home/founders/how we invest

Opinionated about something? Let's jam.

We invest globally – wherever ANZ-born founders are building. Inception cheques into ambitious tech founders doing the hard things: AI-native software, deep tech, the infrastructure for how the world actually works. If you've got a strong take and the receipts to back it, we want in.

  • Cheque size$250K – $2.5M first cheque
  • StageInception · pre-seed · seed
  • GeographyGlobal. ANZ-born founders, anywhere.
  • Typical positionLead or co-lead. We take boards.
  • Reserves50–60% held back for follow-on
  • Decision speedUnder 2 weeks, first meeting → term sheet
Why founders choose us

Twelve years.
Same crew, every cycle.

Anyone can write a cheque in the bull. The test is whether they're still around when it gets weird. We've been around. Ask the founders we've backed through the rough quarters – they'll tell you what we're actually like.

01&

We say what we'll do. Then we do it.

Cheque size. Follow-on. The intro we promised on the call. Track record over twelve years and four funds – ask the founders, not us.

02&

We back you, not the round.

Ex-founders and operators. We're here because we wanted to back the next generation, not run a portfolio spreadsheet. The person who leads your deal is the same person on the call three years later.

03&

Every door we've earned.

Direct lines into Anthropic, OpenAI, Stripe, Canva. Founders of A Cloud Guru, THE ICONIC, Hatch, JigSpace, Restoke. Tier-one US funds. We don't gatekeep – if we know someone who can help, you'll know within the week.

04&

We don't ghost when it's hard.

Plenty of firms go quiet when things get tough. We lean in. The pivot, the bridge, the call you don't want to make – we're in the room and on the phone. That's the actual job.

The cheque – and what comes after

What we actually write.
And keep writing.

No cute ranges that mean nothing. We back at Pre-seed and Seed — large seed rounds still in scope, true Series A is not where we play. Here's the shape of a Rampersand first cheque – and the support that keeps showing up long after it clears.

First cheque
$250K2.5M
Sized to ownership, not to round. We target 8–15% at entry.
Follow-on reserves
~2×
We hold back 50–60% to keep backing you – not just the first round. Pro-rata, often more.
Round role
Lead
Or co-lead with a trusted fund. We price, paper and take a board seat – then stay in the work.
Time to TS
Under 2 wks
First meeting to signed term sheet. We move as fast as you need us to.
Section

We move as fast as you need us to.

No black boxes. We tell you what we're thinking at every step – the doubts, the conviction, the open questions. Two weeks, end to end. Faster if your round demands it.

total_time → under 14 days
meetings → 3–4
IC → any day
no-ghost policy → always a reply
black_boxes → none
STEP 01

First meeting

30 minutes with one of the partners. We want to understand who you are, what you're building, and the unique insight that got you here. No pitch deck required – your story is enough.

Day 130 min call
STEP 02

Deeper dives

Two or three working sessions with the wider team. We go deep on the thesis, the market, the product, the GTM – and you get to grill us on what it's actually like to have us on a cap table. You'll know what we think after every session – no surprises.

Days 2–62–3 sessions
STEP 03

Reference checks – both ways

We call your past colleagues and customers. You call three of our portfolio founders. Ask them the awkward questions. We'll introduce you to the ones we argued with the most.

Days 5–96–8 refs
STEP 04

Investment Committee

You present to our IC – partners plus two senior operator-advisors. It's a debate, not a verdict. You'll know the decision before you leave the room.

Day 1060 min IC
STEP 05

Term sheet & docs

Clean, founder-friendly docs, signed within days of IC.

Days 11–14TS signed 🙌
The WDWNTB framework

What do we need to believe?

Every investment is a set of beliefs we have to hold. We write them down explicitly – it keeps us honest, and it tells you exactly what we're underwriting. Here's the standard stack.

// framework version
name → What Do We Need To Believe
shortname → WDWNTB
applied_to → every deal, inception → seed
B01

The founder is the best person on the planet to build this.

Not just capable – obsessed. We're looking for an unfair advantage: lived experience, deep distribution, a founder-market fit that reads like destiny.

Founder
B02

The market is big, or becomes big.

We'd rather underwrite a new market emerging than fight for share in a known one. Show us a wedge into a $10B+ category.

Market
B03

There is a non-obvious insight.

Something you know that most people don't – either because you lived it, built it, or spent years in the weeds. Consensus doesn't compound.

Insight
B04

The first 12 months are a believable sprint, not a miracle.

We want a plan where the next fundable milestone is real, not a dream. If step one requires a miracle, it's not step one.

Plan
B05

The business can return the fund.

Not "could be a good business." We back companies that, if they work, return the whole fund. The math has to work at the top of the range.

Return
Capital-plus platform

The unfair advantage.
From the first call.

You don't have to be on our cap table to get help. Founders we're talking to get warm intros, customer leads and access to the network – often before there's a term sheet on the table. After we invest, the access compounds.

/01

Sales Lead Generator

We don't just offer "intros." The Rampersand Sales Lead Generator delivers a named, warmed-up pipeline for your first 20 customers.

  • Named customer targets
  • Warm email intros
  • Pipeline reviewed monthly
/02

Connected Network

Operators from Hatch, THE ICONIC, A Cloud Guru, Cuttable, Restoke, JigSpace, Multitudes. Global LPs. Advisors who've scaled what you're scaling.

  • 400+ operator network
  • Global LP intros for follow-on
  • Senior hire shortlists
/03

Product Counsel

Monthly working sessions with world-class product leaders. You bring the real problem, they tear it apart with you.

  • 1:1 sessions, not panels
  • Ex-heads of product, CPOs
  • Portfolio-only
/04

Giant Warm Intro

Our signature move: you tell us who you want to meet, we find the shortest real path to them in our network and make the intro.

  • Anyone in tech, anywhere
  • Median path length: 1.3 hops
  • Portfolio-only, unlimited

From day one, Rampersand has been with the team and me in the trenches, living and breathing our aspirations, pragmatically dealing with the lows and celebrating the highs.

CB
Campbell Brown
Co-founder & CEO, PredictHQ
Founder FAQ

Questions we get
every week.

What kinds of startups do you invest in?+
Bold, brave, ambitious founders at the earliest stages. We particularly focus on AI-native software and vertical software, but we back anything at the frontier – deep tech, bio, climate infra. If it's genuinely new and the insight is earned, we want to hear it.
How big is a first cheque?+
$250K to $2.5M, depending on stage and round construction. We lead or co-lead and typically target 8–15% at entry. We hold back ~2× reserves for follow-on.
Do you invest outside Australia and NZ?+
We invest in founders who are ANZ-born, ANZ-based, or ANZ-headquartered. If you grew up here and your company is in SF, we can still work together.
Can you help me prepare a pitch deck?+
We don't help before we meet – that'd compromise our first read. But once we invest, you get a full post-raise playbook including deck, narrative, and media coaching.
What if we're not a fit?+
It's never just a no. We'll tell you why, and we'll try to introduce you to a fund, angel, or operator we think could be. No-ghost is our policy.
Do you sign NDAs?+
No. Standard VC practice – not because we're flippant about your IP, but because we see hundreds of decks a quarter and NDAs create conflicts. We sign NDAs once we're in diligence.
Who has Rampersand invested in?+
Hatch, JigSpace, Cake Equity, AmazingCo, Restoke, Goterra, Cuttable, Expert360, Mx51, PredictHQ, Quantum Brilliance, and ~30 more. See the full list on the portfolio page.

Got a deck,
a demo, or
just an idea?

We read every submission. We reply to every submission. If there's a reason to chase it, we chase hard.