VITALIZE Angels: Guide for Founders
$50K-$100K Investment from a Diverse Community
Leverage the connections and insights of a 500+ member community and our team at VITALIZE Venture Capital as you grow your startup
"VITALIZE Angels members want to leverage their network and expertise to help you succeed"
Rachel Cossar is the Co-Founder and CEO of Virtual Sapiens. VITALIZE Angels invested in her first round.
"As a portfolio company, you're championed, you get a lot of support, people are thinking about you, and at the end of the day, I think that is a very warming feeling in what can be a very cold world." - Rachel Cossar
Capital + Community
You want to raise capital from supportive investors and get back to building your startup.
We'll help you do just that, guiding you through every step of the fundraising journey.
The founders we back receive a $50k - $100k investment and get access to a diverse 500+ member angel community and an experienced team who has been investing since 2013, including investments into multiple unicorns.
And don't worry, the investment from our VITALIZE Angels comes as one line item on your cap table, with the entire process lasting 30 to 60 days.
Why VITALIZE Angels?
There are hundreds of angel groups around the world representing thousands of angel investors, so why work with us?
A few reasons:
- The support of a venture capital firm. Our team at VITALIZE Venture Capital runs VITALIZE Angels, giving you access to a vast network of investors and a decade worth of investing experience. Depending on performance and growth, some VITALIZE Angels companies may receive an investment in their next round from VITALIZE’s seed fund. Note: a follow-on investment from the VITALIZE fund is not guaranteed.
- Inclusion of non-accredited investors. With our innovative model, which leverages crowdfunding, non-accredited investors can participate in your round. What does this mean for you? A more diverse investor base that’s able to provide a wide variety of connections and insights.
- Invite your personal network. Founders are always welcome to invite their friends and family to join in the VITALIZE Angels vehicle!
- Expertise in WorkTech. Our angel community focuses solely on investing in B2B and B2B2C companies innovating in WorkTech. With this focus, we're able to provide you with relevant insights from our research and deal flow unique to this space.
Here's why Cullen Gallagher, Co-Founder and CEO of Lunch Payments, decided to work with us at VITALIZE Angels:
Your Most Helpful Investors
With the VITALIZE team and a diverse community of investors behind you, you'll be able to leverage our network throughout the life of your company, getting help with:
- Customer introductions
- Future financing + exit strategy
- Series Seed / A / B investor introductions
- And more!
We're here for you when you need it, every step of your journey.
But don't just take our word for it, here's what a few founders we've invested in had to say:
The team's been great. There's a very clear effort in the team looking for ways that they can support their portfolio companies, whether that's through promotion, on social media, getting to know the story, sharing the story more through a variety of different outlets, and I'll say, also, The Angel Network that VITALIZE has assembled is super active. People are genuinely curious about your business. They want to leverage their network, their expertise to help you succeed. - Rachel Cossar, Co-Founder, Virtual Sapiens
Well, first of all, we got two other investors via the VITALIZE Angel Group, which was great. So the network was fantastic. Secondly, we have people reaching out to us from the angel group offering to help, whether they want to be a user or just provide advice on certain industries so that's been great. And then with you guys, you've been amazing... whether it's connecting us with other founders, whether its potential users, or even when marketing us on your podcast which is very helpful for us. - Alex Damianou, Co-Founder, Open Axis
After the investment, we had so much outreach from the VITALIZE Angels investors on LinkedIn or emailing us and just congratulating us and offering support and a bunch of intros. So it's great to be part of that community now. - Andrew Luna, Co-Founder, Hound
How it Works
Each month, the VITALIZE team invites 1-2 companies to pitch to the VITALIZE Angels community. This is a 10-minute pitch followed by 10 minutes of Q&A, after which our investors have one week to express final commitments.
If any of the companies receive $50K+ of interest, the VITALIZE team then completes due diligence on each company, which typically takes less than one week if all materials are provided in a timely fashion. The good news is that you’ll only have to go through the due diligence process if there is enough interest for an investment!
Our Diligence Process
We invest in B2B and B2B2C software companies innovating in WorkTech. For companies that fit this thesis, here are the items necessary for diligence.
- Pitch deck
- Financial projections for the next 3 years (annual P&L)
- Historical P&L (monthly or quarterly since inception)
- Balance sheet (most recent)
- Cap table (including an outline of previous funds raised, if any)
- Term sheet if applicable and list of commitments (investors + amounts)
- Recorded 3-5 minute product demo if applicable
- List of board members if applicable (and how that is expected to change with this raise); list of top 2-3 advisors
- Towards the end of diligence, we will need a list of references (key employees, 1 investor, 1 board member if applicable, 1 customer if possible) whom we can reach out to for quick 10-minute phone calls; if other investors have conducted reference checks, we are happy to leverage their notes
- Anything else you deem relevant
Andrew Luna, Co-Founder of Hound, on the diligence process:
Working with Wefunder
After going through diligence and pitching our community of investors, companies that reach the minimum threshold of $50k from our community will move on to the deal close process.
The VITALIZE Angels deal close process is powered by Wefunder on the backend to enable a diverse set of investors (both non-accredited and accredited) to invest in our deals.
Once the $50K minimum is met, the founder will:
1) file a Form C (Wefunder helps)
2) submit financials (standard outputs from Quickbooks or similar)
3) wait 21 days to get their capital
The above three items are required with crowdfunded deals per SEC regulations. Wefunder and VITALIZE work with our founders to minimize the time and effort required for completion.
To be clear, the deals are NOT open to the public; we have a partnership with Wefunder in which they power the backend for our deals via private links that are only accessible by the VITALIZE Angels community. You are welcome to share the link with friends and family!
The VITALIZE Angels investment will show up as one line item on your cap table (which is standard for angel group investments).
Cullen Gallagher, Co-Founder of Lunch, on going through crowdfunding and working with angel investors:
The Team Behind VITALIZE Angels
Gale Wilkinson
Gale Wilkinson is the founder and Managing Partner at VITALIZE. Previously, Wilkinson founded IrishAngels, one of the largest angel groups in the world. Gale has led $75M+ in early-stage deals across 125+ startups. Her experience prior to VC includes founding two failed startups, consulting for new product launches with Nielsen, and strategy with Orbitz.
Caroline Casson
Caroline Casson is a Partner at VITALIZE, where she spends her time sourcing potential investments, assisting portfolio companies, and managing the due diligence process for VITALIZE. Prior to joining Vitalize in 2018, Caroline worked for GE Ventures in San Francisco where she helped incubate and operate a startup in the drone space.
Waela Fellnert
Waela is the Community Manager at VITALIZE, where she's growing the largest, most diverse angel investing community in the world. She is an Executive Assistant for VCs and startup founders, focusing on project management and marketing. Before that, she conducted training and managed resources as a Project Development Officer at the Department of Education in the Philippines.
