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Bullpen Capital

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Bullpen Capital A new early-stage fund has formed to make follow-on investments in the slew of companies that have recently raised seed and angel funds.

Bullpen Capital is an early-stage venture fund being formed to make follow-on investments in Internet technology companies that have been initially funded by super-angel capital efficient funds. Extending the capital efficient model beyond the seed stage keeps options open for the founders and investors.

The rise of the super-angels is a capital market response to a new technology trend: the rise of the lean venture, typically an Internet service deploying fast-to-market technology which enables rapid market validation before large capital requirements. The super-angels are emerging as a natural response to a decades long over-sizing of venture firms, built more to fund the semiconductor factories of the past than Internet firms of today.

Bullpen works with its super-angel partners to:

• Extend a seed round to give a start-up more time to prove itself
• Fund a company requiring more early money than the usual seed deal
• Restart a company that is a “fallen angel” but still has great promise
• Fund a “rising star” needing a small B round it before it goes to VC auction

The lean model does not depend on the lightning strike of finding the rocket-ship that is immediately successful after its seed round. Almost every rocket-ship has a rocky start, requiring post-seed nurturing before ascending. This usually entails one or more “pivots”, in which a company’s basic direction must be changed to find its market. These changes are wrenching, and require additional capital before proof points are met. Bullpen’s major role is to lead post-seed stage rounds that support these pivots.

Recent Milestones

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  Bullpen Capital invested in CoverHound. (2/8/13)
  Posted 2/8/13 at 2:40pm via techcrunch.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in FanDuel. (1/30/13)
  Posted 1/30/13 at 5:15am via venturebeat.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in DoubleDutch. (11/12/12)
  Posted 11/13/12 at 2:50am via techcrunch.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in Mango Health. (11/5/12)
  Posted 4/3/13 at 9:45am via techcrunch.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in Perceptual Networks. (9/18/12)
  Posted 9/18/12 at 7:24pm via dowjones.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in Instacanvas. (8/1/12)
  Posted 7/31/12 at 7:06pm via techcrunch.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in Instacanvas. (6/29/12)
  Posted 6/29/12 at 3:52pm
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  Bullpen Capital invested in echoecho . (5/7/12)
  Posted 5/7/12 at 8:16pm via techcrunch.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in Grassroots Unwired. (5/1/12)
  Posted 10/2/12 at 4:04am
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  Bullpen Capital invested in DoubleDutch. (4/23/12)
  Posted 4/23/12 at 6:35am via dowjones.com
• 
  Bullpen Capital invested in Lifecrowd. (4/19/12)
  Posted 4/19/12 at 5:05am via venturebeat.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in Appboy. (3/26/12)
  Posted 3/26/12 at 1:39pm via techcrunch.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in Tello. (2/28/12)
  Posted 2/28/12 at 10:27pm via techcrunch.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in Engagio. (2/15/12)
  Posted 2/15/12 at 8:22pm via venturebeat.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in Appboy. (11/23/11)
  Posted 11/14/11 at 10:09am via techcrunch.com
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  Bullpen Capital invested in Solve Media. (11/4/11)
  Posted 7/30/12 at 7:14am via businessinsider.com

Investments

Videos

Sources

1. Early Stage VC Bullpen Capital Raising $35 Million For New Fund, Filing Says (techcrunch.com) [edit]
Bullpen Capital Targets $50M To Back Up Seeded Start-Ups (fis.dowjones.com) [edit]
2. CoverHound Lands $4.5M From RRE, Bullpen & Blumberg To Become The Kayak Of Online Insurance (techcrunch.com) [edit]
3. FanDuel raises $11M for daily fantasy sports contests (venturebeat.com) [edit]
4. Mobile-First Enterprise Startup DoubleDutch Raises $4 Million Series B From Floodgate & Others (techcrunch.com) [edit]
5. There’s An App For That: Mango Health Gives Rewards For Taking Your Vitamins, Medicine Every Day (techcrunch.com) [edit]
6. Perceptual Networks Seeded With $1M for Optimal Friend Finder (pevc.dowjones.com) [edit]
7. Instacanvas Raises $1.7M Round For Its Instagram Prints, Expands Its Product Offerings (techcrunch.com) [edit]
8. Citation Needed [add]
9. Google Ventures-Backed Location-Sharing Service EchoEcho Raises $750k From Bullpen, PROfounders (techcrunch.com) [edit]
10. Citation Needed [add]
11. DoubleDutch Secures $2M To Sell Geolocation To Businesses (pevc.dowjones.com) [edit]
12. Social events marketplace Lifecrowd raises $5M from Lightbank, Bullpen, others (venturebeat.com) [edit]
13. With Another $1.5M, Appboy Launches App Management Platform, Hootsuite CEO Joins Board (techcrunch.com) [edit]
14. Tello Raises $2.7M From True Ventures To Give Businesses Consumer Feedback On The Fly (techcrunch.com) [edit]
15. Engagio goes from the comment section to a $540K seed investment (venturebeat.com) [edit]
16. AppBoy Raises A Cool Million To Let App Developers Better Engage And Understand Their User Base (techcrunch.com) [edit]
17. Business Insider | Solve Media Now Works With 3,000 Publishers And It Has Closed A ~$6 Million Series B Round (businessinsider.com) [edit]
18. Dashboard Creation's Chart.io Raises $3.15M (thealarmclock.com) [edit]
19. Life360′s Family Safety App Grabs $3.5 Million Series A (techcrunch.com) [edit]
20. PixelFish Raises $4 Million To Help Small Businesses Tap Into Web Video (techcrunch.com) [edit]
21. With $5 Million In Their Pockets, Ness Has Quietly Built A Subjective Search Engine (techcrunch.com) [edit]
22. Proformative Announces $1.1M in Series A Funding (prweb.com) [edit]
23. techcrunch.com [edit]