How to Build a Successful Business and Maximize Profits from Participating in the Pre-Seed Round
In two webinars, CEO Alexey Ognev shared insights into successful venture cases in the marketplace and banking product sectors. He illustrated how modern companies capture markets, significantly increase capitalization, and generate profits for their investors.
«Knowing these cases and understanding the path we'll take with RWA projects is crucial», noted Alexey during the webinar.
OpenSea – the world's largest NFT marketplace. It took its initial steps in 2017, and within two years, in November 2019, the company attracted its first $2.1 million in the pre-seed round. By January 2022, OpenSea was valued at an impressive $13.3 billion. The project went from an idea to a billion-dollar capitalization in six years.
Revolut – a global neobank founded in 2015. In February 2016, the company received its first investments of $4.9 million with a valuation of $13.19 million. By 2021, its capitalization was already estimated at $33 billion. Another tremendous growth story in just six years!
One notable aspect of Revolut's investment strategy was conducting two crowdfunding campaigns in 2016 and 2017.
«10,000 private investors bring in far more new users than a single investment fund», stated Nikolay Storonsky, Revolut's founder. His calculation proved successful: 433 private investors invested around £1 million in Revolut, with one contributing £500,000.
As you can see, it takes about six years from an idea to a multi-billion-dollar capitalization. On average, creating a successful marketplace requires around $425 million, and for a banking company, it's over $886 million in investments. These funds, combined with the team's expertise, have the potential to lead to colossal capitalization: from $13 billion to $33 billion.
Now, let's examine this process from the perspective of venture funds and explore a comprehensible process for experienced investors: EXIT.
EXIT is one of the most common ways a venture fund can earn returns on investments.
If a venture fund chooses an exit strategy, it benefits from acquiring a stake in the startup at the earliest stage, then selling that stake to another investor or fund at a much higher valuation in any of the rounds, in case of project success.
Thus, the step-by-step exit strategy for maximizing profits looks like this:
1. Invest in a startup at an early stage with a $1 million valuation.
The startup successfully develops, releasing the first product version.
2. In Series A with a $100 million valuation, you can consider an exit.
The startup successfully expands, entering new markets.
3. In Series B with a $1 billion valuation, you can also exit.
The startup continues successful growth, demonstrating profit and consistent user/customer growth.
4. In Series C with a $10 billion valuation, you can consider another exit.
It's crucial to focus primarily on the project's capitalization and monitor exit opportunities for early investors. However, it's important to note that exit opportunities may not always be available in every round.
Understanding the exit strategy and incorporating the possibility of an exit into your financial plan allows you to forecast profits from your venture deal.
For each project in our venture fund, there's an exit strategy, aiming to profit at different stages of the project.
Today is the last day to participate in the first stage of funding for RWA projects: seize the opportunity to own a percentage by 23:59 (UTC) today. Details here.
To learn more about our strategies and the future of the ecosystem, watch webinars with the CEO of DigiU Alexey Ognev, where he thoroughly explores these topics!
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