The post-unicorn economy

Capital is a
technology.
It can be reinvented.

The early-stage funding landscape is being reinvented. New asset classes are emerging. We are documenting the transition.

Revenue-based financing Royalty capital Milestone-aligned investing Shared earnings Capped return structures Acquisition-first paths Community equity Seedstrapping Venture debt Commercial warrants SAFE variants Search funding Revenue-based financing Royalty capital Milestone-aligned investing Shared earnings Capped return structures Acquisition-first paths Community equity Seedstrapping Venture debt Commercial warrants SAFE variants Search funding
1

Capital is a technology

Every financial instrument we use was invented by a human being

The publicly traded share was invented in Amsterdam in 1602. Private equity, venture capital, the SAFE note — all inventions. Capital is coordination technology: a system for strangers to pool resources around a shared future. It was designed once. It can be redesigned.

2

VC is retreating

Venture capital was engineered for a specific type of company — and most of the world's founders are building something different

VC requires massive addressable markets, winner-takes-most dynamics, and near-zero marginal cost of scale. Capital is consolidating into fewer, larger rounds. Early-stage funding is contracting. The founders building the next generation of companies need instruments that don't yet have names.

3

New asset classes are emerging

A new capital stack is being assembled globally, right now

Revenue-based financing. Royalty capital. Milestone-aligned tranches. Shared earnings structures. Acquisition-first paths. These are the early architecture of a post-unicorn capital stack — built for durable businesses, not unicorn-or-bust bets. The movement exists. It just doesn't know its own name yet.

Coming 2027

The State of
Venture-Adjacent Funding

A first-of-its-kind research report mapping the emergence of non-traditional capital instruments for early-stage companies worldwide. The funds. The founders. The structures. The patterns. A global scan of what is being built outside the VC model and where it is going.

Research report Global Open access

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We are building this in public with researchers, practitioners, and ecosystem builders from every corner of the world where founders are building without a VC term sheet.

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