Victor Fang gave a presentation on fundraising during COVID-19. He discussed how the pandemic has impacted markets and VC funding. While deals declined 16% in Q1 2020, some sectors like telehealth, online education and security saw growth. For crypto, regulations bring opportunities despite price fluctuations. Fang shared his company AnChain.AI and fundraising journey. He offered tips for startups in this environment, like focusing on "painkiller" products and maintaining relationships to find sweet deals. Networking, preparing well, and getting referrals remain important for fundraising success.
1. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
Victor Fang, Ph.D.
CEO & Co-founder
AnChain.AI , San Jose
Startup Fundraising During Covid-19
Berkeley Founders FireSide Talk
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2. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
Agenda
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● AnChain.AI Company Intro
● Fundraising Story
● VC & Capital Market Landscape Covid-19
● Fundraising Strategies
● Tips for the near future
● Open Q&A
3. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
Disclaimers
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1. My expertise is in computer science, NOT fundraising.
2. My experience may be biased: I’m a CEO that code.
3. I am on your side of the table!
4. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
Recap My 2019/9 Talk
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“Capital Winter is coming. Raise Your Funding ASAP!”
-- Victor Fang, Berkeley Founders Fireside, Sept 2019
7. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
Crypto Crime : The Inevitable Trend
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2% of Cryptocurrencies are illicit (MIT 2019):
Terrorism
Money Laundry
Ransomware
Crypto Jacking in Your Cloud
Breached Data Selling on DarkWeb
Ponzi Scheme Fraud
Sadly, 99% of enterprise SOC teams DO NOT equip w/
Incident Response for Crypto Threats.
13. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
3 Things You Help AnChain.AI
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1. BEI (FICO for blockchain) SaaS API Product is Selling 🔥!
- 20% Discount for Berkeley affiliated companies.
2. Customer Referral Program
- Upto $3,000 for successful referral!
3. Hiring Sales Team (USA & Asia)!
- $1,000 for successful referral!
16. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
Capital Winter, It is industry wise.
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Startup funding dropped 16% in 20q1
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Capital Winter, Blockchain and Crypto facing uncertainties.
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● The 2017 fundraising hype is the past : ICO / IEO
● Market getting more regulated, Good news for industry, Bad news for some.
● Bitcoin price failed to boost, even after halving.
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Market Opportunities During Covid-19 Crisis
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- DAU : 340% X growth!
- Major vuln in Q1. Acquired Keybase security.
- Eric Yuan, a great leader never wastes a good crisis.
ZOOM ! stock skyrocketed in 2020 🚀!
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Other Big Opportunities During Covid-19
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- WFH Infrastructure:
- Teleconferencing
- Cloud security...
- E-comm food delivery:
Weee!
- Online education
- Tele-healthcare
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Crypto & Blockchain Market Opportunities During Covid-19
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- FATF Compliance : deadline 2020/10
- The only way this industry can grow 10x.
- Stable coins:
- Tether is now #3 largest crypto, and #1 circulating crypto.
- DC/EP in China
- Facebook Libra
- JPMC embraces crypto vendors : Coinbase , Gemini.
23. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
7 Steps on Fundraising
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1. Find your founding Team
2. Prep BP
3. Pitch to VC’s : associate > principal > partner … each VC is
like a gigantic machine.
4. DD
5. TS
6. Negotiation
7. Investment doc and $ in the bank.
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1 - What has changed in Capital winter?
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● Vitamin or Painkiller?
● Less funding for Vitamin startups.
● Painkiller startups will not be impacted. Or, they can be
benefited.
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2 - What has changed in Capital winter?
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● Money is more expensive to raise.
● VC’s are slower.
● It may impact the valuation.
● Burn rate!
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3 - What has changed in Capital winter?
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- Summer usually bad for fundraising: VC’s on vacation !
- Is it still true for 2020?
- Prepare to pitch on Zoom!
- Video on. Eye contact.
27. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
What has NOT changed?
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● VC’s love sweet deals.
● VC’s money cannot sit idling for too long: LP and GP interests.
● Warm introductions always have higher conversion rate.
● Time to BUILD a NETWORK.
● Fundraising is NOT the goal. Get it done, and get back to work!
28. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
3 Smart Questions to Ask the VC
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1. What is your fund size?
2. What's your check size for startups like us?
3. How have you helped your portfolio startups similar to us?
29. Berkeley Founders Fireside 2020/6
3 Things You Help AnChain.AI
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1. BEI (FICO for blockchain) SaaS API Product is Selling 🔥!
- 20% Discount for Berkeley affiliated companies.
2. Customer Referral Program
- Upto $3,000 for successful referral!
3. Hiring Sales Team (USA & Asia)!
- $1,000 for successful referral!