Early-stage investing
As with a cypress tree, we know startup growth can take time.
The journey to an exit for any entrepreneur can be long and winding. Founders can rely on us to be a trusted partner from first cheque and product development through to happy customers at scale.
Partnership
We partner with ambitious entrepreneurs to bring transformative products to market.
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Founders
We look for ambitious entrepreneurs who are prepared to stay with the company through the difficult early years.
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The product
The purpose of the partnership is to help bring a transformative product to market, not only to complete a financing.
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After we invest
We remain available for the practical work that follows: introductions to customers, and to people who have built a company before, where we know them.
Criteria
What we look for.
- 01
Work already underway
A presentation on its own is not sufficient. We look for founders who have started the difficult work.
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Evidence of use
The company should have users, or a specific reason the first users are likely to arrive.
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A business that can last
We are interested in companies that can still be operating in ten years.
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A plain account of what is unknown
We can work with uncertainty when the founder can say where it is.
The office
Funding ventures from bites to bytes.
In 2019, Cypress Ventures was spun out of an existing private family office to continue funding small private companies across varied sectors from prepared food and CPG products, to agentic AI applications. When the right entrepreneur, product niche, and market opportunity comes along, we are always ready to invest.
- Prepared food
- Consumer packaged goods
- Protein powder
- Luxury sports equipment
- Applications of agentic AI in accounting and finance
Correspondence
How a conversation begins.
- 01
A note
Describe the company, your role in it, and the use of the capital. A short note is sufficient.
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A reply
If the company is outside what we invest in, we will say so rather than leave the note unanswered.
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After an investment
We make introductions where we have a working relationship. We do not add a reporting schedule for its own sake.
To discuss an investment, write to the address below.
[email protected]