58. Valuations in venture investing with Dave Foreman of Praetura Ventures

Valuations are a frequent topic of discussion for venture capitalists and founders alike, and are extra topical just now. We get Dave Foreman to draw on his experience to place them in context.

He starts off by outlining what's happened in the past couple of years and where the market is now. He talks about what is or is not a reasonable valuation, with a particular focus on SaaS companies. Dave draws on examples to give us an idea of what he is seeing.

We then dig into how valuations fit into the investment process. We talk about founder expectations and to what extent they are realistic or not. Dave digs into how dilution of founders is also a key factor when looking at valuations. He also digs into what extent as a manager you have keep investing when valuations are high and what he things of down rounds and market approaches to them.

Praetura Ventures website: https://www.praeturaventures.com/

Dave Foreman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-foreman-praetura/

Praetura EIS Growth Fund review: https://hardmanandco.com/research/tax-enhanced-research/praetura-eis-growth-fund/

Bio

Dave Foreman

Managing Director, Praetura Ventures

As the MD and founder of Praetura Ventures, one of the only VCs head-quartered in the North, David Foreman has championed tech and health founders from the region and helped them grow exceptional businesses. The Praetura Ventures investment team review over 200 funding applications a month and £3bn worth of opportunities each year, deploying into just 15-20 select businesses per year.

The Praetura EIS Growth Fund has now backed success stories such as BaniFi, Culture Shift, Patchwork, PEAK, Transreport and XR Games.

Praetura pride themselves on their ‘more than money’ approach, which helps their portfolio founders build the best businesses they can. This includes initiatives such as their Operational Partners programme, which matches founders with active mentors from dedicated industry heavyweights from companies such as Apple, Dr Martens, AO.com and Social Chain.