Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Knoxville Business News Tennessee Mountain Scenery Background
June 11, 2023 | Tom Ballard

Seed-focused investor expects surge of new start-ups

Rob Biederman, Co-Founder of Asymmetric Capital Partners, shared his bullish outlook with Crunchbase News.

Here’s some good news for early-stage start-ups.

The Co-Founder of a seed-focused venture fund that launched its inaugural $105 million fund just two years ago is bullish on the prospects for new start-ups later this year and into 2024.

In an interview with Gené Teare of Crunchbase News, Rob Biederman of Asymmetric Capital Partners said “the pre-seed stage has gotten more competitive over the last two years — not less so” since the firm was founded. The fund has invested more than one-half of its capital in just two years, writing checks between $100,000 and $150,000 to 43 portfolio companies and another 18 exceeding $1 million.

Asymmetric invests pre-revenue, pre-traction, and sometimes even before a founder has an idea. That’s atypical of most seed investors who like to see some customer adoption or “traction” of a product before they will invest. “We’re willing to compromise on traction because we’re able to think critically about ecosystems,” Biederman said. “The market actually probably over-values traction a little bit and relatively undervalues people. We’ll never compromise on people.”


Don’t Miss Out on the Southeast’s Latest Entrepreneurial, Business, & Tech News!

Sign-up to get the Teknovation Newsletter in your inbox each morning!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.


No, thanks!