Skip to content
Yonder
Investment criteria

The quick answer on fit.

Yonder invests first-check and pre-seed in marketplace and network-effect businesses, typically $50K to $100K at around $10M post-money and under.

Stage
First-check / Pre-Seed
Usually the first institutional capital into the company.
Check
$50K–$100K
Occasionally smaller when an allocation is constrained.
Valuation
≈ $10M or less
Usually around $10M post-money and under.
Company
Marketplace / Network
B2B, B2C, P2P, B2B2C, B2G, and Marketplace+.
A strong Yonder fit

A real transaction in a market that can get much bigger.

I care less about a perfect deck than whether the market, the founder insight, and the reason to transact are real.

  1. 01

    Marketplace or network effects are core

    The business gets more useful or defensible as supply, demand, participation, or transaction data grows.

  2. 02

    The market is large enough to matter

    The category can support a venture-scale outcome, including markets that technology is only now making possible.

  3. 03

    The transaction is meaningfully better

    Better access, speed, price, trust, workflow, convenience, or economics than the ugly workaround people use today.

  4. 04

    The founder has earned the insight

    A specific reason this team understands the market, the customer, or the supply better than everyone else.

  5. 05

    There is some evidence

    Transactions, revenue, GMV, signed supply, pilots, repeat use, a waitlist, or another credible signal that people care.

Marketplace+

The marketplace can sit inside a larger product.

Software, AI, services, logistics, compliance, payments, or financing can make the market work. The important part is that the network or transaction is fundamental to the business.

Read the Marketplace+ framework

Usually not a fit

  • Generic SaaS with no meaningful marketplace or network effect.
  • A directory or lead-generation layer with no reason to own the transaction.
  • A market with no credible path to venture scale.
  • A later-stage round where the main marketplace risk has already been priced in.
What to send

Clarity beats polish.

A short note or deck is enough if it answers the questions that matter.

  1. 01

    The market

    Who buys, who supplies, and what do they do today?

  2. 02

    The wedge

    Which side do you unlock first, and why now?

  3. 03

    The evidence

    What have real users, customers, or suppliers already done?

  4. 04

    The team

    Why are you the people who can unlock this market?

  5. 05

    The round

    What are you raising, and what will it prove?

Founder FAQ

Common questions.

Do I need a warm intro?
No. I review direct submissions, and a clear note beats a forced introduction.
Do I need revenue?
No. Real evidence can be transactions, pilots, signed supply, repeat usage, or another credible demand signal.
Do you invest outside the United States?
Great founders can be anywhere. Yonder generally invests in Delaware C corporations.
Do you invest in AI companies?
Yes, when AI helps create supply, improve a transaction, coordinate work, or deepen a real marketplace or network effect.
Will you invest in a SaaS-enabled marketplace?
Yes. That is often Marketplace+: software or another product that makes the marketplace work better.
What happens after I submit?
I review the market, team, evidence, and round. If the fit is there, the next step is a direct conversation.

Looks like a fit?

Send it.

Pitch Yonder