In this episode, Hall welcomes Eva Yazhari, Co-Founder and CEO of Beyond Capital Fund. Eva shares Beyond Capital Funds thesis. They are a social impact fund that invests in for-profit social enterprises throughout India and East Africa. They invest in businesses within the health care, waste/water/sanitation, and alternative energy/clean technology sectors. Beyond Capital focuses on improving the quality of life and standards of living for consumers at the bottom of the pyramid. Though they seek market-rate financial returns, Beyond Capital is structured as a nonprofit, which allows them to emphasize fidelity to their social mission alongside their financial mandate.

Eva has 14 years of experience working in venture investment and asset management. She was previously a Vice President at EnTrust Capital Inc., an asset management firm where she managed the Shareholder Activist fund manager investment portfolio. As a member of the investment team at EnTrust, she specialized in fund due diligence and underlying fund portfolio analysis.

In raising funding, valuation is a key number the CEO and investor must come to agree with. 

As a startup you must determine your target valuation.  There are several methods. One method is called Step up Valuation

It uses ten factors. Each factor adds $250K to the valuation

To calculate your total pre-money valuation add $ 250,000 for each:

- Total market size over $500M

- Business model scales well

- Founders have significant experience

- More than 1 founder committed full-time

- MVP developed, customer development underway

- Business model validated by paying customers

- Significant industry partnerships signed

- Execution roadmap developed and being achieved

- IP issued or technology protected

- Competitive environment favorable

You may give partial credit for items that have some progress made.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today!