OUR INVESTMENT PROCESS
At Digitalsky, we know your time is precious - so we’ve built a process that’s transparent, efficient, and founder-friendly. From first conversation to investment committee, we aim to take no more than five hours of your time in total. We keep things straightforward: no endless pitch loops, no unnecessary hurdles - just clear steps designed to get to conviction quickly.
Our Stages
Initial Meeting
Your journey with us often starts with a 30 minute call or meeting, usually sparked by an intro, an email, or even a quick message on LinkedIn. At this stage, we just want to hear your story-who you are, what you’re building, and why it matters.
What you might need: A short pitch deck or a simple narrative to help frame the conversation.
Second Meeting
If there’s strong alignment, we’ll set up a follow-up session. Here, more of the Digitalsky team gets involved, and we dive deeper into your vision, market, and team dynamics. You’ll often meet us in person, and we’ll create a WhatsApp group to keep communication fluid.
What you might need: A more detailed deck, an early product demo (if available), and introductions to references who can vouch for you (e.g., former colleagues or early customers)
Deep Dives & References
We’ll spend focused time getting to know you as founders – your motivations, resilience, and potential. This often includes 1:1 conversations, reference checks, and digging into your unique superpower.
What you might need: Names of 2–3 people we can speak with – previous co-founders, managers, or others who know you well.
Investment Committee
The final stage brings you into a 90-minute session with our full team. It’s a collaborative conversation rather than an interrogation – we want you to meet everyone you’ll be working with. A decision is usually made immediately, and if it’s a “yes,” we’ll present a term sheet and introduce you to other founders in our portfolio so you can diligence us too
What you might need: Nothing new. By this stage, the heavy lifting is done.
Round Building
Once we commit, we don’t just wire funds – we help you build your round. That can mean introducing you to angels, co-investors, or future leads for Seed. From there, we stay close: sharpening your first pitch, helping with early hires, and opening doors to customers.
What we look for
At Digitalsky, we back founders at the very beginning - often before there’s a product, revenue, or even a name on Companies House. That means our criteria are less about spreadsheets and more about people. We don’t wait for consensus; we make high-conviction bets on ambition, resilience, and raw potential.
1. Founders First
Our single most important criterion is you – the founder. We look for obsession, grit, and clarity of thought. Whether it’s your first company or your fifth, we want to understand why you can’t not build this business. We’ve said yes to teams who met at school, to founders who fled wars, to those fired from their last job but unwilling to stand still. Your story, drive, and superpower matter more to us than traction or polish.
What we value in founders:
- Relentless curiosity and commitment to solving the problem.
- Unique insights or lived experience that give you an edge.
- A willingness to be transparent and open in the relationship.
2. The Leap, Not the Ladder
We invest at pre-seed because this is where the leap happens – the moment when conviction outweighs evidence. At this stage, we know there won’t be a perfect business plan or a tidy data room. Instead, we look for raw ingredients: a big, ambitious vision and a founder brave enough to jump first.
3. Market Potential
We’re sector-agnostic, but we want founders chasing global opportunities. The best pre-seed ideas often look unconventional, but they share one thing: the possibility of building something huge. Whatever you’re tackling covering the AI value chain, what matters is your ability to see what others don’t yet see.
4. Team Chemistry
We pay close attention to the dynamics between co-founders. Pre-seed companies are forged in uncertainty, so trust, alignment, and complementary strengths are essential. We’ll want to see that you can weather pivots, disagreements, and near-misses together.
5. Early Signs of Momentum
While we don’t require traction, we do look for sparks of momentum: an early prototype, a first user story, or a bold insight others have overlooked. These signals, however small, often reveal the depth of your conviction and the potential to scale.
Our criteria are simple but uncompromising: founders with conviction and teams with the resilience to go the distance. Pre-seed is not a placeholder – it’s the point. And when we find those qualities, we go all in.