Fellow Fund: 
Investing $50-100K into underrepresented
student B2B software founders.

Get Funding

The Fellow Fund offers founders hands-on support and access to Ripple Ventures' resources & network.

Investment Focus

Operators first approach to investing and working with founders.
Regions
Canada
United States
Thesis Areas
B2B Software
Developer Tools
Climate Software
AI Infrastructure
Stage
MVP Built
Early Users or Customer Validation
Zero or Little Capital Raised
Strategy
Leading rounds independently
Investing in underrepresented student founders
Check Size
$50k
—
$100k
Round Size
Up to $250k

The Fellow Fund Portfolio

Learn more about the Fellow Fund and our mission to empower underrepresented founders.

Frequently Asked Questions

Have questions about getting funding? We have answers for you here.
If I have already raised a small angel or VC round, should we still apply for funding?

Yes, please still apply as we will evaluate investments opportunistically.

What is your investment process?
  1. Apply online
  2. Ripple team reaches out to companies that are in-thesis
  3. Initial call with Ripple team + demo (if applicable) 
  4. Ripple team drafts overview memo
  5. Team meeting with founders + entire Ripple team
  6. Follow-up questions and due diligence
  7. Investment

We expect this process to take no longer than a few weeks.

What is your typical deal structure?

Ripple Ventures will invest in your company as a part of the Fellow Fund initiative with a $50K-100K check. This will be on a standard SAFE note with a valuation cap, and side letters for pro-rata and information rights.

Is Ripple Ventures going to invest in Fellow Fund portfolio companies?

No, not every company that receives a Fellow Fund investment will receive a core fund investment from Ripple Ventures but we expect a good portion of the portfolio to. Companies will be evaluated on an individual basis to receive a core fund investment from Ripple Ventures.

Do you have to be from an underrepresented group to receive funding?

Yes, your founding team must have at least one member that identifies with an underrepresented group to qualify for the Fellow Fund. Underrepresented backgrounds are inclusive of: Women (femme-presenting / identifying); Indigenous Peoples; Racialized, Black and/or people of color (visible minorities); Persons who identify as LGBTQ2IA+ and nonbinary individuals; and Persons living with disabilities.

What are industries or types of companies you will NOT invest in?
  • Consumer / B2C / DTC 
  • Hardware
  • Lifesciences / Biotech
  • Marketplaces
  • Banking and Lending
What are the general investment criteria that you follow?
  • Founders are student, recent grad, or drop-out founders
  • Based and incorporated in Canada or the United States
  • Company is building B2B software
  • Ideally has not raised any institutional venture capital funding before
  • Has done a material volume of customer interviews and built an early MVP 
What do you consider as B2B software?

The company must have an idea in B2B software, meaning tools that are used in a professional or business setting (ie. Figma (design tool), Quickbooks (SMB accounting software), Supabase (backend development platform), to Amazon Web Services (enterprise cloud infrastructure))

Why did we start the Fellow Fund?

Our fellowship program and online course have scaled to help student founders and aspiring VCs across the world get access to knowledge and a unique network. The only thing lacking was financial support to offer in tandem with all of our initiatives.

Gap in the Ecosystem
There are many investment funds focused on student founders, but still only the top 1% of students receive investment. We want to continue democratizing access to venture capital.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Underrepresented groups still receive a small percentage of total funding, especially as students.
Expanding the Platform
Our program and online course have helped student founders raise over $60M in venture funding, and we want to support our founders alongside their journeys from Day 1.
Help Founders Get From 0 to 1
Many first-time founders lack the resources and expertise to get companies off the ground, and we're bridging the gap to close the immediate financial and experience gap.

Why Take Our Money

Hands-on mentorship and guidance

We've built, funded, and sold companies before. Using our experience to guide first-time founders to success in the early days.

Access to Ripple Ventures' resources and network

Portfolio perks on software and tools, as well as the access to Ripple Ventures' founder, investor and operator network.

Join the RippleX Fellowship community

Meet other like-minded founders and investors in private group chats and events, where we are dedicated to helping each other succeed.

Hiring high quality talent

Access to talent pipeline in the Ripple Ventures and RippleX Fellowship networks to ensure you have the best people building your company.

Join our community of extraordinary founders building market-shifting software tools.

Get in Touch