1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Raoul Maier of Eudemian Ventures (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What about fund size and check sizes? What are the sizes of funds and checks you are writing? 

Raoul Maier: I can’t talk about the specific fund size because our account is still not closed and it’s changing all the time. In terms of check size, we are writing up to $250,000 as an initial check and up to $1 million in total including follow-on.

It’s a typical seed fund size but not typical for a post-seed thesis because we usually get follow up on larger early-stage funds that we partner with that bring us in as a value-add partner. We also bring them in if the lead is not in place. That’s our strategy. 

Sramana Mitra: Just to be clear, your post-seed strategy is on a new term sheet and a new valuation? You are not putting $250,000 on the same terms as the fees?

Raoul Maier: Yes, exactly. 

Sramana Mitra: Let’s do some examples of what you have invested in. Talk about when you encountered them and what the situation in the company was. What drew you to the company? How did you find them? What was it about them that made you write the check? 

Raoul Maier: Let me start by giving you an overview of our portfolio right now. We started investing about a year ago. We’ve done six investments so far. There is a common thread across all of them.

One company we invested in is called Grin. They are the leading influencer marketing tool in the market today. They are serving a complex problem in the market. They help millions of SMB type businesses in reaching hundreds of millions of consumers by using between 10 to 20 million influencers and micro-influencers. It’s a very complex ecosystem and they are solving that both not just from a sourcing point of view but also from an operations point of view.

We love that business because we believe in that market. Another one we invested in is called Underground Cellar.

Sramana Mitra: Before you move on to the next one, let me ask you these questions. What did they have when they came to you? Why did they come to you? What was the situation? 

Raoul Maier: We are a new fund and so we needed to establish the type of top tier brand to entice future unicorn founders to reach out to us first. The way we source at this stage is via our trusted networks of other VC funds, and also the introduction of strong angels in the ecosystem who introduce us to those deals. That’s how we source at this point.

With Grin, there was already a term sheet in place by a large fund called Bullpen Capital. They are the leader in the post-seed stage today. We have a similar thesis except for the fund size differences. That is how we got introduced there. 

This segment is part 2 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Raoul Maier of Eudemian Ventures
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