Venture Capital 2.0
What we've spent the last year building at Odin
Hi folks, Patrick Ryan here from Odin. We make it radically more efficient to discover & invest in VC syndicates and funds.
Today is roughly one year since we launched our very first special purpose vehicle (SPV) for a customer. We have kept things fairly low-profile until now.
I’d like to share more on what we’ve been building.
Launching an investment firm should be like setting up a Shopify site.
Investing should be like buying or selling anything else online. It needs to be smoother, more flexible and more collaborative.
Now, with Odin, it is.
Mary and I started on this journey by running our own angel syndicate. We were trying to write ~$50k cheques into companies and funds we liked, with our friends. We needed a tool to pool our money into a single legal entity, in order to meet minimum cheque sizes.
There was no fully digital, cost-effective solution in Europe that handled everything we needed (S/EIS tax relief on UK deals, notaries in places like Germany, regulatory umbrella, banking, accounting and more).
So we built one.
You can now launch a deal with Odin in as little as 24 hours. There are no up front costs, and on a $50k deal it costs $2.3k.
It makes investing as easy as… guacamole?
In the last twelve months, we have helped 50 syndicate leads collect funds from over 2,000 people. They’ve syndicated over 100 investments into some incredible companies, alongside top VC firms like a16z, Founders Fund, YCombinator, Index Ventures, LocalGlobe, Speedinvest, GFC, Lightspeed, Earlybird and many more.
What excites me most is the people we bring together. People have met and started syndicates via our community. Two of them even live together now!
They’re supporting tenacious founders doing things like asteroid mining, neuromorphic computing, carbon sequestration, DAO tooling, software for algae production, 3D printing, and novel cancer treatments.
High risk, high reward investments in smart, ambitious people building a better future.
We’ve deployed about $20 million so far, into companies everywhere, from Singapore to Spain.
New features: invest in funds via feeder SPVs; instant payment reconciliations; per-investor carry; global deal flow
By focusing on the hardest place to make money as a fund administration provider (small angel syndicates), we are building a robust, scalable product that solves problems for GPs up and down the value stack.
Here are some of the features we are especially proud of:
Multi-currency, instant payment reconciliations
The moment your money hits our account, you get notified. We currently support 50 currencies, with more coming.
Invest in funds via feeder SPV’s
You can pool capital to meet minimum LP cheque sizes, giving more people access to venture capital funds. This lets anyone eg. build a well diversified startup portfolio via 5 funds for as little as $5,000
Unlimited investors
Got 100 friends who want to put $2k each into a Series A deal? Go for it.
Charge (and share) carried interest and deal fees on a per deal and even a per investor basis.
Reward your network based on who has added value to a deal, by helping with DD, introducing specific LP’s, or anything else you choose.
Global deal flow
Discover and co-invest in syndicates and funds led by experienced investors in Europe, Africa, Asia and (of course) the USA.
Founders: we’ve got your back
Founders can also use Odin to roll up angel investors into a single entity. This solution allows you to keep your cap table clean and simplify governance. You can proxy voting to one person (usually the chairperson, or one of your angels). And you can accept investments as low as $1,000. For UK founders, we also take care of issuing your S/EIS 3 forms to the investors in the SPV.
This is all done at a fraction of the price of a crowdfunding platform - $1k plus 1.9%, capped at $2.5k per deal. There’s no VAT payable either.
You’re welcome.
You can collect funds quickly and compliantly, and track all your investments as they land. We also perform fully digital KYC and AML checks on all your investors, which is handy if you’re dealing with large numbers of angels you don’t know well.
What’s next?
Our mission is to build more companies the world needs. We are starting by making the private markets more efficient. This means building radically better digital infrastructure for innovation; for founders and investors. We have some truly unique products and features planned.
At the moment though, we are laser focused on doing one thing very well - SPV-powered syndication.
It is still very early for Odin. To quote Bill Gates:
Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.
It has been a fantastic year one. We are excited to see where the next ten take us.
PR
Interesting and Funny Stuff
Things I’ve read recently that made me lol or go hmm.
He has a point
Diamond hands? How about Molten Iron Hands
There is no such thing as data
Good piece from the consistently excellent Ben Evans.
He argues that all the hype about data and privacy is pretty meaningless, since data itself is meaningless outside of narrow contexts.
We are hiring (entry level roles)
If you are a serial founder or operator with a few exits, come be our intern.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day
Let’s be honest; nobody really knows what they’re doing, do they?
Risk Warning
Investing in start-ups and early stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. Odin is targeted exclusively at investors who are sufficiently sophisticated to understand these risks and make their own investment decisions. You will only be able to invest via Odin once you are registered as sufficiently sophisticated. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.
Join Odin Limited is an appointed representative of Aldgate Advisors Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 763187).
But... what burrito did he get?