At Slice, we're always on the lookout for emerging funds and managers who are redefining the venture capital landscape. In this episode, we chat with Elia Infascelli, Founder and Managing Partner of Forma Capital and Partner/CEO of Cashmere. Elia is forging a new path that blends capital investment with the power of influence. With Forma’s recent partnership with Sweater Ventures to launch the Cashmere Fund, Elia is leading fundraising, marketing, and capital deployment, while Sweater Ventures handles investor relations, compliance, and asset valuation.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240923095136/en/Forma-Capital-Partners-with-Sweater-Ventures-to-Power-The-Cashmere-Fund

Elia's journey began in the entertainment industry, where he spent nearly two decades at Endeavor, representing talent. During this time, he had a critical "aha moment"—where he saw the untapped potential of influencers to build successful brands and businesses. This opportunity led him into the world of venture capital. 

The entertainment-to-venture-capital transition isn’t a new concept. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) famously drew similar inspiration from Michael Ovitz's transformation of the talent agency industry with Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Ovitz created a groundbreaking integrated network at CAA, moving away from the traditional, secretive “one partner, one portfolio” model. Instead, they connected their network of clients, amplifying each other’s potential.

When we chatted with Elia about this philosophy’s application in Venture Capital, he drew a similar parallel about how to look at the data behind relationships driving success, but emphasized how inefficiencies persist in both worlds. 

"When you want to source or deploy influence—whether it's from an athlete, a celebrity, a league, or a sports team—you need good data. Who are you partnering with? Do they have a track record of success?"

One of the most interesting aspects of Elia’s approach is his dedication to democratizing venture capital access.

“Until recently, only select groups of wealthy investors had the ability to invest in compelling venture-backed private companies and benefit from their pre-IPO appreciation. Through advances in technology and regulation, we can continue to bring these opportunities to all investors, regardless of their status, through The Cashmere Fund. This is a groundbreaking development for the investment management industry, and we are thrilled to be a part of this journey with Cashmere Fund investors.” - said Elia, as quoted in Business Wire.

The Cashmere Fund operates as an evergreen interval fund, accepting new capital daily with a minimum investment of just $500. It provides liquidity through semi-annual redemption windows and annual distributions, making venture capital accessible to both retail and institutional investors. This inclusive model has the potential to reshape the industry, enabling a broader audience to engage in the growth of early-stage startups.

Elia's resilience and commitment has fueled the success of Forma Capital, and he’s aiming for similar outcomes with the Cashmere Fund. As they continue to innovate, Elia and his team are poised to leave a significant and lasting mark on the venture capital world.

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Disclaimer from Cashmere Fund: “This podcast episode is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. During this episode, we will discuss the Cashmere Fund, which is managed by Cashmere. As the manager of this fund, we may have an incentive to promote it, and listeners should be aware of potential conflicts of interest. The information shared here is not intended to serve as an endorsement or recommendation to buy or sell any specific security, including Cashmere Fund. Please consult with a financial adviser before making any investment decisions, as investing in mutual funds involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results.”

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In the bustling world of venture capital, where full-time dedication is the norm, Rapha Danilo and his partners, Kat and Amir, at Darkmode Ventures are breaking new ground with a unique model, challenging the assumption that venture success requires complete immersion. This approach allows them to remain active in their respective careers while still engaging deeply with early startups. It’s a setup offering a fresh perspective in VC - one that leverages real-time industry insights and networks to invest in exceptional talent. And for Darkmode, its hybrid model is more than just juggling responsibilities; it’s a strategic advantage that bridges the best of both worlds.

Rapha's story begins in the suburbs of Paris, where he first dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player. However, after moving to Los Angeles during his formative years, his perspectives widened, and took a shift toward entrepreneurship. While still in college, he co-founded a company that was later acquired by Gong—a journey driven by his desire to break through the meritocratic barriers he encountered growing up in France.

As Rapha and his partners navigated their primary careers—Rapha at Gong, Kat at Vareto, and Amir as an ongoing innovator and content creator in the Dev Tool space—they began to encounter a steady stream of talented founders and promising startups. These interactions revealed a common thread: a growing repository of undiscovered potential that deserved to be nurtured and championed. Driven by a shared conviction, Rapha and Kat launched Darkmode Ventures (previously: Evening Ventures), a fund with a genuine passion for supporting early-stage, B2B SaaS, DevTools, and infrastructure startups. 

Rapha and his partners set out to create a new kind of venture capital firm—one that aligns incentives across all parties involved, and the cornerstone of Darkmode's philosophy is the reinvestment of management fees into their portfolio. 

“This is a really cool feature that AngelList enabled, kudos to the AngelList team for thinking ahead there.  I totally respect emerging funds that need to bring forward management fees. And so,  instead of having even that 2% flat structure, they say 3-4%, the first few years, and then it tapers off.

If you need those fees, not just to live as a GP, but to pay for an office, pay for travel, et cetera, especially if you're full time, you need to maybe even hire someone, right?  So I totally appreciate that need.

In our case, we don't have an office. We don't have an assistant. We don't have a chief of staff. It's just the three of us. So we have very, very, very little fees outside of our fund admin.  We don't care about getting paid a salary out of the fund today.

We're playing the long game and we think the returns are going to be so much higher from recycling the capital.  And essentially having a higher stake in the fund. And there's other secondary advantages, like tax advantages to sort of recycling that capital and having it be like long term capital gains.

 The core tenant is, is If you don't absolutely need the fees  to live today, I think Recycling that into the fund aligning your incentives with the lps where like my success is my LP’s success, I think it just speaks louder than any other pitch that you can put on a deck.”

This commitment to playing the long game ensures the focus remains squarely on creating quality value and fostering growth, and despite the dual demands of the team’s roles, Rapha emphasizes the importance of collaboration and operational involvement with their portfolio companies. By leveraging their expertise as operators, they are able to provide founders with tangible, tactical support, ranging from talent recruitment to product development and customer acquisition strategies from the best in business.

Darkmode’s innovation is not just about capital investment; it’s about being ingrained partners who understand the challenges of scaling a startup firsthand. The fund's success lies in its ability to remain agile, responsive, and uniquely positioned to support companies in navigating the very early stages.

Meeting exceptional people, seeing untapped potential, and genuinely wanting to enable others are what drive Rapha and his partners to seamlessly balance two demanding worlds. As they continue to grow Darkmode, this unique alignment of purpose and vision stands as a testament to their belief in synergy between their careers and their passion for helping founders at the earliest stages.  

You can find Rapha’s open door at [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit slicefund.substack.com

In this episode, we share a slice🍕 with Ophelia Cai, partner at Tiny VC, a unique European venture fund that writes $150-200K checks across an expansive portfolio of ambitious technology startups.

The journey to Tiny began with a simple WhatsApp message in May 2021 from Andy Chung, who asked "Would you join tiny full time?". Despite the ambiguity of the role, Ophelia knew three things: 

* She believed in the people (Philip and Andy, first AngelList EU hires)

* She believed in the strategy behind Tiny

* She believed in herself to step up to the challenge

"I think 'leave' is just not the right verb," Ophelia reflects on her transition from LocalGlobe.

"Leave implies that you're running away from something bad. But really, I was running towards something good, cool, different. It felt like a specific time of my life that I could take such an extreme risk - no kids, no mortgage, still really early in my venture career. It felt like the time to swing for the fences."

What makes Tiny special isn't just its European focus—it's their approach to early-stage investing. While most funds aim for concentrated portfolios of 10-20 companies, Tiny is targeting 300 companies in their third fund. This strategy has attracted notable LPs like Roger Ehrenberg of IA Ventures, who told Ophelia: "I don't claim to corner the market on how to make money... what you're doing works. The numbers are good."

To manage such a large portfolio with a small team, Tiny has built what’s called "Nemo…or what we think should be called Tiny AI😉 "— a powerful platform that automates many of the workflows typically handled by VC interns. This system can ingest decks, generate summaries, pull LinkedIn profiles, identify competitors, and even suggest the best potential co-investors based on historical data.

Some of Tiny's other notable innovations include:

* The Collective Partner Program: Allowing specialists (outside of the Tiny team) to deploy capital from the fund, expanding reach into specific geographies and sectors

* Community-Driven Approach: 20% of Fund III's LPs are previous Tiny founders

* Scale Through Technology: Processing over 710 decks via Nemo in Q1 2024 alone

For Ophelia, the transition from LocalGlobe to Tiny exemplifies the changing nature of venture capital allowing room for emerging managers.

"The breakaway velocity that you need in this industry to start something new and to jump ship is phenomenal," she explains. "All of the incentive structures are designed to keep you against doing that... What I have noticed about my peers is I don't think they would be doing anything else. You couldn't pay us not to do it."

If you're an early-stage European founder looking to join a collaborative community, Ophelia and the Tiny team are looking forward to meeting you.

You can reach Ophelia at [email protected].

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit slicefund.substack.com

In this episode, we share a slice🍕 with Reed Robinson, co-founder and general partner of Groove Capital, a $15.5 million pre-seed fund dedicated to investing in the heart of the Midwest - Minnesota.

Over two decades ago, a college professor introduced Reed to the venture world, igniting a spark that would one day lead to Groove. But it was his experience at a startup he "didn't enjoy" that truly set his entrepreneurial journey into motion.

“I found myself pretty miserable in my job… so I decided to leave and run an organization full-time that I had co-founded seven or eight years earlier,” Reed recalls.

That organization was Beta, a 501c3 Minnesota-based accelerator, and it ended up being the perfect crash course in how to build something meaningful from the ground up.

The experience at Beta gave Reed the confidence to launch Groove Capital, a fund laser-focused on finding and backing the hidden gems within Minnesota’s bustling tech ecosystem. What makes Groove special isn't just its Midwest focus—it’s Reed’s deep, authentic connections within the local community. While many chase opportunities on the coasts, Reed has doubled down on his home state of Minnesota, a state overflowing with untapped potential.

“If you look at the history here, Minnesota is reliably creating businesses that start small, solve big problems, and grow into global success stories," Reed explains. "This is a place of innovation across industries - from healthcare and retail technology to financial services and even a surprisingly strong sports tech scene. Minnesota offers a unique variety of industries - and to top it off, the deals here are half the price of coastal markets.”

Minnesota is also home to the highest number of Fortune 500 companies per capita and has built a reputation for delivering groundbreaking advancements in business and technology. It’s a state where big names and bold ideas flourish, making it the ideal environment for startups to grow and thrive.

Of course, building a venture firm in a non-traditional market comes with challenges, but Reed’s approach is refreshingly humble and community-driven. Rather than trying to be an expert in every field, he relies on a trusted network of seasoned operators to support his portfolio companies. He’s also committed to building trust with his investors through transparent, monthly updates.

“I truly believe that relationships are one of the most important competitive advantages,” Reed says. “Groove is an extension of the relationships I’ve built over my career. I realized I was in the middle of a very unique and special opportunity right here in Minnesota.”

Reed is betting big on overlooked talent in America’s heartland backing startups like:

* Aegle: Transforming healthcare risk funding

* Vertical Insure: Making embedded insurance a part of every online transaction

* VOCxi: Creating a noninvasive, early disease detection system that delivers accurate results with just one minute of breathing

* YourPath: Improving access to care for people with substance abuse issues

Whether you’re a Minnesota-based founder looking for a partner who understands the power of community, or an investor seeking fresh perspectives beyond the coasts, Reed and Groove Capital are ready to connect.

You can find Reed at [email protected].

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit slicefund.substack.com

We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Hugo Amsellem, co-founder and general partner of Intuition Capital, a €10 million fund investing in consumer and culture startups across Europe and the US. Hugo's journey from startup ecosystem builder to fund manager is as fascinating as it is inspiring. 

Hugo's path to venture capital wasn't a straight line. In fact, he admits he used to hate VCs, but his passion for helping founders move culture forward during his time at The Family and Jellysmack led him to realize that starting a fund was the perfect way to channel his obsession.

"I've always hated VCs," Hugo confesses with a grin. "But I'm obsessed with helping founders move culture."

With his co-founder Etienne (a former professional athlete), Hugo launched Intuition Capital to invest in startups at the intersection of culture and technology. What sets Intuition apart isn't just their focus on culture - it's their uncanny ability to spot cultural shifts before they hit the mainstream. It's as if they've got a hotline to the zeitgeist.

We learned that their secret weapon is a series of events across cities in Europe and the US, creating a vibrant community of founders and investors passionate about consumer and culture. It's not just networking; it's cultural reconnaissance.

"We're essentially talking about culture more than we talk about consumer," Hugo explains, "because in the end, it's a better proxy to understand what we're trying to achieve."

So, how does he do it all? We discovered that this man is wielding an arsenal of automation tools that would make even the most tech-savvy founders blush. Airtable, TextExpander, Superhuman, Texts.com - Hugo's toolkit is the stuff of productivity legend.

Welcome to a VC fund that treats culture not just as a buzzword, but as the very currency of innovation.

If you're a founder moving culture or just someone who wants to geek out about the intersection of tech and culture, you can find Hugo at [email protected] or slide into his DMs on X (@HugoAmsellem)!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit slicefund.substack.com

In this episode, we share a slice with Ashley Mayer, the Founder of Coalition Operators - a $12.5 million early-stage fund that's shaking things up in the pre-seed to Series A space. 

Ashley is a communications whiz who's worked with some of the hottest names in tech - Box, Social Capital, Glossier - who then decided to take her vast network and dive headfirst into the world of venture capital. 

Now, here's where it gets interesting - Ashley didn't do this alone. She teamed up with three other super female operators  ((Jaclyn Nelson, Toyin Ajayi, and Lindsay Ullman) to create something truly unique. Like most, transitioning from the structured world of corporate communications to the Wild West of fund management wasn't all smooth sailing for Ashley. She openly shares the struggles of dealing with the ambiguity of building a fund and the psychological challenges that come with it. 

Their big idea? Connect talented operators with early-stage startups that desperately need their expertise. It's like playing matchmaker, but instead of love, you're matching experience with potential. This is where heavy hitters like Thrive Capital and General Catalyst saw the potential and came in as the anchor LPs. 

Ashley’s approach to investing is quite unique. With her experience as an operator for some of the brightest talent, she’s laser-focused on the founders, and how they run the show inside and out. Ashley and her team at Coalition want to help founders build strategic cap tables that act as their strongest network. It's not just about the money; it's about bringing in investors who can provide real, tangible value. 

Throughout this interview, we couldn't help but feel inspired. Here's someone who's taken her years of operating experience and is using it to reshape how we think about early-stage investing. It's a reminder that sometimes, the best innovations come from outsiders who aren't afraid to challenge the status quo.

So, what do you think? Is Ashley onto something with Coalition Operators? Are we seeing the future of early-stage investing unfold before our eyes? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

P.S. If you want to connect with Ashley (and trust us, you do), you can reach her at [email protected] or find her on LinkedIn. Who knows, you might just be the next founder or operator she's looking for! 

Thanks for reading slice’s Substack! This post is public so feel free to share it.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit slicefund.substack.com