VentureWave leads US$40m investment in Funderbeam
VentureWave, an Irish-based venture private equity group committed to impact investing and supporting high-impact entrepreneurs, and Funderbeam, the angel investing and trading platform, today announced that they have agreed to enter into a transaction to create a leading global entity which will serve institutional and angel investors in venture deal execution and secondaries.
VentureWave will take an active and strategic leadership role in scaling Funderbeam’s ground-breaking technology across venture assets. The Group now has an evolved US market entry strategy through Vestiver, the institutional venture platform.
Following the completion of the transaction, the group will target the entire life cycle of global venture investments and secondaries, from early-stage angel funding until pre-IPO secondaries.
“This transaction creates a powerful platform to fast forward Funderbeam’s vision which is to serve venture investments across borders and create a unique secondary market for private assets. The timing of the transaction couldn’t be better – we are strong at a time when the market is ready for our solution,” said Kaidi Ruusalepp, Founder and CEO of Funderbeam.
“VentureWave’s investment in Funderbeam is a game-changer for the industry, shaping the future of venture markets and enabling access to global venture deals and secondaries. Together, we have the necessary assets, technology, and capital to take on the entire venture investment life cycle. This represents a transformative moment to put impact at the centre of the investment industry,” said Alan Foy, VentureWave Chairman.
“Private companies from venture investments have a long history of difficult liquidity. Our portfolio company, Funderbeam together with VentureWave allow venture backed start-ups to be liquid. This is a major breakthrough and the new liquidity will allow for GPs and LPs to more easily trade otherwise illiquid positions,” said Tim Draper, Founder of Draper Associates.
“Mistletoe is supporting impact companies. Companies that introduce change for the better in a way we live and do business. Funderbeam has been a pioneer in changing the way that the venture market works – democratising investments in startups and enabling exits when needed. Solution that puts founders first in their mission. It takes endurance and resilience to introduce novel models in the financial sector and we are very happy that the other impact investor, VentureWave, is joining in,” said Taizo Son, Founder of Mistletoe.
Funderbeam will continue to serve investor networks and provide Private Market as a service; ‘Angel Market’. Following the transaction with VentureWave, it will now additionally serve institutional clients – VC funds, family offices, brokers and investment banks. Until the transaction is approved by the regulators in the UK, Singapore and Estonia, no further corporate level actions and decisions will be made.
