Venture capitalists can. Regulatory capital, however, is one currency that is always on the lookout for an elusive, evolving one: deal flow. An early bet on the next big startup can be enough to bolster a fund’s total return (and then some) — and help many investors make a name for themselves.
This fact makes Afore Capital’s latest product launch look even more promising. The venture firm, which closed a $150 million round of funding in May 2022, is launching what it describes as a common application for early-seed startup founders. Similar to the popular undergraduate college admissions application, the Startup Commons app allows founders to seamlessly raise multiple investors using the same basic form and pitch deck – all at once.
Here’s how it works: Afore Capital has an accelerator-like program, Afore Alpha, that offers founders a formal pre-seed deal. The application includes questions about the founding team, pitch deck, recent wins, inspiration, and, interestingly, whether the startup has applied or interviewed for the company’s internal benchmarking process at Y Combinator.
They landed a $1 million lead investment with a $10 million post-fund SAFE, a deal that gave Afore five times more capital and five times the value offered by accelerators like YC and Techstars.
Now, the same founding teams that apply to the Afore program will have their applications blasted directly to the 30-some investors in the venture firm’s network. The group, which Afore named as pre-seed experts, includes Trail Run Capital’s Alison Barr Allen, New Normal Fund’s Alison Pickens, Evening Ventures’ M. Herrera and Cambrian Ventures’ Rex Salisbury.
