Valspeed Capital Fund I
Investment Thesis & Operating Manifesto
Key Claims
1. Systematic selection beats pattern matching. Predictive models capture signal that humans miss or dismiss.
2. Operator leverage compounds capital efficiency. GTM infrastructure de-risks expansion and accelerates revenue.
3. Asia market timing creates arbitrage. U.S. AI companies face 18-24 month lag before APAC focus; early positioning wins.
Three Investment Gates
Every investment must pass three sequential gates. No exceptions.
Gate 1: UNIQUEst ≥ 75th Percentile
Company scores in top quartile across our ensemble model. Combines XGBoost (tabular features) and GraphSAGE (network structure) to predict breakout likelihood.
Gate 2: Asia Feasibility in ~6 Months
Clear path to Asia market entry within approximately 6 months. Product demonstrates enterprise demand signals, localization is tractable, and GTM infrastructure fit exists.
Gate 3: Founder–Market Fit
Founders show deep domain expertise, technical credibility, and authentic conviction. Execution track record and learning velocity are validated through reference checks and direct interaction.
UNIQUEst Model Architecture
Our predictive model ingests 47 quantitative features organized into five meta-categories:
- Funding Momentum: Round velocity, investor tier, syndicate composition
- Talent Density: Hiring velocity, engineering ratio, previous company pedigree
- Network Strength: Graph centrality, co-investor density, advisor connections
- Founder Signal: Prior exits, domain expertise, technical contributions
- Market Timing: Category growth, competitive shifts, regulatory tailwinds
The two-stage ensemble combines gradient-boosted decision trees (XGBoost) for tabular features with graph neural networks (GraphSAGE) for relational structure. Calibrated for precision at top percentiles with quarterly retraining.
Asia GTM Infrastructure
Portfolio companies gain immediate access to three systematic commercialization channels:
Enterprise Co-Sell
Direct relationships with Fortune 500 enterprises across APAC. Warm introductions, joint value prop development, procurement navigation.
Mid-Market Landing Zones
Singapore and Sydney hubs for rapid market entry. Shared infrastructure for compliance, data residency, payment rails, and localization.
Talent & Distribution Hubs
Pre-vetted hiring pipelines for sales and engineering. Channel partner introductions, marketing support, and ecosystem positioning.
Why Now: Market Timing
Enterprise employees use GenAI weekly
Enterprises expect AI budgets to increase
Enterprise AI adoption is accelerating. Procurement cycles in APAC average 6-12+ months. Early positioning captures budget allocation before competitive crowding. The systematic edge comes from identifying winners before traditional signals emerge.
Fund Governance
Fund I operates with institutional governance standards: quarterly LP reporting, independent audits, clear conflict-of-interest protocols. Our UNIQUEst methodology is fully documented and available for LP review. We prioritize transparency, alignment, and long-term value creation over short-term optics.