Axios reporter Lucinda Shen highlighted Vera Equity, a new venture capital firm which recently raised $20 million for its first fund. This is significant because the firm is specializing in early-stage investments in a climate where first-time funds are struggling to raise capital. As Shen notes, debut fundraising for the industry is currently on the decline.
Vera Equity has already invested in 20 promising fintech businesses, including StellarFi and Tandym, and writes checks of around $500,000 for pre-seed to seed-stage companies. The firm has approximately half of the fund left to deploy and prefers B2B businesses with experienced entrepreneurs. Vera’s advantage lies in its executive network ties from True, the fund’s anchor investor. Vera Equity was co-founded by Michael Vaughan, former COO at Venmo; Jonathan Pomeranz, True Search partner and co-head of the Financial Services PracticeJoe Riggione and Brad Stadler.
“Founders can’t raise as much capital as they used to be able to,” said Pomeranz. “The bar is a lot higher. The result of that is founders with much higher conviction and commitment to doing it.”
Axios says Vera Equity’s success in raising funds and investing in fintech startups is a promising sign for the industry, as it is one of the few first-time funds to raise during a challenging time for fundraising.
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