Peter Renton

2024 Fundraising Trends: What We’ve Seen “This year, we guided exceptional founders through shifting fundraising landscapes. From navigating the Series A crunch to unlocking opportunities in emerging markets, one thing was clear: adaptability is key. In 2025, Pay Close Attention will continue to champion innovative strategies for founders scaling their dreams.” #FundraisingStrategy #VentureCapital #2024Recap

2

Not all of the investments that Kindred Capital VC makes can be a 13 year sourcing process.... but... this is one of those very fortunate moments in which a relationship that started over a decade ago in the Bay Area where the brilliant A-H. Hleileh and I overlapped has now turned into an incredibly exciting opportunity for Kindred to lead his and Ron Holifield's first institutional round at Civic Marketplace. We believe: 1. Local government procurement is one of the most underserved areas in technology today, and has failed to keep pace with the private sector. They deserve better. 2. This is a huge opportunity, with US local governments spending alone amounting to over $1.5 trillion in annual spend, which is only going in one direction... 3. As the brilliant Kip Harkness shared with me in our diligence phase, "this industry moves at the speed of trust." And this is a unique founding team with A-H. Hleileh and Ron Holifield at the helm who bring together two critical ingredients: 1) decades of trust-building within this domain, and 2) a team who can build beautiful and scalable technology platforms. Onwards!! 🚀

56

3 Comments

🚨 1 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐀 𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐨 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 2025 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦! 🚨 Are you ready to take your startup to the next level? gBETA Fargo's no-cost, no-equity accelerator program is your launchpad to success! 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧? This program provides tailored mentorship from seasoned industry experts who truly understand the unique challenges startups encounter. You’ll build meaningful connections with investors eager to discover and support innovative ideas. Additionally, you'll unlock access to essential tools, resources, and networks designed to accelerate your growth and set your startup on a path to success. 📅 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞: December 2nd, 2024, at 11:59 PM 📍 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬: Industry agnostic 📍 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Startups based in North Dakota or planning to establish a presence here 🔗 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐍𝐨𝐰: https://lnkd.in/gvEjtNTW 🔗𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞: https://lnkd.in/d2heqsqd Join the thriving North Dakota entrepreneurial ecosystem with gener8tor and take your startup to the next level! ✨ #NorthDakotaStartups #gBETA #Entrepreneurship #Startup #Innovation #Fargo #BusinessGrowth #Mentorship #InvestorConnections #StartupAccelerator #TechStartups #VentureCapital #ScalingStartups #BusinessResources #StartupSupport #GrowthOpportunities #Gener8tor #InnovationHub #BusinessNetwork

12

The best things Founders can receive from investors (apart from term sheets) is feedback! At Funden, about 50% of pass notes come with some sort of feedback thats actionable and helpful to the Founder. Here’s an example of a pass note from earlier this month: “We focus on having live, paying enterprise customers with a repeatable, scalable sales process and line-of-sight to series-A financial metrics" Boom! That kind of transparency is unprecedented in the venture world. This type of feedback says, "Hey we're excited about the industry and product, but we need to just see a little more proof of concept on the business before we can dive deeper". Now, this founder has someone they can reach back out to, who is going to be familiar with them, and the Founder will now be right in their investable sweet spot! Another one we got recently was a few investors are telling the same founder, independently of one another, that their round size was far too big for their level of traction. Hearing the same type of feedback as to why they're passing in such a short period of time has a real and meaningful impact on how founders are structuring their raise. And we're happy to help them. https://lnkd.in/gZ_tVkTB ---------------------- Funden is the #1 fundraising platform connecting founders to capital. Founders use our tools and strategic guidance for quicker, more effective fundraises. Investors use us to receive curated, quality deal flow and broadcast co-investment opportunities to our audience of 1000+ global VCs, family funds, angel networks, syndicates, and more.

20

2 Comments

We are so excited to announce our investment in Raechel Lambert, Bernard Kobos, and Ryan Lambert and their company, River Platform Company. River is a platform that empowers brands and influencers to build large-scale, in-person communities. To date, the platform has hosted over 2,000 events with 3,000 crowdsourced hosts and 55,000 attendees across more than 15 cities worldwide. We like to think of it as the operating system for community management. If the Catholic Church were founded today, it would use River to coordinate its global activities. No kidding. Jason Calacanis, the American internet entrepreneur and investor known for his All-In podcast with Chamath Palihapitiya, David O. Sacks, and David Friedberg, saw their potential early on. So did Balaji Srinivasan, Bryan Johnson, Tim Ferriss, and many others. We met the River team six months ago and have been incredibly impressed by their big-picture thinking, relentless hustle to connect with the right people and flawless execution. And as if that wasn’t enough, working with them is an absolute pleasure. These guys are a source of renewable energy. We’re proud to be part of this journey alongside wonderful co-investors like Blue Wire Capital, Blockwall, Solana Foundation, very early Ventures, and LAUNCH. Congratulations to the entire River team on this exciting milestone! We know firsthand that when things seem effortless, it’s because a tremendous amount of hard work went into making it happen. Want to join or host an IRL community event? Head over to getriver.io. #getriver #community #blockchainfounderscapital #startup #venturecapital #creatoreconomy

52

6 Comments

Fin Capital’s Fintech CEO Pulse Report is out! We surveyed over 50 CEOs and C-suite leaders of private companies from our portfolio and the broader fintech industry during June and July 2024 to get a quick pulse on what’s top of mind for fintech’s leaders. Here are some key takeaways: Optimism in the Air: More than 60% of CEOs reported being bullish or highly bullish on the fintech industry for the second half of 2024. Regulatory Changes on the Horizon: CEOs identified Cryptocurrency, Open Banking, and Buy Now Pay Later as the top three sectors likely to see increased regulation by the end of 2024. CEOs Want Business Development Support: Beyond capital and fundraising, business development support emerged as the top area where CEOs seek investor assistance.For more insights, including comments from my colleagues Ren Riley, Logan Allin, Matthew D. Mann, CFA, and Stephanie Perez, check out the full report here: https://lnkd.in/euHK8-9B

32

1 Comment

Block, the parent company of Square and Cash App, aims to leverage its dual ownership to create synergy between its point-of-sale software and peer-to-peer payments app. Jack Dorsey, Block's founder, highlighted the advantage of having relationships with both merchants and consumers, stating it's a rare position in commerce and payments. Ryan Budd, Cash App's head of financial products, hinted at plans to integrate a small business experience into Square and incentivize Cash App users to engage with Square merchants. Block is focused on connecting Cash App's consumer base with Square's merchant network, aiming to transform Cash App into a consumer app for interacting with Square merchants. This move aligns with Block's strategy to dominate various aspects of the consumer ecosystem and potentially monetize consumer spending data for advertising purposes. Read More Here: https://lnkd.in/eh-8KS9V Eugene Tsay Wade Robison John O'Beirne Emily C. Chiu Eileen Wiens Jim McKelvey Branded Hospitality Ventures #innovation #venturecapital #hospitality #technology Owen Jennings (OBJ) Brooke Ellis Jamie (Russo) HicksMing-Tai Huh

5

If you're building a fintech startup, you likely know of this investor, but just in case... This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on Neil Kapur from TTV Capital. He: 🛫 Is based in SF & Atlanta 💲 Has spent time at Google in consumer-facing payments & at two fintech startups  🏔️ Loves alpine mountaineering and has climbed Kilimanjaro, Denali, Rainier, and more!! Amongst founders, Neil and the team at TTV Capital , including Gardiner Garrard, Mark Johnson, Sean Banks, Lizzie Guynn, and Laney Lewis are known for saying “lift, not lean.” They believe that their job as investors is not to create work for founders, but instead ask the right questions and help navigate to the best outcomes. Knowing Neil well personally, he's not only my go-to person for anything related to fintech but I can also highly recommend having him on your cap table - he's the kind of human you want to have in your corner during both good times and bad. Make sure to: ✉️ Pitch him at [email protected] ➡️ Follow TTV Capital on LinkedIn For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with TTV Capital's profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

172

16 Comments

Wondering about the Nebraska ecosystem resources. See the attached chart below…and more to come!

25

2 Comments

From near-death experiences to becoming a Fintech powerhouse. Abdon Nacif Co-Founded NEXU, the leading auto financing and dealership software platform in Mexico and one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in Latin America. Nexu is growing fast, approaching $50 million in net annual revenue, and has been profitable for nearly two years. They have raised just over $30 million in equity and over $150 million in debt from Altos Ventures, Valor Capital Group, Wollef, HSBC, Y Combinator, FinTech Collective, Clocktower Ventures, FJ Labs, and Gilgamesh Ventures. I’m a big fan of Fernando & Abdon and I love getting a shot of inspiration after every conversation with them. Not only have I known Abdon for over a decade, but at Gilgamesh Ventures we have been investors in NEXU for the past three years, with a front-row seat to their incredible story. In this episode, we discuss:   - Developing mental toughness as an entrepreneur   - Near-death experiences and a pivotal decision that resulted in a shift of the business model - Principles and discipline that led them to build a profitable business at a very early stage   - Abdon's leadership philosophy and focus on authentic, selfless leadership… and a lot more!

50

6 Comments

I 💯agree with Oz Merchant on this topic. Some folks advise founders to pitch very selectively and 'pick your pitch' - you get one shot, choose it wisely? I'm 180 degrees opposite of that - be a promiscuous pitcher! - ABP - ALWAYS BE PITCHING. Because your pitch gets better with every no, take that feedback, learn, iterate. Right now it's taking 50-100 no's for Triangle co's to get funding, it's still tough out there, so get through the no's fast to get to a yes. Check out the event - also go see others pitch, it all helps you get better - pitching is like PMF - lots of iteration, tons of grinding to get through to the other side.

41

1 Comment

Great time on the Embracing Erosion podcast w/Devon O'Rourke! We talked about: 🚀 How to scale a company from concept to 9-figure exit 🔄 How to break away from the traditional consulting model and apply product approaches ⏩ Why it’s important to iterate quickly and often with messaging 💸📈What signals are important to pay attention to when investing in startups and much more!

1

1 Comment

Starting and growing a small business comes with its fair share of challenges, especially when it comes to securing the right financing. In my latest blog post, I delve into various financing options—from optimizing cash flow and leveraging SBA loans to exploring venture debt and engaging with investors. If you're looking to understand the best strategies for sustainable growth, check out the blog below! You're building something great—keep moving forward!

15

2 Comments

👏 It’s an exciting day for fintech! After more than a decade in the making, the CFPB published its final 1033 rule, which protects consumer financial data access. I spent years negotiating Plaid's first data access agreements with banks; limited regulatory guidance made this exceptionally challenging. Here is a quick recap on what happened, and - most importantly - what it means for fintech founders. ❓ What is 1033? 1033 is a section of Dodd Frank that states that a bank must make a consumer’s financial information (including txn detail) available to them in a portable format. Its critical to the functioning of fintechs and the millions of consumers they service. 🗞️ What happened today? The CFPB issued a FINAL Rulemaking for Dodd Frank Section 1033, which provides eagerly awaited details on exactly HOW banks, aggregators, and fintechs are expected to work together to make data available to consumers (data fields, format, fee structure, governance etc.). The timeline for compliance ranges from April 1, 2026, to April 1, 2030 depending on institution size​​. 👉 What does this mean for fintech founders?  👍 No additional bank fees - Several large banks have threatened to charge for data access - which would almost inevitably be passed on to the fintech customers of aggregators. The proposed rule prohibits this, which is a win for fintechs. (The downside of this is that aggregators still need to align incentives with banks in the absence of fees…) 👍 No technical standards - The rule is not prescriptive with regards to how the APIs are constructed, but does encourage standardization. This is good for fintechs because it allows the market to drive the solution and encourages more innovation on the aggregator side. We expect this to result in better data access for fintechs. Additionally, the emphasis on standardization will make it easier to retrieve and use consumer data across different financial institutions. 🚩 New Responsibilities - The proposed rule does impose some responsibilities on fintechs - notably, to disclose how the data is used, only use data for the consented use case, honor customer deletion requests, and to refrain from selling consumer data. Fintechs - even young ones - should start thinking now about how to comply and to consider these requirements in future product rollouts. Many of these terms are already included in aggregators' terms of use.  Additionally, all data access must be through APIs; screenscraping is prohibited. 👎 No protections for brokerage & payroll data access - While the rule explicitly covers bank accounts (deposit, credit, debit, prepaid), it’s silent on brokerage account & payroll data access, which is non-ideal for any fintechs accessing these categories of data today. Shameless VC plug: If you're an early stage fintech founder building something cool + world positive, let's chat at M2020! cc: Obvious Ventures

213

5 Comments

Profitable venture scale businesses. Its a new thing. Its the way businesses should be built. But only the best founders and capital allocators can do it successfully.

16