Decile Group Raises $14M to Launch the Start Fund

Decile Group has secured a $14 million seed round to revolutionize how venture capital funds are launched. With its new initiative, the Start Fund, the company aims to make institutional-grade VC more accessible than ever, allowing investors to launch a fund in under 24 hours, with zero upfront legal or formation costs.

A new path for aspiring VCs

The Start Fund was created to address a core issue in the VC ecosystem: the complexity and cost of starting a venture capital fund. Traditionally, launching a fund can take six months and require at least $100K in legal and setup fees. Start Fund eliminates those barriers through legal innovation, back-office automation, and a fully digital onboarding process.

Institutional-grade, without the friction

Start Fund offers several advantages compared to traditional venture vehicles:

• No legal or formation costs upfront
• Launch in less than one day
• LP commitments accepted from $10K
• Fund closes at $150K versus traditional $1M+ thresholds
• Fully automated, click-to-close process
• Portable track record into traditional fund structures

These features enable talented individuals, from startup founders to influencers and corporate executives, to participate in venture investing without pausing their careers or navigating outdated systems.

Backed by top VC leaders

The $14 million seed round was led by Draper Associates, Javelin Venture Partners, and Geek Ventures, with support from the VC Lab accelerator. According to Adeo Ressi, co-founder of Decile Group and creator of the SAFE note, demand has exceeded expectations. “Everyone wants one,” he says. “We’re now on track to 5x our 5x goal.”

Tim Draper, a longtime innovator in VC access, also backed the round to help Decile Group scale globally. Over 600 Start Fund applications have already been submitted from around the world.

Strong early adoption

In just a few weeks, more than 50 Start Funds have already launched, collectively backing over a dozen startups. Users report rapid fund setup and strong LP interest.

“Start Fund gave us a clean, efficient way to double down on breakout startups and support new winners without missing a beat,” said Doug Griffin, Managing Director at Spatial Capital.

“We were looking for an institutional-grade solution that could be up and running fast, and Start Fund delivered exactly that,” added Radhika Iyengar, Managing Director at StarChain Ventures.

A scalable model for the future of VC

Over the last three years, Decile Group and VC Lab have helped launch 798 venture firms globally, with an average fund size of $12 million. But with thousands of managers applying and only a fraction completing the process, the industry needed a more scalable path.

The Start Fund removes traditional barriers like complex legal agreements, long compliance reviews, and high capital requirements, ushering in a new era of VC accessibility, speed, and flexibility.