San Hill Angels

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San Hill Angels

Case Report

BAFI580B Venture capital

Jie Wan (73290165) | Xiaoqi Pan (73069163) | Yuan Zhou (72918162)

Executive Summary

Sand Hill Angels Fund

Sand Hill Angels (SHA) is a consortium of over 100 individual angel investors who carefully
invest in promising technology start-ups with a diversified portfolio from life science to information technology, particularly consumer internet, mobile and communications.

SHA usually participates in seed or Series A investments, but it also invests in follow-on rounds at later stages. Target investment size is in the range of $100,000 to 500,000 in the form either of equity or discounted note.

SHA evaluates investments with seven key criteria: founding team, market, product/service, business model, competition, communication and exit strategy. Since SHA invests in start-ups and companies in early stages, founding team and culture fit are paramount, and market growth is essential for company’s rapid scale-up which is the main purpose of SHA investments. In terms of founding team, founders’ ability and passion, their industrial and entrepreneurial experience are highly valued.

Four Pitches

Four companies are under scrutiny and a decision needs to be made regarding which
company to invest if any and how much.

• ReplayBuy

ReplayBuy is a text message channel to purchase sports game tickets. It faced severe
competition due to low entry costs and numerous existing ticketing websites as potential
substitutes as well as the challenges raised from technology advancement.

• Tradiv

Tradiv is an online marketplace for cannabis trade connecting different stages of supply chain. It has strong founding team with business management and industry experience. As a pioneer to enter a promising market with current trend of cannabis legalization, Tradiv have the potential to accomplish exponential growth.

• Pathover

Pathover is a AI delivery solution for grocery stores. Overall, its founding team lacks start-up and management experience. The company may face intense competition with no patent protection and with big market players already exist.

• Kiana Analytics

Kiana Analytics is a SaaS solution to provide analyses and actionable insights based on customer behaviors. The company has mature and experienced management team and IP protection which is a competitive advantage over other rivals in the trendy, fast-growing Big Data market.

Recommendation

Per seven key criteria, both Tradiv and Kiana Analytics are recommended, because the two companies enjoy the benefits of a mature and experienced founding team with previous industrial and entrepreneurial experience and a market with high growth potential.

Company Analysis

• ReplyBuy

Founding Team:

Both founders have expertise and experience in social e-commerce business with one founder having previous success in start-ups which could add great value. The team is also good at good business planning and execution.