contact and potentially a key partner for the future. Ice cream has gotten to be a pretty hot space, ironically, for high profile investors to get into lately. You just don't know.

Cap Table 102

Cap Table Cofounder Valuation .Net 102

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

It’s an option, even though an expensive one. “ Strategic partner” investors: If you can find a strategic partner willing to invest in your enterprise, consider it a blessing.

Private Equity 69

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 69

www.mattbartus.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

They had a strategic investor in the wings that wanted to invest, but the company thought they could get a higher valuation from the strategic. So they sold all the shares at a $10 million pre-money, but gave the investors enough warrants to drive down their effective pre-money valuation (as closely as possible) to $7 million.

Warrant 40

Warrant Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Every corporate transaction you’ll do will require somebody to help you to: Think through the options, negotiation terms, get other investors on board, talk with new investors/partners/companies you’re acquiring, etc. from one investor or $650k from two then they would be a lot more accountable.

Strategic Investors 312

Strategic Investors Los Angeles Cap Table Startup 312

VC Cafe

APRIL 15, 2024

This positions them uniquely to leverage not just their archives, but also their new content on an ongoing basis to partner in developing more contextually aware and culturally sensitive AI models. Production costs of content will continue to fall drastically – Case study Video Video is a great case in point.

Generative AI 142

Generative AI Media Artificial Inteligence Vertical 142