Eleven launches a new investment program for “builders of the future”

Eleven Ventures, the Bulgarian venture capital firm focused on pre-seed and seed investing in South Eastern Europe, today announces the launch of Eleven Alpha – a three-month program geared towards outstanding entrepreneurs in the earliest days of their endeavors. The program serves as the founders’ entry to the world of Eleven – together they work on a bespoke game plan and get access to the firm’s company-building expertise, wide network, and community of peers. This comes with a standard deal of €300,000 for 10% equity.

The application process is simple, fast and straightforward, allowing founders to remain focused on their business. It consists of a short application form (a pitch deck is needed), a meeting with Eleven’s investment team and eventually a meeting with the selection committee, if the startup passes the preliminary screening.

Who is Eleven Alpha for?

The team of Eleven Ventures wants to be the earliest partner for the aspiring entrepreneurs. Eleven Alpha is geared towards committed founders at a pre-seed stage who are currently working on their idea, product and company. This could mean having just a bold idea and a rough prototype or a few paying customers. Eleven’s four priority verticals (Fintech, Healthcare, Future of Work and Future of Food) stay in focus but the door is open to other entrepreneurs in any vertical.

Eleven encourages Romanian entrepreneurs with ideas to apply for financing through Eleven Alpha. The venture capital firm already has examples of Romanian startups that obtained investments in the past and which now enjoy success in the market: Frisbo, Flaminjoy (ex ProductLead) and SuperOkay are just some of the names in Eleven’s portfolio.

A “unicorn” deal?

Fundraising can be a daunting, lengthy and a complex process for many founders. To address this, as part of the Alpha program, Eleven makes a €300K investment in the participating companies for 10% equity. The term sheet is founder-friendly and the firm guarantees a maximum two months from the moment of application to closing of the deal. The conditions are fixed and similar to the fund’s initial investment in Payhawk (the first Bulgarian unicorn), hence the name “the unicorn deal”. The term sheet has been publicly shared by Eleven as well, so anyone can take a look at it.

From Alpha to Beta

After signing the term sheet, founders get access to all company building know-how and resources of Eleven. The team will provide constant support and work closely together with the founders to develop a tailored game plan helping them reach the next stage. The program is divided into 3 phases:

1. Discover, where founders will be able to get to know their customers better, talk to them, and understand their pains, needs and jobs to be done. This is when they set the foundations of building their company.
2. Design, where founders define the value they bring to customers, learn to build a product their clients want, design the business model and learn how to modify it, test and validate their hypothesis.
3. Deliver, where founders build a go-to-market strategy, start selling, establish the fundamentals for growth, and prepare the ins and outs of their fundraising strategy.

Ivaylo Simov, Managing Partner at Eleven, commented on Eleven Alpha: “We are looking for builders of the future with bold ideas. Eleven Alpha is bringing together all we have learnt during the last 10 years and making it accessible in a structured form to aspiring founders, who are just starting their companies. We want to be their partner in their first steps, which we deem to be also the most important for their ultimate success.”