High Impact SoCal Venture Pipeline Program Expanding Beyond Series-A: Now Accepting Seed-Ready Companies

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on its successful early track record of matching Series-A ready companies with qualified investors, including two companies that recently closed a combined $18M, the Alliance for SoCal Innovation ("Alliance") is expanding the SoCal Venture Pipeline program brought to you by Silicon Valley Bank. It will now include seed stage startups raising $1M+ of institutional capital. This program expansion allows more committed and diverse SoCal founders to get connected to investors.

"The SoCal Venture Pipeline team offers their support, guidance, and network to companies, and doesn't take equity or fees. Why would you not apply to receive their help?" - Ashley Crowder, Founder and CEO, VNTANA

The SoCal Venture Pipeline brought to you by Silicon Valley Bank initially launched with a focus on startups seeking Series A rounds (starting at +$4M). Program expansion was prompted by several recent trends in the funding landscape, most notably the increase in size of average early stage investments, the increase in overall dollars invested at the early stage, and the move of later stage investors into early stage investment.

"Recent funding trends have led us to conclude that we can better serve great SoCal entrepreneurs earlier in the venture funding cycle. Helping founders at an earlier stage will enable us to strategically advance more founders who have historically struggled to access institutional venture capital," said Andy Wilson, Executive Director of the Alliance.

The program will now open to applications from SoCal-based tech startups that are raising $1M or more of institutional seed capital. The program builds on the success of its Series A focus and will continue to accept Series A ready companies. Thus far, the SoCal Venture Pipeline has helped 13 companies, with two receiving over $18M+ of combined funding.

Additionally, the expansion of the program will help provide access to funding to more women and minority entrepreneurs who too often have struggled to secure funding at earlier stages. One of the original goals of the program was to help underrepresented founders access capital, and by accepting earlier stage companies, SoCal Venture Pipeline brought to you by Silicon Valley Bank will be able to do so. Additional support for the program is provided by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and KPPB.

"Southern California is ripe with talented founders, and now, through the expansion of the SoCal Venture Pipeline program, we can help more founders at this crucial early stage in a company's lifecycle," said LA-based DeMarcus Williams, Managing Director, Early Stage Tech for Silicon Valley Bank.

The goal of the program is to continue to create pathways to funding access for great entrepreneurs thereby driving job growth, economic prosperity, and a stronger SoCal innovation ecosystem.

The guidelines for tech startups to be considered for the Venture Pipeline program are:

1. Based in Southern California
2. Dedicated team of 2 or more
3. For Seed Stage: raising $1M+ of institutional capital; have already raised at least $250K through angel funding and/or friends/family AND/OR have a product in market and demonstrated customer traction along with potentially early revenue generation
4. For Series A: raising institutional capital of $4M+ of institutional capital with a scalable business model

For SoCal based tech startups that meet the guidelines above, apply now to the SoCal Venture Pipeline brought to you by Silicon Valley Bank.

About The Alliance for Southern California Innovation

The Alliance for Southern California Innovation (the "Alliance") is a not for profit formed in 2017 that has successfully brought together the heft of Southern California's top research institutions, local business leaders, and world-class advisors to focus on bridging critical gaps in the SoCal innovation ecosystem. The goal of the Alliance is to engage and unify SoCal's compelling diversity of talent, ideas, and perspectives in order to optimize the conditions for the region's innovators to bring breakthroughs to the world.

About Silicon Valley Bank

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) helps innovative companies and investors move bold ideas forward, fast. SVB provides targeted financial services and expertise through its offices in innovation centers around the world – including three SoCal offices in Santa Monica, San Diego and Irvine. With commercial, international and private banking services, SVB helps address the unique needs of innovators. Learn more at svb.com.

Contact: Eric Eide, The Alliance for SoCal Innovation
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE The Alliance for Southern California Innovation