500 Startups is a venture capital firm on a mission to discover and invest in the world’s most talented entrepreneurs. With 500 Startups’ support, founders create successful companies at scale and build thriving global ecosystems. The firm, which has more than 100 team members worldwide, has invested in over 2,200 companies in 74 countries via four global funds and 14 thematic funds dedicated to either specific geographic markets or verticals.

When it comes to raising capital for its funds, 500 Startups has a particularly complicated set of compliance requirements due to the firm’s global presence. As such, the firm must vet each potential investor to ensure compliance with global fund marketing rules.

This process can be slow and tedious, and it was the source of much friction. Some LP leads were so buried in the process that they gave up trying to access the decks altogether!

Furthermore, 500 Startups lacked visibility into where investors were focusing their attention. Which LPs needed follow-up? Which materials did viewers spend the most time reviewing? Where did they bounce? These are all important data points that, if applied to pitch decks themselves, would make fundraising more efficient and effective for 500 Startups. However, 500 Startups’ ability to control or track investor engagement within particular documents was difficult to track once investors were added to fund data rooms. Moreover, the process of onboarding investors to the fund data room was clunky. Having to create an account to view the data room and having to sign in every time to view fund documents was seen as a hurdle for investors.

Since discovering DocSend, 500 Startups has taken its fundraising process to the next level. DocSend’s seamless yet secure viewing experience immediately removed the login barrier 500 Startups historically associated with sharing assets and materials. Additionally, with DocSend’s premier analytics, the 500 Startups team has a crystal clear picture of which LPs are engaging with the documents they send, and which aren’t. The 500 Startups team even uses DocSend’s secure Spaces to securely house all pertinent fundraising materials in one customizable place.

Let’s take a deeper look.

Increased Fundraising Efficiency with DocSend

500 Startup’s previous compliance requirements led to a number of lost leads—since there was so much initial friction, potential investors would often abandon the process. Using DocSend, 500 Startups can easily share links to fund documents with potential investors via email and can leave tedious sender and viewer experiences in the past without sacrificing security and the ability to track who accesses fund documents.

“DocSend helps 500 Startups remove barriers for investors,” says Sheel Mohnot, Partner at 500 Startups. “Now, it’s a seamless experience for both parties.”

Enhanced Document Engagement Insights

Before DocSend, 500 Startups had limited visibility as to what content within fund materials viewers were focusing on. With DocSend, 500 Startups has access to granular page-by-page analytics for each user who engages with their documents. These analytics define follow-up strategy since they enable the 500 Startups fundraising team to identify who needs follow-up and what is resonating (or not resonating) with each viewer. 500 Startups now has the ability to better structure and quantitatively measure their outreach.

With DocSend, I can see where investors are focusing, and where I am losing investors. Tracking who's seeing the deck and where their attention was focused has been super useful.

Sheel Mohnot

Partner, 500 Startups

DocSend Solves for Version-Control and Dynamic Content

Once a conversation has started with a potential investor, 500 Startups shares a link to a DocSend Space that houses fund documents and provides investors with a single source of truth for all information moving forward. This has enabled 500 Startups to keep investors focused on their business.

Given the number of investors that 500 Startups interacts with, managing document version-control is important. Document updates are made all the time and keeping tabs on who has reviewed what version of what document can be a challenge. By sharing DocSend links, 500 Startups can make changes to documents behind the scenes dynamically. Furthermore, link sharing to updated fund materials on Spaces removes the friction-point of investors having to log into a data room to view the updated documents.

“We have many living documents, like pitch decks, that are changing all the time,” said Mohnot. “With DocSend, it’s not an issue because we can make changes dynamically and viewers always have access to the most updated version.”

In short, link-based access enables 500 Startups to ensure that only those who are supposed to have access to 500 Startups’ assets do. Version control enables 500 Startups to ensure that those who do have access aren’t referencing outdated assets. It’s a winning pair for 500 Startups—one that makes all the difference.

In Conclusion

With DocSend, 500 Startups sends all high-stakes fundraising materials seamlessly, securely, and intelligently. Tracking and analyzing LP engagement enables the team to identify and concentrate on high-engagement leads. DocSend’s Spaces has provided the perfect deal room platform for 500 Startups to keep all the materials pertinent to a given fund organized and (mutually) easily accessible.

In Mohnot’s own words, “DocSend has proven extremely valuable for our internal processes. We now encourage our startups to use DocSend, for fundraising as well as for their sales teams.”

For 500 Startups, the insights, efficiencies, and advantages DocSend provide empower the team to make the most out of their engagements with LPs, investors, portfolio companies, and other start-ups. Curious about how your business can do the same? Click here to get started with DocSend for free.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANY INFORMATION OR CONTENT HEREIN, BE CONSIDERED AS AN OFFER TO SELL OR SOLICITATION OF INTEREST TO PURCHASE ANY SECURITIES ADVISED BY 500 STARTUPS OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES OR REPRESENTATIVES. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANYTHING HEREIN BE CONSTRUED AS FUND MARKETING MATERIALS BY PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS CONSIDERING AN INVESTMENT INTO ANY 500 STARTUPS INVESTMENT FUND NOR  BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL, TAX OR INVESTMENT ADVICE FROM 500 STARTUPS OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES.