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Image Credits:Wonder Ventures / Wonder Ventures team, from left, Valentina Rodriguez, Dustin Rosen and Taylor Bolhack
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Image Credits:Wonder Ventures / Wonder Ventures team, from left, Valentina Rodriguez, Dustin Rosen and Taylor Bolhack
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New engineering keep design depart — however , when it comes to venture capital support for some of these earliest idea , someone always has to be first . Dustin Rosen , managing partner atWonder Ventures , is happy to be that “ someone . ”
A fixture in the pre - seed investment funds scene in Los Angeles and Southern California for a ten , Wonder Ventures has backed nearly all of Los Angeles ’ unicorn , includingHoneyandWhatnot . Other noteworthy investment includeClutter , Modern Animal andTala .
“ I looked around LA in 2013 and saw that there was this awe-inspiring residential district , ” Rosen told TechCrunch . “ It was really becoming a tech player in its own right hand , but miss the early majuscule to aid support those company . company would get to a Series A level and go up to the Bay Area to kick upstairs from the prominent brand name funds , but that first million dollar was still — and I ’d argue even today in 2024 — too voiceless to follow by , and that ’s where Wonder Ventures come from . ”
Rosen has since added Valentina Rodriguez and Taylor Bolhack to the firm , which now has some fresh Washington to deploy , securing $ 102 million in committal across two monetary fund : a $ 57 million monetary fund 4 for pre - seed , and a $ 45 million late - microscope stage opportunity fund .
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Rosen has n’t made an investiture from Fund 4 yet , however , he did make one investment from the opportunity fund into the Series A of property tax rescue party Ownwell . The business firm will write checks between $ 1 million and $ 1.5 million , Rosen said .
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Over 60limited partnerssupport Wonder Ventures , including early employees and administrator from such companionship as Snap , Honey and ZipRecruiter , and come from those same LA and SoCal communities , Rosen tell .
Wonder Ventures is the latest to inject extra capital at the pre - seed stage , an area where Rosen and otherinvestors continue to be bullish . A few month ago , we saw more than half a dozen VC firm annunciate new finances — andmore since then .
“ Being a father , I desire to build this firm to cerebrate about what would an early founder truly want from the VC experience versus big monetary resource , ” Rosen said . “ This is when beginner demand the most deal - on experience , helping them get from zero to one . From an investment side , we love being the first investor in the company . We want to be the bank check that puts you in business , and no traction is not a problem . ”
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He also said that where other investors are focused on number and traction , Wonder Ventures ’ differentiates by being concenter on “ great founders and big markets , and we ’re not afraid to leap out in before you even build any product . ” In addition , Rosen wait for laminitis with domain expertise and unique , diverse experience focusing on area that others might not be looking at .
As to what Wonder Ventures can bring to the table , the business firm ’s Fund II , the first fund with institutional investors , has already returned more than twice its investor ’ Washington and is valued at more than 8.5x invest capital , Rosen suppose .
Meanwhile , the opportunity fund is Wonder Ventures ’ first , keep on a trendwe’ve seen in recent years of business firm wanting to underpin their successful portfolio companies as they senesce .
“ It ’s harder to get to the next round , ” Rosen said . “ It ’s really in focus on sustain our best companies . We have 120 company , and the opportunity investment company will look back across all those company at the Series A level . We ’re so early that we need to be given into what we think are the good opportunities at the still early stage . ”
New pre - seed investment trust are popping up everywhere
