Atman Capital, an early-stage venture firm backed in part by 20 founders, is closing the deal for these individual limited partners.
Some of them promise to give thanks to one who refers a successful contract to the company in the form of carrying interest on the company’s profits.
It’s an exciting change for the firm, which was founded last year by Brazilian-born Pedro Sorrentino and Pedro Dias and is investing in startups in the US and Latin America. In the capital markets, where Atman has closed $9 million for a $30 million target fund, the extra lure — on top of the 80% profit LPs typically get from successful deals — is also smart.
“We spoke to more than 100 founders and asked them what they wanted and what was important to them. The most common answer was the desire to use their personal network because all of these founders—partially secondary—are very active angels,” Sorrentino told TechCrunch. “It’s a model of paying them back when we make collective agreements as a community, and we keep interest on the fund.”
Dias spent seven years at JP Morgan and another two years at Riskified before teaming up with Sorrentino to found Atman. In the year In February 2021, Sorrentino left OneVC – another multinational firm he founded – to focus on building Atman Capital.
As of now, the new company has six portfolio companies – Pipefi, Road beat And Estuary In the US and Bambooa stealth fintech startup and LoopiPay in Latin America.
“Investing in both geographies makes us better investors, and because we are present in both regions, it makes us a more interesting value as a firm,” said Sorrentino.
The fund plans to invest Pre-seed and seed levels average $750,000 to $1.5 million in checks. It is looking at B2B, software, commerce, consumer and fintech startups. LPs are a mix of ultra-high net worth individuals, family offices and institutions in addition to founders.
To date, Atman has more than 20 founding LPs “Egregore” means a group of individuals who share values and principles with a skin in the game. Currently, 70% of the founders are from Latham and 30% from the US John Sung King – Founder of Public Business Five9; Alexander Liuzzi, Co-Founder and CSO at Remesa OnlineAcquired by EBANX; Adhamar Milani Neto – Founder and CEO at KOVI, and Doug Storf – Founder and CEO at Swap, among others.
The advantage of being an Atman LP, as opposed to regular angel investment, is that these founders have a “safe” place to stay away from their peers.
“There’s a limit of credibility that we can bring to the table with your board or with your executive team, so we try to make sure that we’re one of the most conducive places for real intellectual debate when we’re making money together,” Sorrentino said. “It’s a community-supported fund.”
It’s also a matter of convenience, the couple says.
“A lot of founders are still running companies and don’t want to be VCs,” Dias said. “There are a lot of K1s, their tax situation is going to be messy. In this way we maintain operational efficiency.
The company’s investment theory, according to Sorrentino, is to target companies run by second- or third-time founders to plan a cash burn to profitability.
Atman, the pair say, wants to back pre-seed and seed-stage startups that “act as Series A.”
“They don’t have to be afraid to have difficult conversations and they don’t have to worry about investor updates when they’re managing money more carefully,” Sorrentino told TechCrunch. “We believe. [fundraising] The next one to three years will be very difficult. We Don’t think we saw all the pain to come.
Despite the slowdown in venture capital, VC firms in Latin America continue to raise funds. Brazilian impact investor. Positive venture It has a target of $30 million in funding, of which it has raised $20 million so far. The new fund, Positive Ventures DIF II, is designed to invest in the early stages of technology companies “addressing huge challenges in the Global South”.Founder and CEO Fabio Kestenbaum
In August, Positive Ventures He announced the first investment made through the new fund. He co-led the pre-seed round with the Cooperative Fund. RoofA Chilean marketplace that connects homeowners, solar panel installers and lenders. Subsequently, Chile’s former energy minister, Juan Jobet, joined the board and the Harvard Innovation Lab participated in that investment.
