The Aumni Blog

New Aumni Benchmarking Term Sheet Helps Investors Leverage Market Data to Generate Term Sheets

Today marks the launch of the largest single feature update to Aumni’s Investment Analytics platform -- our new Benchmarking Term Sheet. This launch represents an evolution of our work with the NVCA to create the Enhanced Term Sheet 2.0. The Benchmarking Term Sheet is an interactive application that gives our customers the ability to organize and analyze market data on a term-by-term basis and compare both the financial implications and the market relevance of each change in real-time. The Benchmark Term Sheet also contains a built-in Pro Forma calculator, which allows customers to calculate post-money valuation and understand the effect that option pool and convertible notes have on the capitalization of the company.

Aumni Spotlight: Brendan Kussman, VP of People

If Aumni is truly the sum of its people, we have Brendan Kussman, VP of People to thank for leading the creation of our culture. He shares, “My varied background has enabled me to apply a unique perspective to solving problems. With my creative roots, I love good storytelling, and I’m a strong communicator professionally. I like working on multi-faceted projects with a lot of stakeholders and finding a way to align them all behind the story. I appreciate complex ideas and enjoy distilling them down into simple solutions that can be communicated to the market, to our employees, and our investors. In my time at Aumni, I’ve been able to help influence and shape that story.”

How Aumni Does Summer: 2021 Edition

With summer winding down, we wanted to take a moment and share a behind-the-scenes look at the many ways our very own Aumni employees took full advantage of the season. As a company, Aumni strongly supports a healthy work/life balance. We extol the benefits of doing what you love, before, during, and after work hours. Each of the photos shared below was collected from an internal communication channel devoted to the sharing of photos from weekend and evening activities.

Aumni Raises $50M Series B Funding Round

We are thrilled to announce that we have closed our $50 million Series B funding round in response to the company's remarkable growth and the persistent market demand for Aumni's offering. J.P. Morgan led the charge, with participation from Pelion Venture Partners. Additional new investors included WndrCo, Citadel Securities, Invesco Private Capital, Vanderbilt University and Kera Capital. The new investors join existing investors, SVB Financial Group, DLA Piper, Next Frontier Capital, Kickstart Fund, First Trust Capital Partners and Prelude, a Mercato Partners fund, who also participated in this Series B funding round.

The Pros and Cons of Creating Paths to Liquidity for Early Investors

Aumni recently had the privilege of moderating a virtual event led by TechGC. Titled “Providing Early Investors and Founders with Options for Liquidity,” Aumni Co-founder and President, Kelsey Chase explored liquidity options with a panel of general counsels from several influential VC funds. They shared both experiences and new perspectives on liquidity-related themes, ranging from mechanisms for providing liquidity to methods for handling inquiries around founder and early investor liquidity.

Three Key Findings Shed New Light on Fundraising in 2020

Aumni and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) recently hosted a webinar on the latest major updates to the Enhanced Model Term Sheet. The Enhanced Model Term Sheet has enabled investors to draft term sheets while comparing terms against market benchmarks. Aumni's AI-driven technology has been powering these insights based on anonymized venture financing data extracted from more than 100,000 venture transactions, representing 40,000 investors with a combined network of over $1 trillion in assets under management (AUM) – the largest aggregate analysis of private venture deal term data conducted to date.

Aumni Spotlight: Scott Sherrill, Chief Operating Officer

Aumni is proud to introduce Scott Sherrill, our COO and member of the leadership team. As a former lawyer, Sherrill is a champion for Aumni’s values and manages multiple responsibilities that are critical to Aumni’s daily stability in a time of exceptional growth.

Deeper Knowledge of Your Co-Investor Network Can Drive Your Investment Strategy

According to Private Equity International, Triago puts co-investment, separate accounts, and direct investments at $206B in 2019, of which 32% (~$66B) is co-investment capital. Furthermore, private markets firm Capital Dynamics found that, for funds launched between 1998 and 2016, 60% of co-investment funds delivered a higher net internal rate of return compared to single-sponsor funds.

Aumni's Kelsey Chase Talks Private Market Liquidity, VC Industry Trends, and Founding a Technology Company in Utah at StartFEST 2021

Aumni Co-founder and President, Kelsey Chase, sits down with Garret Clark, Managing Director of Silicon Slopes, at StartFEST 2021, to discuss fundraising tips and VC industry trends, including his take on the benefits of secondary transactions for founders and investors. Kelsey explores the outcomes that available liquidity is bringing to the private capital market and delves into the reasons that investors are turning to Aumni to better analyze each contracted ownership position throughout a company’s development.

Differentiation in a Crowded VC Market: a Big Money Q&A with Sharmila Kassam, Executive Director of the AIF Global Institute

Our Big Money webinar series has yielded invaluable expert advice for emerging managers navigating today’s unique market conditions. In the latest webinar installment, we had the pleasure of hearing from Sharmila Kassam, Executive Director of the AIF Global Institute. In the Q&A below, Sharmila shares her take on institutional readiness, new investment relationships, due diligence, and check size dynamics. She also addresses how to uniquely position your fund's thesis in the market as well as how to compete for LP dollars as a first-time fund.

Aumni Levels Up in Security Practices, Achieves SOC2 Type II Certification

We are thrilled to announce that Aumni has received its SOC 2 Type II certification – Security and Availability discipline, an exceptional achievement . For those of our customers who don’t speak “cyber security,” we have been verified by an independent third-party auditor that we can be trusted to keep our customers' data safe and our systems highly available as a result of our implementation of foundational security practices and industry leading security solutions. 

Aumni Spotlight: Sahil Pandya, Vice President, Product

In this Aumni Spotlight Q&A, we hear from our VP of Product, Sahil Pandya. Sahil shares his career journey, including his transition from Yelp to Aumni, his insights on Aumni’s product philosophy, and the wisdom he’s gained from the obstacles that he and his teams have overcome. He also gives us a glimpse into his favorite product features and what he treasures most about Aumni’s company culture.

Big Money Continued: Q&A with Joshua Hunegs, Corporate Senior V.P. of H.W. Kaufman Group

In a recent installment of our successful Big Money webinar series, we were honored to glean valuable insights on the current venture capital landscape from Joshua Hunegs, Corporate Senior Vice President of H.W. Kaufman Group.

Big Money, Encore! Our Q&A with Dayna Grayson, Co-founder and General Partner of Construct Capital

In the latest installment of our successful Big Money webinar series (Big Money Part 2 - Real Advice from Institutional Investors for Emerging Managers), we collaborated with new expert panelists to provide real advice to emerging fund managers on how to be "institutional investor ready."

Enhanced Model Term Sheet 2.0 Marks Largest Aggregate Analysis of Private Venture Deal Term Data

Aumni and National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) proudly announce a major update to NVCA's most popular model legal document: the term sheet.

Aumni Spotlight: Building the Optimal Customer Experience with Michelle Wiles, Customer Programs Manager

In this Employee Spotlight, Aumni’s Customer Programs Manager, Michelle Wiles, discusses how she became interested in a customer success career, what excites her about Aumni, and how Aumni’s company culture aligns with her values. She also shares with us Aumni’s vision for the optimal customer experience and a must-read message for Aumni customers, present and future.

Commercial Venture Insurance: An Ounce of Prevention or a Pound of Splurge?

The venture capital industry is known for its bold approach to the balance of risk in the face of reward. What isn’t always so obvious is the critical role that commercial insurance plays in creating that balance. The well-timed purchase of venture insurance can be a fundamental first step in minimizing unnecessary risk.

Building Thriving Teams and Honing World-Class Talent: A Conversation with Engineering Manager, Jake Sorce

We sat down with Aumni’s Engineering Manager, Jake Sorce, to talk about his background, his role as the head of engineering, and what makes being an Aumni engineer a unique experience. We also walked through what a typical week looks like for Aumni engineers, as well as the qualifications he seeks in job candidates for his department.

How Data Can Help Emerging Managers Get Institutional-Ready: A Venture Unlocked Podcast Q&A

Aumni Co-founder and President, Kelsey Chase, recently sat down with Samir Kaji, host of Ventured Unlocked podcast, dubbed the playbook for starting, operating, and scaling a successful venture capital firm. In the Q&A that follows, the two discussed what led to the creation of Aumni, the new age of expectations for emerging managers, and how data can be used to drive investing and fund management. Other themes covered included the rise of secondary markets and the role of automation in GP and LP relationships.

Top 3 Mistakes VCs Make with QSBS

As an emerging fund lawyer, I advise my clients to take advantage of qualified small business stock (QSBS). Too often, I see VCs inadvertently take actions that can easily eliminate this tax windfall. What’s worse is they find out too late and then need to write an unexpected yet substantial check to Uncle Sam. My previous article discussed the best kept secret of QSBS. This article will help you avoid the top three mistakes VCs make that disqualify their investments as QSBS.

Aumni joins Fast Company's 2021 World Changing Ideas List

I’m proud to announce today that Aumni was included in Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas as an Honorable Mention. This is a great honor and serves to underscore the phenomenal growth we have experienced. Our submission highlights our approach to unlocking private capital data with a unique combination of artificial intelligence and human expertise.

Becoming "Institutional Ready": Q&A with C. Ndu Ozor, Associate General Counsel, University of Michigan

In a recent webinar we discussed the current market conditions for emerging managers, especially those seeking institutional capital. Our panel included valuable insights from C. Ndu Ozor, Associate General Counsel at the University of Michigan. In the Q&A below he shares helpful tips on becoming “institutional-ready,” why data is critical for operational due diligence, and how new managers can cut through the noise.

Successful Operations for Emerging Funds: Q&A with Samir Kaji, founder and CEO of Allocate

We had the pleasure to reflect on the current state of affairs for emerging managers with experienced institutional investor, Samir Kaji, who hosts the Venture Unlocked podcast and is also the founder and CEO of a soon-to-launch VC startup, Allocate. In the Q&A below, Samir discusses why setting a strong operational foundation is important as firms seek institutional capital, why secondaries are worth another look right now, and the importance of having a data strategy.

The Best Kept Secret of QSBS

Most venture capitalists know of the qualified small business stock (“QSBS”) tax exemption. However, as a venture capital lawyer, I often see fund managers not concern themselves with QSBS until after a portfolio company exits. By then, it may be too late to correct the record. They also often miss out on the best kept secret of QSBS called “trust stacking,” which we’ll cover in this article.

The Most Successful Investor in the World

For years, his life has been shrouded in secrecy and intrigue. His legend has sparked thousands of stories throughout Silicon Valley. When he heard of Aumni and saw what we can do, he not only became a customer, but asked us to share his story to the world. We are honored to do so, and we invite you to learn more. Please meet the Most Successful Investor in the World.

How Venture Attorneys Can Harness the Power of Data Automation Technology

Venture capital attorneys have long struggled with the difficulty of quickly answering the many deal term questions asked by investment teams. The manual nature of having to review a high volume of legal documents spread across multiple sources can be challenging, particularly for growing firms executing a large number of deals.

5 Ways CFOs and Finance Teams Can Benefit from Data Driven Decision-Making

Traditionally, venture capital CFOs have tracked financial terms manually with spreadsheets; however, if these efforts are unsupported by automated tools, bottlenecks can arise. The static information within the spreadsheet files can fall short of providing finance teams an accurate and timely lay of the land within the firm, which can impact closing and other critical business dealings.

Aumni Spotlight: A Look Ahead with Aumni’s Head of Strategy Julie Shaver

In continuation of our effort to get to know the people behind Aumni’s powerful solutions, we are excited to share our latest Q&A with Aumni’s Head of Strategy, Julie Shaver. Below Julie discusses her background, her take on what makes Aumni’s solutions unique, and where the company sees strategic opportunities in the year ahead.

Inside Aumni: A Look at What Fuels Our Team

Whipping up and indulging in extraordinary dishes is big at Aumni, especially now with some of the other entertainment and travel on hold. To make the most out of the moment, we’ve asked our team members to share their at-home kitchen concoctions and curbside culinary delights with us as a way to stay connected, while apart.

Q&A with Silicon Valley Bank’s Jim Marshall: Advice and Support for Emerging Managers

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jim Marshall, Head of the Emerging Manager Practice at Silicon Valley Bank, about his observations during his twenty-year tenure in the venture community.

4 Not-so-obvious Reasons to Rebrand Your Startup

Considering all the challenges an early stage startup faces, the last thing founders want to do is to spend precious time and money on activities that do not improve the product or bring in revenue.

Aumni Launches New Brand in Response to Growth and Expansion in Private Capital Markets

We are thrilled to announce Aumni's expanded market focus and our brand's new look and feel, as we present to you our new website, logo, and marketing collateral. Our rebrand is rooted in Aumni's evolution, especially over the past year.

Inside Aumni: A Look at Our Goals and What Inspires Us as We Head Into 2021

This past year was one for the record books—in more ways than one! Our day-to-day was turned upside down, lives were changed, and perspectives shifted, but through it all the Aumni team joined forces and came out stronger to take on a new year.

Structuring the Unstructured: A Human + AI Approach to Private Capital Data

Unlike in public markets, where highly-regulated electronic exchanges handle millions of transactions each day, private capital market transactions occur entirely off any common platform. Deals come in the form of lengthy, complex legal agreements loaded with bespoke terms and provisions.

2020 CEO Year-End Message

The end of the year is the quintessential time for us all to look back, reflect, and be reminded of all we’ve been through, where we’re headed, and what we’re thankful for. Despite the extraordinary challenges of 2020, Aumni ended this year stronger than we started it. This makes me wonder: What did we do right? How can we do more of it? How do we capitalize on what 2021 will offer us?

Aumni Spotlight: Understanding the Benefits of Stronger Data Insights with Aumni’s Katrin Robb

We sat down with Aumni’s VP of Customer Success and Strategy, Katrin Robb, to glean insights into how Aumni customers elevate their data strategy by incorporating our solution. We explored what the data allows firms to do, the merits of improved data accuracy, and what surprises and delights our customers find as they begin the process of transitioning from spreadsheets to a robust analytics platform.

Q&A with Les Craig at Next Frontier Capital

We recently sat down with Les Craig, partner at Next Frontier Capital, a regional early-stage venture capital firm with offices in Bozeman, Montana, and Boulder, Colorado. The firm invests primarily in B2B SaaS in the Northern Rockies: Montana, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho. We discussed what made Next Frontier Capital turn to Aumni, audit season, using data from Aumni to grow the firm, and much more.

Aumni Spotlight: Kim Mueller, Director of Customer Success

When I heard of Aumni and its capabilities, I immediately wanted to learn more about the software. I knew it was a unique data management offering for private capital markets, but didn’t realize the true impact they would have on the industry until I spoke with several members of Aumni’s executive team.

How Funds Can Accelerate Growth with Data-Driven Audits

We are in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, which, to many, is a painful time in the back office as the year comes to a close and annual audit preparations are underway. In a recent webinar, we sat down with experts in fund administration, fund audit, and venture capital. We discussed the role of audits, lessons learned best practices, and trends in the market today.

A Closer Look at Deal Term Trends and The Regional VC Market

We are often asked what trends we are seeing in the data for deal terms, and why it is important. Thankfully there has been standardization of deal term structure through widely accepted forms such as the NVCA's model legal documents, including the Enhanced Model Term Sheet that was launched by NVCA in partnership with Aumni this summer.

Q&A with Aumni’s President and Co-founder Kelsey Chase on the Success and Future Outlook of the NVCA

In the summer of 2020, Aumni and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) announced their partnership to provide extensive market insights into deal terms found in executed venture financing agreements.

Aumni Announces Record Growth in 2020, Extends Series A Funding Round

Big news for Aumni today! We just announced an extension of our original $10M Series A round to a total of $13M thanks to the remarkable growth we've seen so far in 2020. The extension includes global strategic partners and industry innovators such as Donnelley Financial Solutions, DLA Piper and Orrick.

How LPs Can Encourage Differentiation for Emerging Managers in a Crowded Market

In our recent webinar, we discussed how emerging funds can become "institutional ready" such that they can attract the attention of national endowments and banks. One important piece of advice for funds in today’s market is: you can’t follow the usual path and channels to funding.

A Look at the Current Environment for Limited Partners and Venture Capital

What a year it has been so far…a global pandemic, social justice movements, wildfires, and overall an incredible amount of change in 2020. So what does the world look like from a fundraising perspective for venture capital?

What’s Happening with VC Financings in a COVID Environment

What a year it has been. Given the current economic climate and the unprecedented times we have been living in, it seems every aspect of life as we know it has been affected on a global scale.

The Journey of Aumni's Only Product Designer

The number of hats I’ve had to wear as the only product designer at an early-stage startup would challenge even Dr. Seuss. Sometimes, it meant wearing a hat that wasn’t even UX-focused but, you know... an early-stage startup. Being the only designer presents the same challenges as a larger team, but it stresses the autonomy of working independently in a fast-paced environment; this results in quickly seeing the tangible impact of your designs.

Legal Tech’s Past and Future: Welcome to a New Customer Experience

In a recent blog post, we discussed how innovation in legal tech is driving impact and scalability in the legal community. Today we’re digging into how technology is empowering customers at every economic level to take charge of their legal needs and how to harness the demand for new types of legal services to grow.

Aumni and NVCA Join Forces to Add Market Analysis to the NVCA Model Legal Documents.

Big news today! Aumni has partnered with the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) to provide comprehensive market insights into deal terms found in executed venture financing agreements.

How Legal Tech Can Help Us Unlock the Power of Data

We recently hosted a webinar on the subject of “legal tech”, the technologies that empower a wide array of legal services and products. The past decade has been one of transformation from a world where the data of legal documents was locked in PDFs, or worse a physical file cabinet, to one where we now have a plethora of information quickly accessible to inform decisions.

What Happens When QSBS Doesn’t Go As Planned

The upside of Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) is very attractive to investors and business owners alike, as we have explored in recent posts. As we discussed last week, businesses need to make sure they follow the correct steps, starting early on.

When QSBS Isn’t Straightforward: Talking Through the Details

In a recent post we explored Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS), an area of great interest in the Aumni investor community. We examined this under-reported topic with a panel of experts who partook in a special webinar roundtable on QSBS.

Qualified Small Business Stock: Who Qualifies and How to Take Advantage of the Tax Savings

We’ve been getting a lot of interest from the Aumni investor community in a topic that’s not broadly discussed in the private capital markets: the Qualified Small Business Stock, or QSBS – a tax exemption that frees early shareholders from paying federal (and some state) taxes on long-term capital gains upon selling their shares.

Building for the Future in a Down Economy

In our last blog post, we discussed how companies can weather the COVID-induced downturn. But can there actually be growth during this pandemic?

Leading in a COVID World: Are Your Portfolio Companies Prepared?

The current economic crisis is unprecedented and there are understandable uncertainties as to how long this event will last and what the world will look like when it ends. Making plans, or rather changing plans to adapt in this current COVID-19 climate is the name of the game.

Looking for the Bright Spot in a Downturn: Takeaways from Aumni's Investor Roundtable

During our recent roundtable webinar we had the unique opportunity to discuss today’s market conditions as seen through the lens of three experienced investors.

Q & A With Christina Perry of Drive Capital

Pawan Murthy, Aumni’s Head of Marketing, visited with Christina Perry, CFO of Drive Capital to discuss how Aumni has become an invaluable platform for Drive and their rapidly growing firm.

3 Top Venture Blogs to Follow

The internet holds an overwhelming amount of content covering a wide range of topics across thousands of blog sites. We wanted to filter the list of potential content sources to only the best. 

Q & A With Prologis Ventures

Pawan Murthy, Aumni’s Head of Marketing, connected with Breton Birkhofer, Principal at Prologis Ventures, to discuss how Aumni has become an invaluable platform for Prologis over the past couple of years. 

Assessing Your Fund’s Downside Risk with Aumni

For a VC, “economic rights” and “control rights” have very different dynamics depending on the health of the markets.

Private Capital Data Analytics Platform Aumni Raises $10 Million Series A

Salt Lake City, Utah (January 28, 2020) - Aumni, Inc., a SaaS company developing a robotic process automation and data analytics platform for private capital investors, announced a $10 million Series A funding round led by SVB Financial Group,