We believe that founders and creators are the doers of our society and it’s our job to amplify their success.
We fall for those obsessed with an idea or vision that others don't yet see. Historically, we've found ourselves most attracted to companies touching Platform Economies, Emerging Forms of Media, FinTech or Novel Asset Classes, but any idea might lead us to our next thesis. We have backed traditional business models as well as new models we've never seen before; we have also backed businesses which need sources of capital beyond venture dollars. In any case, we live to support and not shine. We each have a chip on our shoulder for one reason or another, which is part of why we're so dedicated.
our thoughts
Spotter was founded just before the Creator Economy became an investable thesis, but, by the time we seeded the business, we knew that YouTube was a much bigger economy than outsiders realized. Moreover, the creators in that ecosystem had turned their talent into true media companies. It was a new asset class, financing creators sitting on massive amounts of collateral value that was previously impossible to tap into. Spotter’s management team was native to the ecosystem and had been obsessed over the problem for a decade. Since our investment, Spotter has grown to 120 employees and has given $600 million to YouTube creators.
We often find ourselves asking the team at Crossbeam for advice and guidance and their input has been invaluable. The connections to potential investors and partners that Crossbeam brings to the partnership has made a meaningful impact.
Aaron DeBevoise, Founder
our thoughts
When we first met the QuickNode team, we were blown away by their speed of execution. We knew we wanted to make a bet on Web3, but it was hard to find a company with a business model that felt obvious, and right for the point in time in the industry's evolution. QuickNode very quickly became the answer. While doing diligence on the company, we realized QuickNode had a best-in-class product, a product vision that led to natural barriers to entry, and the conviction of its community; since our investment, QuickNode has grown its team more than 6x and its revenue and customer base more than 20x.
What was interesting about working with Crossbeam at the seed stage was really breaking down our business block by block until they had a base layer understanding that helped them make an informed decision about what we do, how we do it & why we’re better than everyone else at what we do.
Auston Bunsen, Founder
our thoughts
When we met Founder Michael Faye, our initial reaction was: "can the world really support another large remittance company?" The answer within two meetings was a resounding yes. Figuring out how to build our corridors in some of the most underserved communities in the world is not easy. It requires solving a million, small, unscalable problems one at a time. TapTap is a team that can actually figure out how to break into each market, scale, and move to the next one as quickly as they have. TapTap has been quietly building a formidable business, currently covering some 20 countries for receiving money including some of the poorest and/or least developed places in the world such as Bangladesh, Cameroon, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Senegal and Zambia.
Simply put, I love working with Crossbeam, Ali and his team. The space is too short to list all the wonderful things they’ve done, but in short, they’ve been instrumental to our growth: super-sharp, creative, highly available, and willing to go out of their way to help solve some of our thorniest problems. Its a team that always asks how they can solve a problem vs. giving a pre-canned answer or simply saying no. Work with them, you won’t regret it!
Michael Faye, Founder
our thoughts
When Founder Raunak Nirmal was working at Amazon he watched as the Third Party Seller ecosystem developed into a core part of the company's playbook, expanding to $300B+ of GMV. Still in his twenties, Raunak left to build and grow his own Amazon Third Party seller from scratch before selling it. As we began developing our thesis on the space, Raunak became our sherpa. It's not that Raunak knew one small secret everyone else didn't; it's that he knew 1,000 small ones. Our view is that success in this space takes grit and living in the details. That's what Raunak does, and it's been the key to Acquco’s progress thus far.
Crossbeam has been a strong supporter and incredible partner since we were founded. They have helped to accelerate our growth and thrive in a hyper competitive environment. The crossbeam team possesses unique industry insights and the value they provide extends far beyond capital.
Raunak Nirmal, Founder
our thoughts
While we had spent a lot of time working with Amazon Third Party Sellers, we also wanted to take a bet on the picks and shovels around them. Yoda Yee was introduced to us by Acquco Founder Raunak as "the smartest person he knew at Amazon" and we immediately understood why he thought so. Yoda quickly expanded out of just Amazon TPS to e-commerce broadly, and has bought and built tools that service hundreds of sellers across the world. In a world awash with cash, Yoda has scaled Threecolts on an incredibly small base of equity, and today is in control of his own destiny without sacrificing a breakneck pace of growth. Threecolts is the type of company we find ourselves learning from constantly.
Working with Ali and Sakib have been amazing. They've been instrumental in helping us navigate our next round of financing and they have everything you want in a VC: available, helpful, and know when to get out of the way to let us execute. I absolutely recommend Crossbeam for any founder looking for financing.
Yoda Yee, Founder
Contact us
We are always around! We take pride in moving quickly - feel free to reach out at the idea stage or send your suggestions on novel asset classes we should be exploring.