About afore

Afore Capital is a leading pre-seed venture capital firm based in North America, founded in 2015. As one of the first firms to define and institutionalize the pre-seed category, Afore backs founders at the idea stage—before product, traction, or revenue—and helps guide them through their journey to Series A.

With four funds and a reputation for spotting breakout companies early, Afore has built deep relationships with a diverse global LP base. But as the firm scaled, managing co-investments, investor updates, and fund communications with a lean team became increasingly difficult. The limitations of static portals, manual follow-up, and one-off tools like DocSend made it clear that a more scalable, immersive LP experience was needed.

Challenge: delivering on LP expectations with a lean team

Afore pioneered the concept of pre-seed investing, backing founders at the idea stage and helping them grow to Series A. But as the firm scaled to four funds and a global LP base, Gaurav and his team ran into a familiar problem: more LPs, more data, more expectations—but no dedicated IR team.

“Most of our management fee goes to supporting founders. IR is still a small part of our headcount—yet LP expectations have never been higher.”

Solution: a unified system for fundraising and LP engagement

With Vessel, Afore centralized its IR operations—from co-investment visibility to LP reporting and company storytelling.

Instead of sending one-off PDFs, Afore now builds branded, persistent profiles for portfolio companies inside Vessel. These include:

• Product demo videos

• Founder bios

• Key milestones

• Press, metrics, and updates

“It’s like Shopify for our portfolio companies. LPs don’t just get a static deck—they see the whole movie, not just a snapshot.”

This format gives LPs an ongoing view of the companies they may co-invest in, long before a deal hits their inbox.

Results: higher LP engagement, better decisions, less busywork

Afore uses Vessel to:

✔ Share immersive company overviews for co-investments

✔ Proactively keep LPs updated through structured, trackable workflows

✔ Automate IR prep so the team can focus on real relationships

“In hot deals, the LPs who’ve already seen the company’s trajectory are the ones who move fastest. Vessel helps make that possible.”

Why Afore would recommend Vessel to other GPs

“It’s simple. Vessel helps you build 10x more LP relationships without 10x the team. If you’re fundraising today, this is the platform you want.”

The future: AI-driven IR and scaling without headcount

Gaurav sees IR at an inflection point: today, 80% of the work is manual, and only 20% is relationship-building. But that’s changing fast.

“Fundraising is ripe for AI. There’s so much low-hanging fruit—questions, prep, follow-up—that can be automated. That’s what makes Vessel exciting.”

With a lean team and a high volume of LP interest, Afore uses Vessel to stay ahead without hiring more IR staff. The impact: stronger relationships, faster co-invest decisions, and more time for what matters.

“We built an in-house CRM, built tools to scout founders, built community platforms. But for fundraising? Vessel fills the gap. It’s a must-have.”