Between $100-150,000 for later seed-stage investments and between $200,000-$300,000 for Series A investments, with considerable reserves for follow-on investments.
We concentrate our investing activities in the following sectors/industries:
Yes. Although Upstate NY is our primary geography, we also invest in NYC metro and other second and third tier emerging tech hubs around the United States. We also invest in Silicon Valley through relationships in our UPV Investor Network.
No, we are not responsible for managing other people’s money and don’t have any outside limited partners.
UPV typically requires three conversations with an entrepreneur, prior to making an investment.
The first conversation is a screening call for UPV to get to know management and see if the deal lines up with our investment criteria. We also like to make sure that we are in a position to provide value beyond the capital.
The second call is a more formal due diligence call, in which UPV discusses topics ranging from go-to-market strategy, product, financials, governance, and future exit strategy.
After we complete our due diligence, the third call is for UPV and management to finalize deal terms and then for us to start providing mentoring/coaching to management.
Throughout our due diligence process, we love to provide constructive feedback and advice to the companies that we are speaking with.
If a company has a deal room that includes financial model assumptions, cap table, corporate structure, contracts, etc., then that will help expedite our due diligence process.
If we are investing through a venture capital fund that has already completed due diligence and has an Investment Memo, then we are also in a position to move quicker.
Yes, UPV invests in both venture capital funds and member managed seed funds. However, we are shifting the majority of our investing activity to direct investments.
UPV does not invest in Fund of Funds.