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 for your continued trust and support,

Matt Wilson

Founder & Managing Director | Allied Venture Partners

Not an LP? Click here to join the Allied Venture Partners syndicate.

Team Updates

• Our core team includes Steve, Melinda, Brendan, and Colton.

• The Allied 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. Thank you to all those who have participated.

New Deals

• We currently have one investment opportunity open and plan to launch another by the end of this week. Syndicate LPs will receive the invitation by email.

• New LPs can join the Allied syndicate and gain access to our dealflow at no cost by clicking here.

Portfolio News

• Share completed the REACH Canada program, winning the award for top company. The team has since started ramping growth across its various US markets – exciting times!

• Fonbnk announced a new strategic partnership with Telegram and will now integrate directly into Telegram Wallet, unlocking distribution to the world’s fourth-largest messaging app with over 1 billion monthly active users.

• GroWrk set a new all-time record for Q1 sales revenue. Carlos and the team exemplify the effective use of AI tools to cut costs and enhance margins.

• Thank you to Plug and Play for the invitation to speak about angel investing and venture capital at your recent investor dinner.

• I’d also like to extend a big thanks to Sean O’Hara for hosting me on the Durable Entrepreneurs Podcast. You can listen to our discussion on Apple or Spotify.

Industry Insights

The venture market's current paradox reveals itself daily in our deal pipeline: robust founder activity meets structural fundraising paralysis.

While we see a dozen startup pitches daily—a healthy pace that reflects entrepreneurial resilience—I’ve noticed an alarming pattern emerging that is reshaping our approach to investing.

The 2021-2022 vintage is haunting today's fundraising landscape. Companies with genuinely attractive fundamentals are discovering that their cap tables have become their greatest liability.

Consider a recent example: a B2B SaaS company generating $2M ARR with 90% gross margins and 10% monthly growth—metrics that would typically command immediate attention.

The team is now seeking to raise $3M at $35M post, yet this company remains uninvestable, trapped by a $20M pre-money valuation from 2021 when they raised over $5M in SAFEs and were generating just $60k ARR.

This structural mismatch reflects the immense downstream consequences of undisciplined capital deployment during the bubble years. Founders who accepted overly large rounds at inflated valuations (while still searching for product-market fit) now face an impossible choice: accept a significant down round or remain frozen in fundraising limbo.

The VC math is unforgiving—today's market comps (excluding YC) suggest a $20M pre-money ceiling for this company. However, founders are under pressure from existing stakeholders to avoid dilution pain. In fact, I’ve heard stories of some investors instructing founders to “slap AI on the company” so they can mark it up – more egregious bubble behavior.

I don’t entirely blame founders for what happened in 2021—it's human nature to take money when people throw it at you. Rather, it's the systematic failure of investors who prioritized deployment speed over disciplined underwriting, leaving founders to navigate the wreckage years later.

This dynamic is creating a bifurcated market where quality opportunities command premium access while yesterday's perceived "unicorns" struggle for basic survival.

For disciplined capital allocators, today’s environment offers both challenges and opportunities—distinguishing between fundamental quality and structural impediments has never been more critical.

As a reminder, our Core Investment Values since Day 1:

Read our investment thesis one-pager, available here.

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