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Investment Application

Thank you for your interest in Fifth Star Funds! NOTE: We are currently fundraising so we can invest in more founders like you. We anticipate that new applicant interviews will be reviewed and scheduled in Q3 2024. We encourage you to submit an application and we will review it as soon as possible. Thank you! We invest in startups that meet the below criteria: - At least one co-founder who has faced material barriers to accessing capital due to discrimination based on race - Headquartered in Chicago or Houston - Friends & Family / Pre-seed stage - Tech-enabled software business with the potential for venture scale - Less than $300k funds previously raised (we define this as equity investments that have been wired; verbal commitments and non-dilutive grants do not count against this cap) - Corporation or LLC business entity type We currently invest $25k under a SAFE agreement with a $4M post-money valuation cap and a 20% discount rate. More information on SAFEs here: https://carta.com/blog/fundraising-with-safes/ We strongly suggest you wait to apply until after you have reviewed the following materials and are confident you are ready to put your best foot forward. Fifth Star Evaluation Rubric: https://www.fifthstarfunds.com/rubric Example Pitch Deck Slides: https://tinyurl.com/yyzd698k Pitch Video from TechRise: https://tinyurl.com/2p8e44ds If your startup meets the above criteria and you have reviewed and feel you can adequately address our assessment criteria, we welcome you to submit the below form and we will be in touch to schedule time to meet with you. The form should take less than 10 minutes of your time to fill out. Thank you!

(e.g., CEO)
Business Entity Type
Do you have co-founders?
Material Barriers to Accessing Capital
Briefly describe how have you faced material barriers to accessing capital due to discrimination based on race?
  • {name}
Company Stage
We use this information to understand the stage of your company and product. We consider investment at all of the below stages.
Have you raised capital previously for your company?
Please specify if you have previously raised investment capital (e.g., from friends and family, angel investors, incubators, VCs, etc.). Note that we are happy to be your first investment check and we do not penalize startups that have not raised funding!
Are you currently raising a round of funding?
It is fine if you are or are not raising a traditional round of funding.
Company Description
Brief description of what your company does in a few sentences. Please include information about the problem you are solving, your unique solution, and the type of customers / users of your product.


Need of Funds
Our goal at Fifth Star is to increase the number of underrepresented founders by supporting their efforts in the early stage of business creation. We aim to invest our funds in founders/teams where our funds can have a significant impact on bringing an idea to life. Why would a $25k investment from Fifth Star be critical to your future success?


Pitch Deck
Please attach your pitch deck.
Attach file
Drop files here
Share their names, company names, and email addresses here.
Prerequisite Criteria Confirmation
By checking the below box, you confirm that you have reviewed the below prerequisites in order to be eligible for investment from Fifth Star Funds. Thank you! - At least one co-founder who has faced material barriers to accessing capital due to discrimination based on race - Headquartered in Chicago or Houston - Friends & Family / Pre-seed stage - Tech-enabled software business with the potential for venture scale - Less than $300k funds previously raised (we define this as equity investments that have been wired; verbal commitments and non-dilutive grants do not count against this cap) - Corporation or LLC business entity type

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