ABOUT THE MANAGING PARTNERS

AVG’s Basecamp Fund offers a portfolio of ~100 pre-seed and seed-stage investments diversified by sector, geography, and lead investor. Our investing efforts are led by four full-time Managing Partners based in three key venture hubs, including Catherine Lu and Andrea Funsten in San Francisco, Matt Scott in NYC, and Wayne Moore in Chicago. In this video, our MPs introduce themselves and discuss their approach to sourcing and evaluating potential investments.

SCHEDULE A CALL. Speak to one of our Senior Partners about the AVG Basecamp Fund.

A venture fund investing in seed and pre-seed offering high risks and rewards is a natural complement to a well-diversified portfolio. Successful early investments in private companies can be huge difference makers—both in wealth and impact. While many new startups won’t survive, the ones that do succeed have the chance to deliver outsized returns—with some home runs returning 10x, 25x, or 100x or more. As a recent example, early investors in Snowflake saw a 1500x return on the first day of public trading.

The AVG Basecamp Fund will attempt to maximize gain and mitigate risk inherent in this special venture category. We will build a large portfolio of ~100 deals over a year or so, diversified by sector and geography. Additionally, we will co-invest alongside established seed fund investors, accelerators, and incubators who are experienced and successful pre-seed and seed investors. We will also reserve 25% for follow-on investments in a “chase-your-winners” strategy.

ABOUT THE AVG BASECAMP FUND

~100 seed and pre-seed investments, diversified by sector, region, and lead investor
Invested over ~12-15 months, with a large reserve (25%) for deployment in the later rounds of top investments
Co-investing with established seed investors
10-year term; see our Fees document for our fee and carry policy
All deals vetted through our disciplined scoring and approval process
Minimum investment $25,000
Open to accredited investors; fund limited to $10M or 250 investors

THE TEAM

This is an actively managed fund, led by four experienced MPs. All have deep seed connections and communities (and were handpicked for these relationships) and are experienced seed investors with impressive portfolios.

Four MPs supported by full-time second chairs (full-time team of 8)
Located in startup hubs: SF, NY, and Chicago
Each team is responsible for ~25 seed investments
Supported by AVG, its 40 investment professionals, and support staff of 50
Complemented by a network of 4500+ AVG investors and a community and subscriber ecosystem of almost 600,000
Opportunities sourced through team’s own networks and connections, supported by 16 AVG Alumni Funds and Venture Clubs forwarding potential investments

A FEW OF THE TEAM’S RECENT DEALS

The companies below are from AVG’s existing portfolio but serve as examples of the types of deals that we would consider in assembling our AVG Basecamp Fund portfolio.

Anycart combines grocery shopping, cooking, and delivery in a highly convenient, easy-to-use online website.
CoScreen is a desktop collaboration SaaS solution for remote teams, enabling users to screenshare by drag and drop as if they were working on the same desktop, side by side.
RIOS is expanding the scope of what robots can do by making major improvements to the software and hardware of robotic arms
Arrive is an outdoor experience company that enables consumers to plan outdoor adventures and rent premium outdoor gear—saving customers money and storage space.
Tembo Health is a telemedicine platform bringing specialty medical care (e.g., cardiology and psychiatry) to specialty nursing facilities like nursing homes.

For more on sample companies, see our presentation at the right.

AVG’S SECRET SAUCE: AN UNSURPASSED NETWORK

We are uniquely positioned to identify and access a large pool of diversified and well-vetted seed deals. We have alumni connections to some of the country’s top universities—as well as established accelerators, incubators, and venture firms. We have an unusually large, connected, and experienced team getting up every day to access the very best pre-seed and seed opportunities. The team is supported by an AVG back office staff of ~50, who let the team focus on deals.

EXTRA BENEFIT: FREE ONE-YEAR MEMBERSHIP TO BASECAMP VENTURE CLUB

Investors in this fund will receive an automatic free membership to the AVG Basecamp Venture Club. There are several benefits to this membership.

Ability to make individual investments in select seed deals, increasing your exposure to a particular deal that resonates with you
Network and learn with others interested in pre-seed and seed investing
Additional investments have low minimum requirements: $10k (vs. $25K outside the Club)

THE BASECAMP PORTFOLIO THESIS

Difference-making opportunities. It’s likely most startups won’t survive, but those that succeed can offer outsized returns.
Portfolio complement. A seed fund like this one offering high risks and rewards is a natural complement to a well-diversified fund.
Depth and breadth. The AVG Basecamp Fund goes broad (across sectors, regions, and lead investors) and deep (~100 investments in your portfolio).
Shots on goal. Broadly indexing—investing in many deals—gives you a better chance of not missing the best-performing opportunities and losing out on the compounding effects of an early investment. And at the seed stage, valuations are at their most attractive.

NEXT STEPS

To schedule a call to learn more about the fund and AVG, just click the call button at top right.
If you wish to invest, you can commit here; minimum is $25K and maximum is $1M.
Once you make a commitment, our Investor Relations team will walk you through the investing process. It takes 20 minutes max for most people.
Note that you can also invest with IRA monies (for new investors, this takes ~3-4 weeks to execute).
Space is limited to 250 spots for accredited investors; first come, first serve.

For subscription documents and a description of our fees and performance, see documents at the right

AVG Basecamp 2021

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