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.
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
This format gives LPs an ongoing view of the companies they may co-invest in, long before a deal hits their inbox.
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
Before Vessel
Co-investment decks shared through DocSend links
LPs only saw companies at the moment of the co-investment ask
Repetitive manual work: answering LP questions, digging for data, sending files
No dedicated IR team; Gaurav handled updates manually alongside investing work
Reporting felt “pushed” from the GP side
Fundraising and co-investment processes disconnected
After Vessel
Immersive company pages with video, product info, founder bios, and real-time updates
LPs track company progress over months or years, leading to faster, more confident decisions
One centralized system that automates information sharing and tracks engagement
Streamlined IR workflows that free up time for relationship-building and investing
Dynamic, branded LP experience that reflects the firm’s modern, tech-forward approach
Unified platform for fundraising, LP updates, and co-investments — all tied to the same relationship data
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.
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.
