Breaking Barriers of VC, Edition 11

Author

Laurent Span
November 11, 2025

Welcome to Breaking Barriers of VC, Edition 11.

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Since Edition 10, we’ve kept busy - investing, building the platform, welcoming new members to the community, and hosting a series of meaningful gatherings. 

Summer 2025 was a pivotal moment for us in our growth story on all fronts. We partnered with Girl Math Capital for a dinner championing women founders & funders, brought together GPs and LPs for an intimate roundtable, and launched our new dinner series, The Portfolio Roundtable with Jess Schram (@_jessinvests) and Jade Markinson (Innovent Capital), and increased our founder-focused dinners through our Breaking Barriers of VC community.

On top of that, we’re growing our team. We’re excited to welcome Yuxuan Cui as our new Venture Associate, who joined us late in the summer. With a background in Private Equity and Entrepreneurship, Yuxuan will be spearheading several internal and external initiatives designed to bring even more value and connection to our ecosystem.

As a reminder, Breaking Barriers of VC (BBVC) is our platform to amplify everything happening across SPANVentures.—from active deals we’re evaluating and upcoming BBVC events, to fresh updates from our podcast. Traditionally, we close each edition with an open-ended thought piece, but this time we’re taking a more research-driven approach. To wrap up Edition 11, you’ll find an in-depth piece compiled by Yuxuan, spotlighting new insights for our community.

L-R, Kathryn Outlaw of Spheros, Emily Doyle of Dune Suncare, & Ashley Sweeney of Realm

July Dinner with Girl Math Capital

July, Portfolio Roundtable Dinner

Upcoming Events for Breaking Barriers of VC & Friends:

1) November 12th, BBVC presents, Vinters and Visionaires, a wine tasting evening for our friends in VC

3) December 10th, SPANVentures. Presents, 2nd annual, The Gala - you don’t want to miss this….

PAST

1) October 7th - BBVC Presents, Let’s Break Bread, Fall Edition

2) October 9th - SPANVentures. Presents, The Inflection Point, a panel, featuring Brian Hollins, Lilli Donahue, Miguel Guerrero, and Vanessa Rissetto

3) October 20th, Jess Schram of FieldAdvantage presents: "Own the Room or Zoom, "Public Speaking Best Practices for female founders, funders, and allies. Whether you’re pitching investors, raising money from LPs, leading a meeting, giving a toast, or speaking on stage, great communication is the difference between simply being heard and truly being remembered. Join empowHER and Field Advantage as we bring executive coach and master communicator Robin Pollak for an interactive session designed to help you unlock confidence, sharpen your presence, and command attention in any setting.

4) October 24th, Founders Only & Pier Present, October to Remember Gala, supporting Breast Cancer & Northwell Health Hospital System

A Few Deals from SPANVentures.

Like to see early-stage deal flow? Join the Syndicate

  1. Spheros: Spheros.io is a B2B data management platform solving the massive friction and cost associated with client and vendor onboarding, which remains a slow, manual pain point for financial institutions and large enterprises. Our platform empowers businesses to exchange sensitive data from their own secure data vault.

  2. Breath the Realm: After a personal health scare exposed her to the undisclosed chemicals in everyday scents, founder Ashley Sweeney launched Realm to change the rules of air care. Rather than adopt existing fragrance norms, she built a new safety standard from the ground up—Safe Scent Certified™—excluding over 2,800 known toxins and disclosing every ingredient. Realm’s air and fabric sprays deliver fresh, clean scent without harmful synthetics, phthalates, or hormone disruptors. Backed by founders of Airbnb, Lyft, and PLTFRM, Realm sells each spray for $12 and they just launched! (We just ordered some!)

  3. All Calls: is transforming how insurance agents connect with customers—no more cold leads or wasted hours. The platform delivers live, inbound calls from people actively shopping for insurance, driving real conversations that convert. In just five months, AllCalls scaled from $8K to $170K in monthly revenue (over $2M ARR) with nearly 90% MoM growth—all without a sales team or outside funding. Built by industry insiders, the company is now raising $3M to scale a model that’s already proven to work.

  4. Dune Suncare: is redefining SPF for the modern consumer with dermatologist-backed, six-time award-winning formulas that deliver invisible, weightless protection for every skin tone. Their clinically proven line perfects and protects without the white cast, bridging beauty and skincare through science-driven innovation. With a mission rooted in inclusivity and performance, Dune continues to set a new standard for daily sun protection. Reach out if interested.

Research by Yuxuan Cui, Venture Associate @ SPANVentures.

The U.S. national debt has now surpassed $38 trillion, exceeding the size of the U.S. economy and increasing by roughly $25 billion each day. With projections indicating an additional $3 trillion in deficits annually over the next decade, the country’s fiscal outlook continues to deteriorate. In May 2025, Moody’s downgraded U.S. sovereign debt to Aa1, citing structural budget imbalances and rising interest obligations. The CBO now warns that, under current policy, federal debt could reach 200% of GDP by 2050, severely limiting future fiscal flexibility.

Servicing this debt is becoming increasingly expensive. Ten-year Treasury yields hover around 4.8–5.0%, and long-term projections suggest rates could rise further if deficits persist. As interest costs climb, government borrowing is crowding out private capital, while the “risk-free” yield on Treasuries competes directly with returns once sought in venture and growth-stage markets. The result is reduced business investment and greater volatility across private markets.

For venture capital, this marks the beginning of a high-debt, high-rate era. Limited partners, particularly institutions and pensions, are reassessing their commitments to illiquid asset classes. Many are tightening allocations, stretching fund timelines, and prioritizing liquidity. The impact is clear: valuation compression, longer exit horizons, and slower capital formation.

In this environment, venture firms need to operate with precision and discipline:

  • Focus on capital-efficient founders with strong margins, low burn, and early revenue traction.

  • Avoid hype-driven rounds in sectors without defensible moats; fair-value entry points will outperform inflated valuations.

  • Reserve capital for high-conviction follow-ons and explore secondary transactions in quality companies facing temporary liquidity pressure.

  • Help portfolio companies align milestones early with likely acquirers, as M&A becomes a dominant exit path.

  • Reset LP expectations around longer holding periods and highlight interim liquidity options where possible.

On the fundraising front, leaner and stage-specific funds with clear theses will resonate most with LPs who are increasingly selective and mindful of macro risk. Expanding the LP base to include family offices, corporates, and strategic investors can also help diversify exposure and stabilize commitments.

As fiscal pressures mount, the best firms will not only endure volatility but use it to identify the most resilient, capital-efficient companies built for long-term value creation.

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