Moving fast up a revenue-fueled growth curve? Looking for non-dilutive funding and world-class support to double down on growth? If so, RevUp Capital might be right for you.
RevUp invests cash and capacity into B2B and B2C companies that are generating revenue, have a killer team, and plenty of room to run in the markets they serve. The fund uses a non-equity model to invest in a broad spectrum of revenue-driven companies, pairing cash investment and a science-driven process to turbocharge growth with the human capital to get it done.
With active investments in Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, RevUp was thrilled to make its first investment in Raleigh in June 2018. This month, RevUp is back in town to meet with companies and deepen the fund’s network in the region, as well as co-host a session on rethinking fundraising.
On October 30, RevUp Managing Director Melissa Withers, in collaboration with local host NC IDEA, will host “Why Equity-Only Thinking is Bad for Your Business” at Launch Bio in Durham. The event, which kicks off at 5pm, will feature a conversation about funding options less discussed (despite being most commonly used) and fundraising myths that can kill your company. Adding the operator perspective to this conversation is special guest Bill Spruill, CEO of Raleigh-based Global Data Consortium. (This event is free, but registration required at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/why-equity-only-thinking-is-bad-for-your-business-tickets-51144595863).
RevUp is also hosting open office hours for local companies. For meetings in Durham on 10/30, use this link to see schedule: https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/2506154/false#/invitation To request a meeting in Raleigh on 10/29, 10/30 and 10/31, please complete this prescreening form or drop a line to info@revupfund.com.
How RevUp Invests
RevUp invests in a broad spectrum of B2B and B2C companies that ready to hit a $10-12M run rate in a 2-3 years. This curve is important: companies at the top of the curve are more resilient, have greater access to resources, and more optionality in the market. And statistically, the faster a company moves up this curve, the more likely they are to survive (and thrive) long-term. For most companies at the beginning the curve, the need for growth resources is very high, while access to capital is often very low.
Also true for these companies is that nothing unlocks potential like the right combination of cash and capacity. This is why RevUp pairs cash investment with a science-driven process to accelerate growth and access to the RevUp Growth Team, an in-house group of talented people who’s sole mission is to execute growth activities on behalf of the fund’s portfolio companies.
How's it work?
RevUp deploys its growth team, at no additional fee, in tandem with its cash investment to expand a company's digital marketing capability. Under the direction of RevUp management, and in lockstep with company founders, the team evaluates, identifies, and then executes on a set of revenue-boosting growth opportunities. Trained across a full stack of tools, the growth team works with each portfolio company for ~12 month period following investment as part of our investment.
Rather than take equity, companies return investment through revenue over time. This motivates the growth team to be successful—if companies don’t grow, RevUp doesn’t make a return on its investment.
Withers and her partners launched RevUp in 2015 after many years of equity investing in early stage companies. Successful with that fund (89 companies, $70M raised, 7 exits), the team was frustrated by the constraints of the equity-only model. They launched RevUp to to invest in companies they loved, knew they could help, but in a way best describes as “exit agnostic.”
“For companies that are on path to an equity-driven exit, we usually fit between the seed round and the series A, where we boost growth without diluting founders or the early investors,” said RevUp Managing Director Melissa Withers. “But for us, exits are optional. If founders want to defer selling or raising larger rounds, or the company is in a market where the path to exit is less clear, that’s ok. Our goal is helping companies get to $10M in revenue in 2-3 years. We know that when a company gets there, good things happen, and founders have many more options. Getting there is a win for us, and for them.”
What kinds of companies are eligible?
RevUp selects for companies that have repeatable ways to generate revenue and solid month-over-month growth. Most companies come into the portfolio with $500K-$3M in revenue. Companies must have a high quality team with proven execution ability, the readiness to grow faster, and capacity to absorb resources.
What’s the Math?
RevUp typically makes a cash investment of $100-200K. In tandem, investee receive dedicated access to RevUp's Growth Platform and Growth Team for an intensive 12 month period post investment in conjunction with active support RevUp management, an experienced team with 130+ investments under management. Companies return investment for a fixed period of time (or, in the case of the lucky high fliers, until a cap is reached) with revenue a royalty contact ranging from 4-8%.
Here are a few samples from the RevUp portfolio to demonstrate the kinds of companies in which the fund invests:
RF Venue: Spectrum management SaaS and hardware platform that makes wireless pro-audio work and sound better (Boston)
MarketMuse: B2B SaaS platform that enables content creators to build more effective content, establish topic authority, and improve SEO (NYC)
Birdbrain Technologies: Ready-to-use robots and ready-to-build robotics kits for teaching STEM in a group/academic environments (Pittsburgh)
Nested Bean: Patented infant sleepwear that mimics human touch (Boston)
Global Data Consortium: Electronic identity verification for non-U.S. markets (Raliegh)
Postfly: Subscription fly fishing gear swag for the millennial angler (Boston)
Data Society: Data-science training for enterprise customers (Washington, D.C.)
Cortex: AI-powered social media content optimization platform for enterprise marketers to build and deploy content that inspires action (Boston)
To request a meeting, please complete this prescreening form.
The RevUp Philosophy
Nothing unlocks potential like the right combination of cash and capacity. This is why RevUp pairs our cash investment with a science-driven process to accelerate growth and the human resources to get it done. How's it work? We deploy the RevUp growth team to our portfolio companies as part of our investment to expand a company's digital marketing capability and bend a company's growth curve. Under the direction of RevUp management, and in lockstep with company founders, the team evaluates, identifies, and then executes on a set of revenue-boosting growth opportunities. Trained across a full stack of tools, the growth team works with each portfolio company for ~12 month period following investment as part of our investment. More at revupfund.com