Rafi Sands

30+ VCs Backing Marketplace Startups Below is a cross-stage, cross-sector mix of firms that back marketplace and platform companies early and support them as they grow. Consumer and platform investors Upfront Ventures 1752vc (Formerly Pegasus) BAM Ventures Forerunner Brand Foundry Ventures Maveron BoxGroup Greycroft Alumni Ventures Marketplace natives and network effects specialists FJ Labs NFX Great Oaks Venture Capital RiverPark Ventures Left Lane Capital First Round Capital Lerer Hippeau Precursor Ventures Seed partners building two-sided platforms early Founder Collective NextView Ventures Uncork Capital Slow Ventures Bling Capital Gaingels Initialized Capital Felicis Multi-stage firms backing marketplace winners at scale Accel Bessemer Venture Partners Lightspeed General Catalyst New Enterprise Associates (NEA) Kleiner Perkins Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) Founders Fund

77

16 Comments

🚀 $1B milestone: Fifth Wall's Value Creation platform has now delivered $1B in revenue to our portfolio companies by orchestrating partnerships between our 110+ strategic LPs and nearly 160 startups at the intersection of real estate and technology. This is what makes Fifth Wall different: we don’t just invest, we connect. From our earliest deals like Opendoor and Industrious to today’s AI-native category leaders, our ability to bridge the world’s largest real estate owner-operators with transformative technologies has become a repeatable engine of growth. In this first cut of my conversation with Virginia Drennen, who leads our Go-To-Market function, we cover: ☑ The origins of Fifth Wall’s model ☑ Why value creation in venture has to go beyond capital Part two drops Wednesday — where we dive deeper into: ☑ Case studies ☑ Lessons learned from building the most scaled value creation platform in PropTech 👉🏻 Watch the conversation below: http://bit.ly/46EGh0c

296

23 Comments

HealthVC x Lusha: Unlocking Smarter Fundraising and Sales Workflows We’re thrilled to announce our newest partnership: HealthVC has teamed up with Lusha to bring next-gen data and prospecting tools to founders, fund managers, and operators across our community. Lusha recently launched a powerful suite of AI-powered features that redefine how go-to-market teams research, prospect, and convert. Now those capabilities are coming to HealthVC Pro subscribers. ✨ With this partnership, you’ll be able to: Surface real-time, accurate, and compliant B2B contact data Use AI Prospecting Chat to instantly uncover new investor or customer leads Tap into CRM-triggered recommendations to stay one step ahead Turn insight into action with Sales Streaming, Lusha’s smarter, connected selling framework. But Lusha’s superpower isn’t just the AI; it’s that the AI sits on top of best-in-class data. That means every signal, every recommendation, and every lead is not just fast, it’s trustworthy. At HealthVC, we’re building more than a newsletter; we’re building the operating system for venture, and this partnership helps our members move faster, pitch smarter, and close better. Available now to all HealthVC subscribers, link in comments.

18

8 Comments

What I Look for in Early-Stage Founders (It’s Not Just Traction) Over the last few years, I’ve seen early-stage decks loaded with traction metrics: MAUs, GMV, CACs. Don’t get me wrong traction helps. But at pre-seed or seed, it’s rarely the dealbreaker. What matters more to me? → Clarity of thought — Do you deeply understand the problem you’re solving? → Founder-market fit — Why you? Why now? → High adaptability — Startups pivot. Founders need to listen, learn, and adjust. → Customer obsession — Are you talking to users or assuming their needs? Traction can be manufactured. Conviction can’t. I’ve backed founders before the product was live because their energy, execution mindset and insight into the space made it a no-brainer. If you're building with clear intent, I’d love to hear what you're working on. #FoundersFirst #AngelInvestor #EarlyStage #StartupTips #VCInsights #ConvictionOverConsensus

4

1 Comment