Bullpen Capital recently announced its “largest ever” funding round at $145 million.
Uncertain market conditions have plagued venture capital firms in 2022, but Bullpen has reportedly managed to maintain operations with their “unique” post-seed investment approach.
As noted in an update shared with CI, Bullpen claims they “avoided much of the market pitfalls with smart investments in companies with growing revenue in burgeoning industries, like FanDuel and Draftea in sports betting, Roofr in blue collar SaaS, and Havenly in the influencer/creator economy.”
Finding industry outliers, focusing on diverse founders, “their unique post seed approach $15 million more than last year.”
For the last decade, Bullpen has reportedly “funded 100+ companies.” They claim to “do one thing, and we do it well.” That being, post-seed financing “for people and companies that have found that special product-market fit but are overlooked for no good reason.”
Together with founders, Bullpen aims to help “build the next generation of great businesses.”
As reported by the WSJ, the fund, the company’s sixth and largest to-date, indicates increasing confidence from Bullpen’s supporters in its skill/expertise when it comes to identifying solid/high-potential initiatives among startups. These smaller startups may have been overlooked by other investors—particularly during the last year’s volatile/chaotic markets. This, according to Paul Martino, the firm’s co-founder and general partner.
As noted by its management, Bullpen Capital “invests in post-seed companies that have achieved product-market fit, but have not yet proven sufficient market scalability to raise a major VC round.”
They invest in companies that “have an operational plan to hit big milestones within a 12-month period, and we work closely with the companies in our portfolio to develop this early traction into large, sustainable businesses.”
According to the firm, seed financing is now “more of a process than an event, with multiple rounds of investment layered into the early stages of startup companies.”
The “post-seed” stage is often “the inflection point of value,” the last lean money in before a “super-sized” A round.
Bullpen’s strategy aims “to provide leverage for founding teams, who can minimize dilution to maintain ownership and control of their companies, while retaining the option of choosing either a quick acquisition or raising major growth capital to go for a big win.”