The Upsides of Investing Beyond Unicorns

Big VC’s obsession with unicorn hunting has created a massive blind spot in American Entrepreneurship

A large class of high potential companies are not good candidates for institutional VC. For good reason. While these companies may have great growth potential, they are unlikely to reach a $1B+ valuation or produce the outsized exits needed to snatch VC victory from the jaws of defeat.

The problem isn’t Venture Capital. It’s that the tools VC uses to play “exit or bust” roulette are now the de facto tools for all early stage investing. While they may work for high risk / high reward investing, they fall flat–or don’t work at all–in other circumstances.

Investors have reacted to this by trying to get companies to match the tools, rather than create new tools that better match the companies. We only had a hammer. So we tried to turn every company into a nail. It isn’t working.

No offense to the billion dollar beauties who slay the startup runway. No shade to the outsized exits that make phrases like “private yacht” possible. All very sexy stuff. But there’s more to American entrepreneurship than hunting unicorns.

Put this into real world context: ~5% of companies on the Inc. 5000 list raise institutional VC. Meaning 95% of these high-growth companies are not. In 2024, this cohort of companies produced more than $300B in revenue and 800K jobs. This is a large and exciting asset that essentially sits in the VC blindspot. And, we are all missing out.

We don’t have the wrong companies. We have the wrong tools. At RevUp, we built a model specifically for these ‘VC-adjacent’ companies.

I recently hosted a 30-minute webinar that dives into why these companies are profitable, worthy, and impactful targets for investment. It’s a quick way to learn a little more about these kinds of companies and why they are not always a good fit for institutional Venture Capital*.

*Please note that at the end of the webinar I talk about our fund, our model, and our newest fund, RevUp Fund 2025. Each year, we accept a small number of new investors into our LP community. Fund 2025 is now accepting commitments. Review a full summary of the Athena Growth Fund 2025.

For more information about participating, email us at investors@revupfund.com. Please note: Fund 2025 can only accept investment from accredited investors*.

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More About RevUp Capital

RevUp Capital invests in B2B and B2C companies that are revenue-driven and ready to double down on growth. We deploy cash and capacity to help companies grow from $1-3M to $10-30M, quickly and efficiently, using a revenue-based model. Companies enter our portfolio with $500K-$3M in revenue, a strong growth rate, and a team that’s ready to scale. Our typical investment range is $300K-$500K.

More at www.revupfund.com

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