RevUp Capital's Athena Growth Fund 2022 is actively investing. AGT2022 is RevUp's 6th fund since our launch in 2016. Many things have changed, but not our focus on being long term, strategic partners to our portfolio.
Many revenue-based investors use a high-volume, transactional, bank-like model. From the beginning, we wanted to be more to the companies we serve through RevUp. Some of this is just DNA, tied to our own history as founders and then our early experience as seed stage investors into 80+ companies. And today, six RevUp funds later, our approach remains high touch, low-volume, and about as far from transactional as you can get. Smart money is good money, whether it’s equity or not.
The RevUp Model
RevUp Capital is a global leader in revenue-based, equity-alternative investing. Since 2016, RevUp has invested into fast-growing, revenue-generating companies with non-dilutive capital and world-class support. RevUp was one of the first in the world to bring RBF to earlier stage companies. We remain one of few that use a high touch, portfolio-based model—a stark contrast to the high-volume, transactional models of many others in the space.
We invest into B2B and B2C companies with revenue traction, a solid growth rate, and a strong team. Our focus: Give our companies better odds of moving up the $1M-$10M growth curve. If you've done it, you know how hard it is. If you haven't (but want to), having the right strategic investors along for the ride is critical to success.
RevUp Investment Basics:
- Avg investment of $350K-$500K
- Dedicated support from RevUp's in-house Growth Platform and it's full time operating team
- Two deal structures: fixed-multiple Revenue Contract and Repurchasable Equity
- Return window of~3-5 years post investment
- Best-in-class leadership support from RevUp management, experienced business builders with investments into 130+ companies over the last decade
- 60% of RevUp investments since 2018 made into companies led by woman or a brown or black founder. We believe in you!
- Backed by a diverse group of Limited Partners who support the RevUp portfolio throughout the lifecycle of our investment
- Strategic expertise to help our companies build the path to where THEY want to be
Selection Criteria
- Companies ready to grow to $10-15M in revenue in 3-5 years
- Annual revenue of $500K - $3M
- Companies ready and able to build a more scalable marketing and sales engine
- Strong leadership team with proven execution ability
- Solid underlying unit economics and/or a path to profitability
We invest stand-alone or in tandem with other capital. What matters is that your capital strategy is aligned to your growth goals.
We select investments on a rolling basis. If you are interested in being considered for investment, or wish to request a screening meeting, please complete our prescreening form or send your current investment deck.
Cash + Capacity: The RevUp Growth Platform
RevUp's high-impact model combines cash investment with hands-on support to help companies build a stronger, more scalable marketing and sales engine.
Building this engine quickly and efficiently is critical, especially as companies move from early traction to sustainable growth—a time when missed opportunities and market-facing errors can make the difference between success and failure. The Growth Platform is an essential function of the RevUp Organization, led by senior team members. Our work has dual focus: align growth strategy with best-in-class technique WHILE building the infrastructure a company needs to support growth at scale. It remains our observation that revenue-based investing for early stage companies tracks to a transactional, bank-like model. From the beginning, we set out to provide a high level of strategic value to the companies we were investing into. Today, ours is still a high touch, portfolio-based model, which stands in stark contrast to the high-volume, transactional models of others in the space. This remains our primary differentiator in the market. It’s why some companies choose us, or why they don't.t!
Why? RevUp invests into companies as they strive to move from initial market traction to $10-20M in revenue. This curve is the great equalizer in business building. An abysmally small number of companies ever achieve $10M+ in revenue.
At the bottom of this curve companies must tackle the day-to-day demands of running a business while simultaneously deciding what add-on next. Holding steady simply isn’t enough to bend the curve. Injecting cash and capacity at this inflection point hits this problem head-on. Our Growth Platform is an integral part of our model and a major reason why founders choose RevUp as a strategic investor. Take a deeper dive on the platform here.
Athena: Goddess of Wisdom
The goddess Athena was renowned for her good counsel, prudent restraint, and practical insights. While these values are often absent in traditional fundraising rhetoric, they are core to RevUp’s model and a driving factor of our success.
Rather than “hunt unicorns,” we invest into companies that have the potential to grow from early traction to $10-$20M in annual revenue in 3-5 years. In choosing investments, we select companies that meet a proven market need and work with founders with strong execution skills.
We think the Goddess Athena would agree: these are great companies led by great founders.
Bonus Material
RevUp's Thesis and History (A quick video from January 2021. Not brand new, but neither are we).
Meet Our Q2 2021 Investments
Things to Know When Considering a Revenue-Based Investment (a primer to help founders understand the pros and cons of revenue deals)
3 Revenue Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make If you are thinking about revenue based funding, make sure you understand your own revenue patterns!
(Un)Founded Season 1 and 2 (a podcast about biz building produced by RevUp Partner Melissa Withers)
More at www.revupfund.com)