Chasing Rainbows
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Chasing Rainbows

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Subscription Amount
$10,000+ Quarterly
Subscription Period
4 Quarters
Management Fee
2% per year over 10 years
Carry
20%
Admin Fee
0.15% per year over 10 years
Starting Q1 2024, this fund will transition onto updated Rolling Fund admin fee pricing terms. See the Investment Details section for more.
Invest Account
Select invest account

Note from Ben Stokes

We invest in pre-seed technology and technology adjacent companies led by underrepresented LGBTQ+ founders that exhibit determination, grit and resilience and have an idea or MVP with a supported plan for growth.

Our goal is to level the funding playing field for these underrepresented founders who often don’t have access to vital funding networks. We are the friends and family round they often miss out on due to familial ostracization or conscious or unconscious bias from the traditional fundraising communities. 

We know that by being their authentic selves, our founders can build more successful businesses. Chasing Rainbows offers more than capital - we invest time and expertise into helping our founders succeed and progress to their next milestone or funding round while encouraging their difference, individuality and talent.
 
About Ben Stokes

Chasing Rainbow’s Founder and General Partner, Ben Stokes knows first hand the challenges of building a successful startup as an under-represented LGBTQ+ founder. He is also a seasoned angel investor having invested, over the past 5 years, in 20+ companies with one exit and another 12 converting to equity from their SAFE notes. He was featured in the Alumni Spotlight Top 100 Investors for 2022.

Ben plays an active role in LGBTQ+ startup community holding board positions with StartOut - the leading LGBTQ+ global founder network and The Pinnacle Foundation - which awards university scholarships to LGBTQ+ students. Through his speaking engagements, including the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Centre and the UN General Assembly, he shines a light on the community.
 
Differentiated and Compelling Deal Flow

Ben’s expansive LGBTQ+ community network and visibility as a successful entrepreneur and mentor means he is often the first port of call for LGBTQ+ founders seeking funding and advice.

This positions Chasing Rainbows as the premier pre-seed investment fund focusing on the LGBTQ+ community. Usually as the first institution check these founders receive, means we often sign on via SAFE agreements where the valuation is low with an average 20% discount.

We have follow-on partnerships with seed and Series A funds. Our network also includes StartOut, the Pinnacle Foundation, Y Combinator, Techstars, 500 Startups, Startout Board as well as partnerships with Trans Tech Social, Globivest & Gaingels. These pathways provide our portfolio companies with access to advice, resources, partnership opportunities and further funding rounds.
 
 
Not just money but Smart Capital

Ben is able to share his own direct experience and advice on navigating the challenges LGBTQ+ and other underrepresented founders face when trying to raise capital. 

He, along with other investment professionals and portfolio founders, spend time with new founders providing advice, mentoring, networking and introductions to upstream investors and our partnerships within the ecosystem.
 
Investment Thesis

We target underrepresented LGBTQ+ founders in B2B or B2C tech and tech adjacent startups located primarily in North America. We take an industry agnostic view but look for those companies with an ESG or impact focus. We focus on pre-seed companies that can demonstrate:

●     A clear path to revenue and/or convincing business model
●     Valuable agreements with customers or industry strategic players
●     Defensible intellectual property with a market value
●     A defined path to exit

We look for an MVP that has launched with a supported plan for how they intend to invest in their business’s growth.

Our ideal founder shows determination, grit and resilience with domain expertise and relevant experience and/or insight into the opportunity or problem they are seeking to address. They must be able to articulate the problem they are seeking to solve and why it's important and show how they took an idea from concept to product/market fit.

Chasing Rainbows Investment Portfolio
 
Our current portfolio includes the following companies*
 
Tomtex A sustainability company that has created a faux leather material from mushrooms and coffee grounds and shellfish shell waste. They recently closed a $1.7M raise
Date Invested: 17th March 2022. Amount Invested: $50,000.
 
LegalKarma A legal-tech platform which has built a document automation tool, reducing contract drafting times by 90%. They just closed a $750k round.
Date Invested: 8th March 2022. Amount Invested: $50k.
 
Yaza - A video warehousing platform which helps reduce fake news by creating a platform for sourcing and authenticating video from smartphones that is the modern equivalent of Live TV coverage in a post television world. They are closing a $1M round. 
Date Invested: 9th March 2022. Amount Invested: $10k.
 
SoundMind - A mental health focused app that specifically helps people who suffer with PTSD regain control of their lives through academic-led music therapy. They just closed a $750k round. 
Date Invested: 25th February 2022. Amount Invested $20k.
 
EqualityMD - A health-tech platform for individuals to find family practitioners as well as mental health practitioners. Their matching algorithm connects LGBTQ+ patients with culturally competent providers who deliver inclusive, personalized care. They are closing their $1M round.
Date Invested: 7th April 2022. Amount Invested: $10k.
 
College Cash - A fin-tech platform which helps brands increase user engagement and brand awareness through user generated campaigns where the user’s compensation goes directly towards paying their student loan debt. They are closing a $1M round.
Date Invested: 7th April 2022. Amount Invested: $10k.

*The companies featured in this list were selected due to their notoriety in the startup and venture capital community. This list is provided for illustrative purposes only and is not an exhaustive list of all investments made or involving the Fund Lead. A full list of the Fund Lead’s investment history will be made available upon request.

Investment Details

Subscription Start Date
January 1, 2023
Minimum Quarterly Subscription
$10,000
Minimum Subscription Period
4 Quarters
Management Fee
Investors pay management fees of 2% per year for the first 10 years. Management fees are taken as a percentage of the total committed capital. The total management fee is paid out quarterly over the first four years of the fund's life.
Carry
Twenty percent (20%)
Admin Fee
0.15% per year over 10 years
Starting Q1 2024, this Rolling Fund will transition onto updated Rolling Fund pricing terms. Under these new pricing terms, each new quarterly fund in the Rolling Fund Program will pay an annualized rate of $2.5k + 0.2% of contributed capital over 10 years.

Fees for each quarterly fund in the Rolling Fund Program will vary based on each quarterly fund’s capital contributions since the fee includes a flat fee component. The last quarterly fund in this Rolling Fund Program closed $20k in contributed capital. Learn more about how to estimate your commitment’s fees at our help center.
GP Commitment
Ben Stokes' personal subscription per quarter will be at least 2% of each quarterly fund's total committed capital with a quarterly cap of $20,000 in total. Ben Stokes will satisfy their GP commitment in part by waiving a portion of management fees otherwise owed to them by the fund. The remainder of the commitment will be contributed in cash.
Special Disclosure

Ben Stokes may receive advisory shares for services rendered to portfolio companies, which may present a conflict of interest to the Fund


Investor FAQ

How is this program different from venture fund investing?
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Will a Limited Partner (LP) participate in all investments made by the funds offered through this Program?
Will an LP's percentage ownership of quarterly funds always be the same?
Are LPs guaranteed access to Chasing Rainbows' future funds?
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Do funds in this Program have minimum or maximum investment sizes?
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Unanswered questions? Contact AngelList
The performance of past deals or a lead investors' track record is not a guarantee of future returns. Venture capital fund investments are inherently risky and illiquid. Such investments involve a high degree of risk and are suitable only for sophisticated and accredited investors.
AngelList and its affiliates do not provide investment advice to investors. The information on this page should not be relied upon as research, investment advice or a recommendation of any kind. Information on this page is qualified in its entirety by the fund's Limited Partnership Agreement, Private Placement Memorandum and Subscription Agreement, which should be reviewed carefully prior to making an investment decision. Please see these documents for full details regarding risks, minimum investment, fees and expenses. The fund lead and the fund's investment advisor have the right to waive or charge additional carry to certain investors. The fund's legal name may be different from the name used above.
This fund may accept new investors after the fund undergoes a valuation update. Certain potential investors in the fund may then have access to materially different information concerning fund value at the time of their investment.
Current or future portfolio companies in this fund may use AngelList's recruiting platform and may pay an affiliate of the fund's investment adviser for premium recruiting tools and services. This may create a potential conflict of interest for the investment adviser, which you will consent to by subscribing to the fund.
Please read the disclosures in full here.

Apply To Subscribe

Subscription Amount
$10,000+ Quarterly
Subscription Period
4 Quarters
Management Fee
2% per year over 10 years
Carry
20%
Admin Fee
0.15% per year over 10 years
Starting Q1 2024, this fund will transition onto updated Rolling Fund admin fee pricing terms. See the Investment Details section for more.
Invest Account
Select invest account