Allied Venture Partners

Hello Partners,

As a current or prospective partner, this newsletter provides exclusive insights into our investment strategy, portfolio companies, and industry trends.

Thank you again for your continued trust and support,

Matt Wilson, MBA

Founder & Managing Director | Allied Venture Partners

Team Updates

• Our core team, including Steve, Melinda, Brendan, and Colton, is finalized.

• The Scout and Advisory programs continue to expand with several new members each week, providing quality diversified deal flow from across Canada and the United States.

New Deals

• We closed our investment in Innerlogic. The team is halfway through Boston Techstars and performing exceptionally well. They also signed their second NHL team – the Pittsburgh Penguins. Thanks to all who participated in this exciting opportunity.

• We also closed our pro-rata allocation in Vint. This was our third time investing in the company, and it continues to be one of our top-performing portfolio companies.

• We have another exciting opportunity in the pipeline, launching later this week. Please keep an eye on your inbox.

Portfolio News

• Roqad had an excellent start to the year, signing their second-largest deal in company history. You will have received the latest KPIs and performance metrics by email in late March.

• Share had a very busy Q1 as they continue to grow and convert leads into customers. The team now has a clear path to profitability later this year.

• I had an excellent trip to Sydney, where I met with many of our local LPs, co-investors, and Founders. Thank you to everyone who joined us on March 21.

Industry Insights

As I reflect on the past three years running Allied, I am intrigued by the many observations and data points emerging towards the latter half of a four-year deployment period.

One of the most interesting phenomena I've witnessed is that the portfolio companies which took the longest to fundraise (and were the hardest to fill our allocation among LPs) often emerge as the most successful ventures (albeit still early).

This underscores the importance of non-consensus in venture capital, as the ability to identify promising opportunities that others may have overlooked provides the potential for top-decile returns.

I am grateful to those LPs who trusted our vision and diligence, even when the product or team may not have aligned with the consensus view. This is precisely the value that LPs seek from general partners – the skill to uncover hidden gems and the conviction to back them.

As we've seen with Airbnb and Uber (among others), where hundreds of early investors passed on these now-titans of their respective industries, the LPs willing to embrace the non-consensus path have reaped the greatest rewards.

However, we must also acknowledge the inherent challenge of running successful syndicates. In my experience, the need to reach a consensus among a group of LPs can often work against the power law dynamics that define venture capital.

For instance, when everyone must agree, the tendency is to gravitate towards the perceived "safe" choices rather than the truly disruptive and transformative opportunities with the potential for outsized returns. It is a delicate balance – being non-consensus to generate the best returns while also garnering enough consensus to fill the allocation.

As we move forward, I remain committed to our core investment thesis of identifying and supporting innovative companies and exceptional founders, even when the road may be longer (and the path less trodden).

Thank you for your continued trust and partnership.

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