Dear D3VC Fund I Partners, this month marks the 10-year anniversary of Regulation Crowdfunding. Ahead of Crowdfund Insider's anniversary feature, I wanted to share with you, as a D3VC LP, the underlying data briefing we prepared from a decade of CCLEAR's transaction record.
A few findings worth your attention because they directly support the D3VC thesis:
The women and minority founder mispricing is real and measurable
Companies led by women and minority founders are generating 3.4x the revenue CAGR of their peers (30.3% vs 8.9%) while receiving essentially identical valuation treatment at follow-on rounds. This is the largest systematic mispricing in the dataset and the core empirical case for D3VC's investment approach.
RegCF deals precede institutional capital by 12 to 24 months
Companies appear in CCLEAR's transaction record well before they show up in PitchBook or Preqin, at lower entry valuations. Pre-institutional entry is a structural feature of the asset class, not a one-off.
Investor count predicts performance
Companies with 500 or more investors in their initial raise grow revenue at nearly double the rate of those below that threshold. Every issuer that attracted 5,000 or more investors saw its valuation increase at follow-on (100% of the cohort). This is part of our deal screening.
The $5M cap is a binding constraint
Companies that could access near-cap raises showed the strongest valuation growth. The data is the empirical case for raising the cap to $20M, work I'm actively pushing on the Hill.
Andrew Dix's Crowdfund Insider piece publishes this weekend and will give you a public version to forward to anyone interested in the space.
Read the full briefing: RegCF 10-Year Market Intelligence Briefing (PDF)Between our Fund I performance and what these signals tell us, this is a moment worth acting on. If you are interested in rolling your Fund I position (at current value) into Fund II, which we are going out to raise at $20M, or in increasing your participation, please reach out and we will find time to talk.
Best, Woodie
Sherwood Neiss, Principal, D3VC