Notation Capital is a first-check venture fund based in Brooklyn, NY founded by Nick Chirls and Alex Lines in 2015. The company focuses on very early-stage technical teams, often pre-market or even pre-product, primarily in New York, and provide capital and support to help go-to-market and scale the company.
Here's a look at the Notation Capital pitch deck from 2014, used to raise their Notation I fund (original $6M, oversubscribed at $8M).
2. OV ERV IE W
WHO WE ARE
FUND I: $8M "PRE-SEED"
FUND I: WHAT WE LEARNED
FUND II: $25M "FIRST-CHECK"
CASE STUDIES
NOTATION 2
3. ALEX
LINES
GENERAL PARTNER
NICK
CHIRLS
GENERAL PARTNER
Alex focuses on hard tech,
infrastructure, and product at
Notation. Alex is a software
engineer with experience in
distributed systems and scalability.
He has been building products and
companies in NY for over 10 years.
Nick focuses on product, customer
acquisition, and capital raising at
Notation. Nick was previously Head
of Seed Investing at betaworks, and
led product for several betaworks
projects as well as previous
startups.
NOTATION 3
4. WE ARE DEDICATED FIRST-
CHECK INVESTORS IN
TECHNICAL FOUNDING
TEAMS BUILDING CAPITAL
EFFICIENT INTERNET
COMPANIES IN NYC.
We've worked with dozens of founding teams at this very
early stage and are uniquely positioned in NYC to help
shepherd companies through this critical first year.
4
NOTATION
5. WE ARE A GROWING NETWORK OF COMPANIES AND PARTNERS
FOUNDERS
SHARON GOLDBERG MARISSA EVANS
JOEL WISHKOVSKY
IAN OWNBEY
ADAM FIELDS
AVI KARNANI
RO GUPTA
MIRIAM ALTMAN
ALANA BRANSTON PATRICK BURNS
ZACH SHERMAN
LAUREN LETO
SELECTED ADVISORS
ALEX CHUNG AMANDA PEYTON
CHRISTINA D'AVIGNON
ALEX RAINERT
CAMILLE FOURNIER
JON LAX
JOSH ABRAMSON
MATT HACKETT
JAKE LEVINE
5
NOTATION
6. TWO YEARS AGO
WE NOTICED AN
EARLY-STAGE
FUNDING GAP
IN THE NYC
ECOSYSTEM:
FUND I: $8M “PRE-SEED”
PROOF OF CONCEPT
·
· A new critical mass of real
technical and design talent,
with many founders spinning
out of successful NYC
startups to start their own.
·
· The seed firms that
launched 10 years ago were
raising much larger funds
and were no longer first
institutional money in.
·
· The NYC angel ecosystem
was not keeping pace with
Silicon Valley, creating
funding gaps at the earliest
stages. This is what we
started calling "Pre-Seed."
6
NOTATION FUND I
7. FUND I SUMMARY
·
· We built a framework that we
use to work with our portfolio
companies and help them
achieve first-year goals across
tech, product, recruiting, and
fundraising.
·
· We built the beginnings of a
powerful network of founders,
advisors, and LPs in NYC.
·
· We built a brand that is
synonymous with “pre-seed”
investing, stands for transparency
and conviction, and is now a real
asset to the firm.
·
· We built the foundation of a long-
term institutional firm.
WE PROVED THAT
WE CAN PARTNER
WITH EXCEPTIONAL
FOUNDING TEAMS, EARN
MEANINGFUL OWNERSHIP,
AND CONSISTENTLY
HELP THEM GET TO
INSTITUTIONAL SEED.
7
NOTATION FUND I
8. $5
$4
$3
$2
$1
$0
Q1 '15 Q2 '15 Q3 '15 Q4 '15 Q1 '16 Q2 '16 Q3 '16
FUND I SUMMARY (Feb 2016)
20
# of Investments
9*
Companies Raised
Subsequent Seed Capital
($???M+ Total)
$n
Avg Initial Investment
y%
Avg Initial Ownership
$x PRE
Avg Implied Initial
Valuation (in Millions)
PORTFOLIO
VALUE
QUARTERS/YEARS
FUND I COST
FUND I FMV
Company 1 (GMV)
Company 2 (GMV)
Company 3 (REV)
Company 4 (REV)
Notation Fund I data validates risk:reward ratio at the Pre-Seed stage.
* Of the remaining 11 companies, 2 are no longer operating (1 acquihire, 1 dissolution) and 9 are more recent investments that have not yet
gone back to market
8
NOTATION FUND I
9. A FEW THINGS
WE LEARNED
·
· The pre-seed category includes
a broad range of project stages,
from pre-product to early
customer and revenue traction.
·
· We better understand pre-seed
financing dynamics, and thus
ideal portfolio construction and
ownership targets for Fund II.
·
· We know healthy partnerships
require real care and we've put
in the work.
NOTATION FUND I 9
10. 180
135
90
45
0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
NYC ECOSYSTEM IN 2016
·
· NYC seed funds have
moved up the capital
stack in recent years,
while the number of
growth stage startups
is accelerating.
·
· "Pre-Seed" is now a
well defined funding
stage.
·
· Notation was early
to recognize this
trend and thus well
positioned to own this
stage in NYC, even as
more pre-seed funds
come to market.
FUND
SIZE
ENIAC
LERER VENTURES
FOUNDER COLLECTIVE
FIRST ROUND CAPITAL
COLLABORATIVE FUND
IA VENTURES
THRIVE CAPITAL
FORERUNNER
ACTIVE PRE-SEED FIRMS
NOTATION
BOX GROUP
3KVC
BROOKLYN BRIDGE
VENTURES
BETAWORKS
PRECURSOR VC
THE RISE OF NYC PRE-SEED
The early-stage funding gap in
nyc continues to grow while the
angel ecosystem remains muted.
SEED FUND GROWTH
BLUE APRON
CASPER
CLASSPASS
COMMONBOND
DIGITALOCEAN
GREENHOUSE
SOFTWARE
INVISION
JET
SEATGEEK
ORCHARD
PERCOLATE
APPNEXUS
ETSY
ONDECK
SHUTTERSTOCK
SQUARESPACE
TUMBLR
KICKSTARTER
MAKERBOT
MONGODB
VICE
ZOCDOC
WARBY
PARKER
STACK
EXCHANGE
FLATIRON
HEALTH
WEWORK
SAILTHRU
SHAPEWAYS
BONOBOS
BETTERMENT
BUZZFEED
COMPASS
OSCAR
HARRY'S
GENIUS
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
HANDY
DATADOG
GIPHY
JUSTWORKS
MANAGED BY Q
BARK & CO
CODECADEMY
DASHLANE
DIA & CO
GROVO
NAMELY
10
NOTATION FUND II
11. FUND II
STRATEGY
·
· Our dedicated first-check strategy
is working, so we don't plan to
change much other than right-size
the fund for the opportunity set.
·
· Continue to market ourselves as
dedicated first-check investors
focused on technical founding
teams, primarily in NYC.
·
· Continue to build out key parts
of the long-term Notation
foundation, including our brand,
advisor group, and founder
community.
$25M
Target fund size
$400K
Avg initial investment
$750K
Avg pre-seed round size
10%
Target initial ownership
1:1
Follow-On Reserves: Approx
30
Investments
3 Year
Investment period
11
NOTATION FUND II
12. OUR FUTURE
•
• A new wave of VC funds
are coming to market, and
disrupting venture from
below just like the seed
firms did ten years ago.
•
• We believe the opportunity
to be high conviction and
true first money in is just
as valuable as it was then.
Notation is in the early days
of building the firm that
defines this new category,
particularly in NYC where
the first-check funding gap
is most acute.
•
• Fund I is working so we’re
doubling down on Fund II,
and much longer-term as
a partnership and a firm.
We're looking to partner
with others that share our
long-term approach.
12
NOTATION FUND II