FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We’re always thrilled to hear from founders and startups. Feel free to start the process by submitting the form from this website. Alternatively, you are invited to connect with Managing Partner Jason M. Cronen on LinkedIn. Please include a quick note with your company name, geography, and basic details in the connection request. A member of our deal team will then respond as soon as possible. Please understand that our team is globally distributed and receives a significant amount of inbound deal flow, therefore some responses can take 7-10 business days.

Absolutely not! Garden District Ventures is deeply committed to finding brilliant, motivated founders and promising companies throughout the ASEAN region and well beyond. We firmly believe that “warm introductions” and closed networks constrain our ability to find outlier companies, and are antiquated practices that need to be done away with.

Garden District Ventures is primarily focused on the future of digital consumers in Southeast Asia and beyond—and highly disruptive businesses that are addressing everyday challenges and pain points. For the record, we do not invest in cryptocurrencies, biotech, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, mining, or space exploration because, frankly, those industries are not within our areas of expertise and we would not be able to add day-to-day value.

Yes! Garden District Ventures often reviews and considers startups that are pre-product and pre-revenue, but not generally both. “First money in” scenarios are often based on our company acquiring a meaningful equity stake in your startup (>10%) and helping your team accelerate product development, team building, and scaling. You don’t need to be incorporated to approach us with a pitch, but we do require incorporation before we can prepare a term sheet, begin negotiations, and write a check.

Garden District Ventures values grit, determination, honesty, and passion from our founders and their teams as the technology ecosystem rapidly develops. We are looking to back startups that can lead their category and sell into huge global markets. We believe that great founders are product-obsessed and that the company is simply a vehicle for identifying gaps in the market and solving problems. Circumstances and markets constantly change, and we look for founders who can pivot and adapt. Our line in the sand: we do not compromise on integrity. Our portfolio companies and their team members need to be brutally honest and forthright in all interactions with us as investors, with their customers, and in public-facing interactions at all times.

Our team at Garden District Ventures believes that our value-add is much more than just writing a check. Founder and startup success is at the heart of what we do, and we support our founders with an outstanding international network of advisors, developers, customer support personnel, and best-in-class mentoring and continuing education opportunities. We can further assist with go-to-market strategies and international expansion, HR and recruiting needs, marketing and PR, invites to founder events and meetups throughout the year, ongoing company wellness initiatives, and so much more. We’re honored to have the opportunity to work with you and our team is always just a phone call away.

Garden District Ventures is a Seed Stage investor with our resources and network squarely focused on the needs of young companies. Our team is happy to speak to more established companies that are scaling quickly, but we rarely participate in later-stage funding rounds if we have not previously invested. However, we are happy to make introductions to larger venture capital firms that look at Series B rounds and beyond.

We are always reviewing new deal flow and generally aim to make final investment decisions within 2-3 weeks, during which we are in frequent communication. While we always review companies on a deal-by-deal basis, the time window can vary depending on a multitude of factors. The key for us at Garden District Ventures is that our values and interests align since a venture capital/ portfolio company relationship can last many years.

All of our conversations and discussions with prospective portfolio companies are strictly confidential and governed by our internal code of ethics. Due to the large number of companies we speak with, Garden District Ventures does not provide or sign NDAs, a standard practice in venture investing. NDAs create unnecessary legal work and expenses and prevent our team from talking to similar companies across sectors and geographies. Our investment mandate is predicated on us speaking to as many startups as we can and choosing the best ones that fit our investment thesis and the long-term goals of our stakeholders, partners, and the community at large.

Garden District Ventures believes that it is imperative to support diversity and inclusion within our organization and the companies in which we choose to invest. We are committed to ensuring that our firm allows people of all identities to thrive—in terms of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or country of origin. In addition to being a just and ethical policy, it gives us a competitive advantage among venture capital firms. Simply put, we believe that diversity drives our team to be more creative, open-minded, and unique.