Exponent Founders Capital Announces a $75M Raise In Capital Commitments

Exponent Founders Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm founded by former employees at Plaid and Robinhood, has raised $75M in capital commitments.

Exponent Founders Capital is already setting a footprint in the financial service industry. The firm initially raised $50 million for its first fund in November 2021.

Former Plaid and Robinhood Employees Raise $75M to Invest In Startups

Exponent Founders Capital is a firm co-founded by Charley Ma and Mahdi Raza. Before setting up this firm, Ma led fintech growth at Plaid while Raza led growth and payments at Robinhood.

Ma was among the veteran employees at Plaid. He headed the fintech and developer sales vertical in San Francisco. He was also tasked with supporting the operations of the company’s office in New York.

Ma was also among the first business hires at an expense management startup known as Ramp. While working here, he was responsible for launching the corporate card of the company as the head of growth for the company.

Recently, Ma took the position of head of growth at Alloy, a platform that deals in identity and risk infrastructure management. His extensive experience in the industry has helped drive the success of Exponent Founders Capital.

On the other hand, Raza derives his experience in growth and payments while working at Robinhood before joining Stytch to also lead growth.

Robinhood, a leading brokerage platform, was among the largest customers at Plaid. As such, Ma and Raza often met while working for the two companies. Before joining forces to start a venture firm, they made solo investments as angel investors.

Exponent is a fund focused on enterprise SaaS fintech, infrastructure, and go-to-market (GTM) software companies. The VC fund has invested in around 40 startups since announcing its first fund.

Exponent Capital Attracts Investments

Some startups in which Exponential Capital has invested include Apollo.io which secured $100 million in funding at a valuation of $1.6 billion. The other platform that also secured funding is Chronosphere which raised $115 million at a $1.6 billion valuation and EvenUp which raised $50.5 million last year.

The number of VC firms supported by Exponent Capital has also changed over time. The firm sold software startup Tactic to TaxBit earlier this year. Ma has also announced plans to disclose more deals in the future including new ones and those that have been halted.

As aforementioned, Ma and Raza initially invested in startups as angels. During this time, they participated in funding companies such as Modern Treasury, Moov, Persona, Lithic, Unit, Stytch, etc.