Stealth: $300K from Verdict Capital

BY THE NUMBERS

Every intro request, accounted for.

MatCap sent 51 intro requests on the founder's behalf between April 21 and May 13, 2026 — about three and a half weeks of active outreach. Here's how the network actually responded.

Intro requests sent

Engaged

Wired · Verdict / $300K

~3.5wk

From first intro to lead

RESPONSE BREAKDOWN

YES · 27%

PASSED · 35%

IGNORED · 16%

PENDING · 20%

Yes · 14 intros · 1 wired (Verdict)

Passed · 18 intros

Ignored · 8 intros

Pending · 10 intros (still live)

FIRMS THAT ENGAGED (14)

Verdict Capital ✓ $300K

1121 VC

Afore VC

Belief Capital

BoostVC

Brickyard

Campus Founders Fund

Copper Sky Capital

Formation VC

Geek Ventures

Looking Glass Capital

Pareto Holdings

Stone Mountain Ventures

Techstars Boulder

FIRMS THAT PASSED (18) — RECEIPTS, NOT JUST WINS

Active Capital

Animo VC

Banana Capital

Bloomberg Beta

Compound VC

Dorm Room Fund

First Round

Flex Capital

Haystack Fund

Hustle Fund

Mantis VC

Neo

Pear VC

Root VC

South Park Commons

Terrain

Tucker Seed Fund

Weekend Fund

First Round, Hustle Fund, Pear, Compound, Bloomberg Beta, Neo, South Park Commons — Tier 1 firms took the meeting. None of them led. Verdict did.

The challenge

[Mat to fill: high-level context about the founder + sector that doesn't reveal identity — e.g. "second-time founder, technical background, building in a regulated vertical" — plus what stage he was at when he came to MatCap and what specifically he needed.]

What MatCap did

Sourced 51 targeted intro requests across pre-seed funds, scouts, and operator angels — every name vetted against the founder's stage and sector.
Sharpened the pitch before the first intro went out. [Mat: specific examples of feedback / iterations].
Personal warm intro to Niko Bonatsos at Verdict Capital — the one that converted.
[Mat: coaching specifics — pitch reviews, term-sheet feedback, signaling advice.]

The outcome

$300K led by Verdict Capital (Niko Bonatsos), via MatCap intro.
14 firms engaged from a 51-intro outreach — 27% response rate, above the platform average of 25%.
~3.5 weeks from first intro to lead investor commit.
10 intros still live at time of writing — round may not be fully closed yet.

$300K from Verdict Capital, via MatCap.