ATO Ventures is a pre-seed and seed stage venture capital firm focused on technology startups. We back companies at the earliest stages, often before products have been completely built, working with entrepreneurs to make sure there is a sufficient number of customers willing to pay for their solution before spending exorbitant amounts of time and money (not to mention blood, sweat and tears) launching into the proposed market. Our areas of focus are Health, Fitness & Wellness and Digital Media & Entertainment. We look at companies globally, but primarily serve those in USA and LATAM.
At Home in Puerto Rico
Although we invest in startups worldwide, ATO Ventures is headquartered in Puerto Rico. As one of the first VC funds on the island, we embrace our leadership position in this fast-paced, emerging tech & venture community, and will continue to encourage entrepreneurs and investors to locate here. Puerto Rico has faced many challenges over the years, but the tide is changing! We are now growing stronger and faster than ever before. ATO Ventures is committed to contributing to the economic development of Puerto Rico by doing what we do best - helping to build incredibly prosperous, innovative technology companies that, like Puerto Rico, will succeed Against The Odds!
Our Market Validation Strategy
The number one reason seed-funded startups fail is lack of Product-Market Fit. Our mission is to make sure that doesn't happen to any of our portfolio companies!
With the founder's input, we work with our development team to design and execute Market Validation Testing, paid for with our initial pre-seed investment. If the entrepreneur's market assumptions are correct, by the end of the testing phase we will have identified actual paying customers in a large, scalable, reachable market. At that point, the startup will have revenue and an additional seed investment from ATO Ventures to successfully launch into the validated market.
Ready to Put Your Startup to the Test?
Guiding Principles
Validated Markets
Whether you call it product-market fit or traction, when a startup doesn’t have it, investors have a difficult choice - either place a blind bet, which almost never happens, or send the entrepreneur away, telling them to return when they have data.
ATO Ventures does neither. We help entrepreneurs test their market assumptions and capture their first customers. Our process saves entrepreneurs valuable time and money, and arms them with the data and revenue needed for a successful launch.
Tenacious Entrepreneurs
We believe an entrepreneur's ability to execute is a function of ingenuity, intelligence and determination, not what school they went to, or whether they already have had a startup exit. We want to know if they have hacked solutions to tough problems in life as much as in business.
We look for scrappy, unwavering entrepreneurs who just figure *it out! ATO Ventures' entrepreneurs have achieved success Against The Odds and will continue to do so.
How We Support Entrepreneurs
Although we use a very data-driven approach to select our portfolio companies, once part of the ATO Ventures family, we add a human-driven approach to help ensure success. Each of our founders is provided with an "Entrepreneur Success Package" that includes the training and the tools necessary to not only grow his or her business, but to grow as person as well. Startups are hard - very hard! We work with our companies to develop cultures that support happy, productive, long-lasting teams. Key areas include:
