First Institutional Raise – Single Investor Or Syndicate?

2 min read

Credit: Click2Houston

In a recent conversation with a young woman founder, I was asked whether founders should raise their first institutional round from multiple investors (a “syndicate” round) or close with a single investor. Considering less than 2% of VC money went to women founders in 2022, 0.5% down from 2021, is the additional effort of raising a syndicate round worth the incremental benefit? Both options have their pros and cons, and the nuances of each approach should be carefully considered before making a decision. Single Investor – Pros Streamlined process – Even disregarding the changing fundraising environment, the preference for raising…...

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Sonal Panda I am a Principal at Tau Ventures, investing in early stage AI startups in healthcare, enterprise, and automation. I began my career in buy-side M&A, evaluating multi-billion dollar deals at a Fortune 500 MNC in India, led business development at Asian Heart Institute - the #1 heart hospital in India, and served as Chief of Staff to the CEO at Signos - a digital health startup - where I joined as the first hire. I hold a BS in mechanical engineering from VJTI in Mumbai, and an MBA in Healthcare Management and Finance from Wharton. Coming from a family of doctors, I am passionate about healthcare which extended to mental health and wellness while volunteering and leading outreach efforts at Samaritans Mumbai - a suicide prevention helpline. Outside San Francisco, I feel most at home in remote corners of the world photographing wildlife (@sonal.panda).
Amit Garg I have been in Silicon Valley for 20 years -- at Samsung NEXT Ventures, running my own startup (as of May 2019 a series D that has raised $120M and valued at $450M), at Norwest Ventures, and doing product and analytics at Google. My academic training is BS in computer science and MS in biomedical informatics, both from Stanford, and MBA from Harvard. I speak natively 3 languages, live carbon-neutral, am a 70.3 Ironman finisher, and have built a hospital in rural India serving 100,000 people.