Breaking Barriers of VC, EDITION 6

Author

Laurent Span
September 06, 2024

Welcome to Breaking Barriers of VC, EDITION 6.

We Back Baby!

EDITION 6 is brought to you by, AHYUN Skin - see the footer

It’s September…wow. This summer has truly flown by, and I feel like it’s been the fastest summer I have ever experienced. So far, I wanted to take a moment and express gratitude. I started SPANVentures. syndicate and the Breaking Barriers of VC community this January and went deep/full steam ahead in February of 2024.

Today, it’s September 6th, and we have grown our community to 2500+ subscribers, several funded deals, 5 panels, 18 events, 7 assists worth over $10MM in checks (deals done via networking at a BBVC event) and so much more. I am grateful for the opportunity to build in the VC ecosystem and appreciative of everyone I have met thus far.

UPCOMING EVENTS

  1. Sept 12th, VAIN Launch Party hosted by Vanessa

  2. Sept 18th, Founder in Resident Summit, hosted by Ruben

    1. use promocode: SPANVC for 20% off

  3. Sept 19th, BBVC presents, “Let’s Talk Scale”- A panel on scaling early-stage businesses

  4. Sept 24, BBVC x Shanti House present, “A Wellness Morning” (more details to follow)

  5. Sept 24, BBVC presents, Lets Break Bread, Climate Week edition dinner for Founders and Funders

Deals we like via SPANVentures.

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

  1. Orgo (Actively Raising, SV Syndicate):

    1. "Who's driving?" "What do we bring?" "What time do we leave?" "Where are the real conflicts?" In the case of extracurricular activities and youth sports, active families are in the business of getting the right people, to the right places, on time. Questions such as these, plus many more, attest to the complexity of managing life's daily logistics. Welcome to Orgo, where sanity awaits. Orgo bridges the gap between people, places, and time with a hybrid solution that offers greater precision to ease the administrative burden. Use Orgo to plan your activities effortlessly, manage unforeseen conflicts seamlessly, and execute upon your busy days efficiently. Centralized, in one place, for your extended Crew. Orgo empowers active families to greet the day with confidence and control, making time for more moments that become memories.

      1. Reach out if you are interested in investing. SPANVentures. is leading the pre-seed round.

  2. Rella (Rolling Raise): Rella simplifies collaboration and content management for creators and social media teams, allowing them to share and upload content with the people who need to see it.

    Instead of creators and social media teams wasting time keeping track of projects, organizing and sharing content, posting across all platforms, and tracking down approvals - you can use Rella instead.

    Rella is built by a creator, Natalie Barbu. She has been a creator for 13 years, was able to quit her job at Accenture after making double her salary on social media, and started an agency where she worked with brands and creators on their social strategy. In addition to herself, she has 2 cofounders who have been software engineers for the past 6 years.

    Rella users have shared over 100,000 pieces of content and they recently launched paid subscriptions in October generating $62K+ in ARR with $0 spent in marketing.

    1. As an emerging content creator, this tool is sick. If you want to invest, let me know.

  3. Homebase (Actively Raising)

    1. Homebase is a back office software for real estate syndicators to automate deal administration and fundraising. Their platform empowers real estate syndicators and private equity to raise more capital and close deals faster through back office automations, native CRM integrations and a best-in-class UX. Their team is comprised of ex-Google and ex-Amazon founders with experience building software together and syndicating multiple real estate deals in 2023.

      In the last 2 months they:

      • Launched their MVP

      • Secured three paying customer and three additional LOIs

      • Accumulated $145M AUM in qualified leads in their pipeline

      They recently began raising their pre-seed round and already have 25% committed with funds like Global Millennial Capital and Octavia Investments as well as some of their early customers participating.

  4. Airboxr provides out-of-the-box revenue reports, right within your spreadsheets: it automates the spreadsheet reports and models that revenue leaders already use. The platform connects to data sources such as Shopify, Amazon, and ad channels to create automated revenue, marketing, and financial reports and deliver them directly on to spreadsheets… cos that’s where all the decisions are made. 200+ brands around the world use Airboxr to automate their decision-making—including brands like Hallmark Cards, Pacifica Beauty, and Magic Molecule.

    1. The founder: Saptarshi is a former big-data consultant, e-commerce entrepreneur, and VC. Cofounder, Shubham is a former founding engineer with a YC S15 company and designed the grocery app's data infrastructure.

Open-Ended Thought Dive:

We’re getting a rate cut…super active fall OTW?

Over the past two years, interest rates have climbed sharply as central banks, including the Federal Reserve, have worked to combat inflation. This shift from historically low rates has significantly impacted the venture capital landscape by increasing the cost of capital and tightening liquidity across financial markets. When rates were low, VC investing flourished—cheap borrowing costs made high-risk, high-reward ventures more appealing. But with higher rates, the risk-free return on safer assets like bonds has become more attractive, leading to a contraction in the capital flowing into startups and venture funds.

As I am currently raising for Fund 1, actively syndicating early-stage deals, and regularly networking with fellow VCs and founders, the consensus this summer has been resoundingly clear: It's tough. Fundraising has been a challenge, with a few funds closing shop and some founders rethinking their approach to raising capital. This raises the question—will the anticipated rate cuts this fall bring a much-needed shift?

I believe so. More liquidity in the market means more capital flowing into funds, giving VCs greater flexibility to deploy investments. For founders, it could mean scaling faster as financing becomes less expensive, paving the way for increased exit activity in the coming years. While all of this seems logical, it leads to the next critical link in the chain: Will LPs be ready to commit capital to GPs at a faster pace, or will heightened caution and extra due diligence remain the norm? Thoughts?

COMMUNITY ASK:

  • If you know of any partners available to sponsor events, let me know. I am paying a generous referral fee!

  • I want to bring BBVC to other cities across the country, if you have a suggestion, let me know.

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