Investment Criteria

Thank you for your interest in Golden Seeds.

Please read our investment criteria before applying.

Golden Seeds accepts applications from women-led companies domiciled in the U.S. 

These companies must have at least one woman in an operating role at the C-suite level. Frequently, companies have a female founder or CEO, but we also consider companies with women in other C-level positions. 

Golden Seeds is interested in these questions:

• Does the female executive have power and influence in the company; and
• Does she own a “fair” amount of company equity, given her role and the stage of the company?

Golden Seeds typically invests in companies within the B2B & B2C technology, health care, and consumer products or services industries.

The following categories do not meet our investment criteria: venture funds, ventures with a large real estate component, television or radio programs, film, theater or art productions, non-profit organizations and companies domiciled outside of the U.S.

We do not fund companies using the 506(c) exemption or Reg CF (Crowdfunding) or where our investments are subject to a broker/dealer fee. Companies that previously used the 506(c) exemption or Reg CF (Crowdfunding) must agree to self-certification of accredited status by our investors.

Golden Seeds looks for these characteristics:

• A capable management team with domain expertise
• A scalable business model
• An addressable market of at least $500 million
• Limited capital expenditure requirements
• Opportunities that can be accelerated with support from our investors
• A product or service in beta (versus alpha) stage of development that has been created with input from clients or potential clients
• “Proof of concept” revenue or significant pilots, except for health care bio/pharma, diagnostics and devices companies
• A plausible exit strategy within 5-8 years
• Valuation at first funding typically below $10 million
• Typically seeking first-round of funding of $250,000-$2,000,000

For consumer product companies, additional criteria include:

• Annual run rate revenue over $1,000,000
• Gross margins over 40%

For health care companies (bio/pharma, diagnostics and devices), additional investment considerations include:

• Protectable intellectual property, with protection underway or granted
• Products or services that fill a significant unmet need
• A concept based on verifiable science that validates approach and supports expectation of efficacy
• Articulated pathways, with projected timing, for regulatory and reimbursement approvals (if applicable)
• Company understanding of the studies required to drive adoption (blind clinical studies, for example), their design and cost
• Clinical partnerships or connections that will allow access to patients for clinical trials and to help drive adoption
• Defined approach for product manufacturing and scaling, or rationale for why this is not necessary
• Understanding of capital requirements, future funding strategies and expected milestones needed to achieve such strategies.
• For device companies, meaningful and positive in vitro, and ideally in vivo data that has been validated externally or with validation underway
• For diagnostic companies, strong retrospective, and ideally prospective, data that has been validated externally or with validation underway
• We typically do not invest in therapeutics.

If you have any questions regarding our criteria, please reach out to us at info@goldenseeds.com.

If you feel you don’t currently qualify for Golden Seeds funding but would like to engage with us and learn more, consider attending Office Hours or an Information Session. 

We wish you the best with your business development.