It all started with a frustration tweet:
The most opaque part of the venture ecosystem is figuring out who is investing in what early. Many Angel or Pre-Seed rounds are not publicly announced, and not all investors are included when they are. Most of these rounds are done on SAFE notes or other securities that don’t require SEC reporting, so there is no public record of these transactions. I get notices on these fundings in WhatsApp groups, Slack communities, Twitter, and other messaging platforms, but these are not databases that are easily searchable or provide notifications. After 25 years of investing early-stage in over 200 companies, this always struck me as a missed opportunity.
Why would I want to know who else is investing early-stage?
- For investors I respect, I would like to know what they are investing in.
- For companies I am invested in, I would like to know when other investors join.
- What are the trends in early-stage valuation, terms, instruments, etc.
- If the round is still open, the company fits my thesis, and investors I respect are investing, I may want to reach out to the company.
Since it is easier to build database applications today, I decided it was time to build what I have been wanting for so long. So, after about an hour, I sent another tweet:
Today, we have a landing page with a waitlist on www.checksiwrote.com. We will be launching in Q1 ’24. The main features will be:
- Ability to enter any investment you have made, terms, company, etc.
- Search for investors by company.
- Search for sectors and see who is investing.
- Follow investors and companies to get notifications when new investments are recorded.
- You must contribute investments to get access to the database.
- The primary user would be an accredited angel investor, pre-seed venture fund or angel group.
Having transparency into which investors are writing which checks can provide valuable insight into emerging trends, promising startups and deal flow opportunities.
A database of checks written could provide the following benefits:
• Deal flow – See which investors and companies are actively doing deals, which can lead to new investment opportunities.
• Market insights – Understand what technologies, business models and sectors investors are most interested in.
• Networking – Identify common investment interests that can form the basis for collaboration between investors.
• Investment benchmarking – Compare your investment decisions to those of other investors to gauge deal quality.
• Investment syndicates – Form syndicates with investors who have made similar bets in the past.
We have heard that creating such a database faces challenges in getting investors to contribute information about their investments. Privacy concerns, competitive pressures, and deal exclusivity can disincentivize sharing. We expect investors with these concerns to not participate in the database. The value I would gain from such a database outweighs any competitive or privacy concerns my firm has, so we will contribute. It is worth building to see how many investors also value these insights.
In summary, having visibility into which investors are writing which checks for which companies has the potential to provide valuable market insights, fuel deal flow opportunities, and foster greater collaboration between investors – with the right incentives and safeguards can convince investors to contribute information openly and transparently.
Time to build!
Some sample trend reports:
