The ‘dating app’ for startups
Online platform Qodeo is helping entrepreneurs match with their ideal investor
Finding the right investor can feel a bit like dating, says business consultant Simon Glass; “entrepreneurs have to spend a lot of time and money kissing frogs.”
And so, Glass has decided to play Cupid through his matchmaking platform, Qodeo, which helps connect, identify and rank entrepreneurs with the right venture capitalists (VCs) and vice versa.
Dubbed the e-harmony of the venture community, Qodeo has close to 20,000 entrepreneurs and over 7,300 VCs listed on its global platform.
Glass, a Cambridge alum, says: “Just as dating apps connect compatible individuals, Qodeo streamlines the often, overwhelming process or pairing innovative entrepreneurs with the right VCs to fund their journey.
“In my previous role at a venture firm I saw how entrepreneurs spend hundreds of hours trying to identify who might fund them, whereas investors struggle to create high-quality deal flow, filter opportunities and source diverse investments from beyond their traditional networks. Qodeo gets entrepreneurs identifying and potentially speaking to the right venture capitalists – quickly.”
Glass points out that Qodeo research with business school Insead and Cambridge shows that the platform can save “hundreds of hours and thousands of pounds getting entrepreneurs to the equity funding market.”
The company’s desktop tool and mobile apps automatically filter thousands of opportunities, providing alerts and sometimes the ability to connect directly with the qualified few that are most likely to materialise.
Qodeo combines quantitative data from partners and the public domain with its own qualitative data. Working with teams from 30 of the world’s top business schools, Qodeo interviews leading private equity and venture firms in person, curating insights that inform faster and better decision making, before applying algorithms to the data, so that businesses with Qodeo profiles can instantly be matched with pre-vetted, best-fit opportunities. The company is using its own platform to source 80 percent of the leads for its own fundraising round, including intros to major VCs.
Launched in 2020, the platform truly gained momentum during the pandemic. A chance meeting with Sir Harvey McGrath, formerly chairman of Prudential and CEO & chairman the Man Group, agreed to back the venture.
Today, Qodeo boasts a who’s who of advisory board members including Prof Josh Lerner, Harvard Business School and Lord Bilimoria, founder of Cobra Beer and Indian Prime Minister’s Business Council. Among the company’s partners are law firms CMS and Cozen O‘Connor, the Department for Business & Trade and Tech London Advocates.
Entrepreneurs need to subscribe to use Qodeo, but investors can sign up without charge. Qodeo is currently offering Israel-based entrepreneurs six months free, using coupon ISR6. Glass says: “We have witnessed first-hand, including on a tech and venture mission led by former Meetup CEO David Siegel, how the Israeli tech sector is navigating the difficulties caused by the conflict with many investors holding back from traveling to the region.
Finding the right funders is one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face. For those outside established startup hubs, the lack of connections can be a major roadblock.
According to recent data, over 80 per cent of venture capital funding goes to startups within close geographic proximity to investors, which highlights the networking bias that often excludes diverse or regional entrepreneurs. Moreover, a survey found that nearly 65% of entrepreneurs spend upwards of six months just identifying suitable investors, while a quarter of them still fail to secure the funding they need, leading to wasted time and resources that could otherwise be spent on growth and innovation.
Earlier this month, Glass was invited to speak at the Cambridge Judge Business School’s ‘City Speaker Talk’ series where he explained what entrepreneurs typically get wrong when approaching investors.
He says: “Historically, the venture capital industry has been about who you know, which disadvantages those outside the major networks. Entrepreneurs from regional or diverse backgrounds, who may not have connections to elite institutions, find Qodeo particularly helpful in widening their network and funding the right funding.”
Qodeo has already helped over 2,000 entrepreneurs from the UK and works with more than 900 companies that can invest in the UK, including 588 with offices here.
Glass acknowledges that “like Tinder, which does not know what happens offline after a match, Qodeo can’t control the process beyond identification (yet). So, it’s hard to verify when those who have been on Qodeo go on to raise capital.” There have been 5,740 “warm” matches (where a number of factors look good) and 117,696 “cool” matches (less likely but on a ‘watchlist) to date on the platform.
The plan, says Glass, is to grow to about half a million users in the next five years.
“We want to level the playing field for entrepreneurs everywhere, ensuring that the right opportunities find the right talent—democratising venture capital, one connection at a time.”
Qodeo is offering [UK] Jewish News reader entrepreneurs a coupon at sign up – JN50 – for 50 per cent off 3 months Qodeo Concierge at https://qodeo.com/
qodeo.com
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