In August 2018, I decided to invest in 50 startups over the course of 3-5 years. My plan is to deploy $10,000 in capital in 50 startups, averaging $200 per deal, and the annual CF regulation limit is $2800/year (14 investments a year.) For comparison, historically, accredited individuals investors have to put $25,000 per investment.
By the numbers, I’m a better-than-average angel investor and venture capitalist, but still on a journey to enter the top quintile. As of August 28, 2020, of my investments that have had follow-up raises, I’ve experienced 76.46% on average over 7 investments since 2017. (Of note, 4 investments have not had follow-up funding so they are not included in return calculations.) This averages to >20% IRR every year, compounded (1.2^3=172.80%.) Compare to other investments such as low-fee index funds (7% historically,) real estate (10% leveraged,) or other VC returns (median VC of 11.7%, SeedInvest’s 18%, or Benchmark Capital’s 7% for barely in business VC and 30% for a top tier fund.)
I invest as an individual and also work with multiple venture funds. If you’re working on a company that fits my thesis, feel free to drop me a line at mail@muhanzhang.com. The following deal memos will give you a taste of how I think.
- INVEST is companies I have money in,
- MISSED is missed connections (companies I would have put money in, but couldn’t due to crowdfunding regulation),
- PASS is companies I passed on:
INVEST (21)
2017
- WhereBy.Us, 2017-07
- Invested at $5MM pre-money valuation, now valued at $15MM, representing. Total d(x): 200% increase.
2018
- Inside.com, 2018-08
- Invested in a convertible note with $15MM valuation cap, no raises since August 2018. Latest investor update Q1 2020, still alive. Total d(x): unknown.
- NowRx, 2018-08
- Invested at $2 a share, then again at $3.45 a share in Jan 2020. Total d(x): 72.5% increase.
- HyperSciences, 2018-08
- Invested at $3.84 a share, raising another round as of Aug 2020 at the same price. Total d(x): 0%.
- KingsCrowd, 2018-09
- Invested at $1.12 a share, last trade on NetCapital was $1.80 in March 2020. Total d(x): 60.74% gain.
- Pongalo, 2018-10
- Invested at $8MM valuation, no raises since. Latest investor update Q1 2020, still alive. Total d(x): unknown.
- 20/20 GeneSystems, 2018-10
- Invested at $3.53 a share, last raised a round at $4.40 a share in May 2020. Total d(x): 24.64% gain.
- SapientX, 2018-11
- Invested at $2.50 a share, $5MM valuation, now raising at $0.64 a share, $7MM valuation, but possibly did stock splits. Total d(x): 40% gain.
- Smilelove, 2018-11
- Invested at a $9MM valuation, no raises since. Latest investor update Q3 2019, still alive. Total d(x): unknown.
- SeatAssignMate, 2018-11
- Invested at $8MM valuation, currently raising at $20MM valuation. Total d(x): 150% gain.
2019
- Loop, 2019-09
- Invested at $8.5MM valuation, no raises since. Latest investor update Q2 2020, still alive. Total d(x): unknown.
2020
- Event Hollow ($6m), 2020-05
- Rentberry ($9m), 2020-05
- ARdVRk ($10m), 2020-06
- CodeCombat ($25m), 2020-07
- Contiq ($9M), 2020-07
- StartEngine ($140m), 2020-08
- Nada ($12m), 2020-08
- Solace ($6.5m), 2020-08
- GroomIt ($6m), 2020-09
- Rad Intelligence ($5m), 2020-09
MISSED (7)
2018
2019
2020
PASSED (54)
2018
- Death & Co (2018-07)
- Raised 2.15MM on a $13MM valuation. No further raises since.
- Black Point Seafood (2018-09)
- Raised $478k on $9MM valuation. No further raises since.
- iSport360 (2018-11)
- Failed at fundraising at a $4.875MM valuation.
- DoneGood (2018-10)
- Raised $722k on $5MM. No further raises since.
2019
- Digital Brands Group (2019-01)
- Raised $3.2MM on $35MM valuation. Raised another round January 10th, 2020 at identical valuation.
- Monogram Orthopaedics (2019-03)
- Raised $14.5MM on $21.25MM valuation. Raising another $7MM right now on their own site, not on a platform. Their fundraising page is broken at time of writing.
- Cytonics (2019-04)
- Raised $486k at $32.4MM valuation. Just closed another round raising $653k on a $46MM valuation in 2020-09.
- Osiris (2019-06)
- Raised $306k on $2.5M valuation. No further raises since.
- DADA (2019-06)
- Failed to raise money from what I can see. No further raises since.
- Gali Health (2019-06)
- Raised $781k on $12MM valuation. No further raises since.
- Vinty (2019-06)
- Failed to raise money on a $3M valuation from what I can see. No further raises since.
- Taste (2019-06)
- Raised $727k on a $3MM. No further fundraising since.
- ASX (2019-06)
- Raised $761k on $25MM. No further fundraising since.
2020
- Trust Stamp ($25m), 2020-05
- SnapStrat ($6.5m), 2020-05
- Miso Robotics ($80m), 2020-05
- CellarStash ($6m), 2020-05
- NanoVMs ($12m), 2020-07
- VasoGnosis ($4m), 2020-07
- Mighty Quinn’s (No Deal Memo, Passed Pretty Quickly)
- Hitch (No Deal Memo, Passed Pretty Quickly)
- Winc ($110m), 2020-03, retrospective
- Sene (No Deal Memo, Passed Pretty Quickly)
- Cherry (No Deal Memo, Passed Pretty Quickly)
- Thuzio (No Deal Memo, Passed Pretty Quickly)
- Bext360 ($7.75m), 2020-08
- Kingmaker Ops ($7.75m), 2020-08
- Caliber Co ($130m), 2020-08
- Legion (fund), 2020-08
- Graze ($23m), 2020-08
- Terracycle ($24m), 2020-08
- Piestro ($6.02m), 2020-08
- BlissDivorce ($8m), 2020-08
- Hidrent ($3m), 2020-08
- Vivoo ($15m), 2020-08
- Elemeno ($18mm), 2020-08
- CityZenith ($7mm-$50mm), 2020-08
- Swipeby ($12.5m), 2020-08
- HelloWoofy ($9m), 2020-08
- Streamlytics ($20m), 2020-08
- ThisWay ($25m), 2020-08
- Dollaride ($8m), 2020-08
- Beanstox ($15m), 2020-08
- Groundfloor ($73.9m), 2020-08
- Kiwibot ($19m), 2020-09
- Makeba ($30m), 2020-09
- Gatsby ($25m), 2020-09
- Alphaflow ($40m), 2020-09
- FuelGems ($4.5m), 2020-09
- HeroClip ($4.75m), 2020-09
- Genesis AI ($4.75m), 2020-09
- QuantmRE ($8m), 2020-09
- Juked ($8.5m), 2020-09