The AI-driven capital access platform that helps both new and experienced founders and investors build strategic relationships that lead to learning, growth, and funding.

Hi there,

U.S. venture funding hit $163 billion in the first half of 2025, but that headline number hides a much deeper story.

• 65% of that capital went to California alone. 
• Just 0.8% went to all-women founding teams nationwide. 
• In nearly every top-funded state, over 80% of capital went to all-male teams. 
• In Massachusetts, where I live, the state captured only 4% of total funding, with the lowest deal count in over a decade.

When we talk about venture capital in the U.S., we’re really talking about California. And when we talk about women getting funded, we’re often talking about…well…not venture capital.

Venture has always operated on power law dynamics, which is the idea that a few breakout companies deliver the majority of returns. But what we’re seeing now is an intensifying concentration of capital into fewer, larger rounds, going to the same kinds of teams in the same sectors. This isn’t just inequality; it’s a systemic compression of opportunity.

I sometimes hesitate before amplifying these numbers, not because I doubt the data, but because it’s disheartening to keep naming a problem that’s so often dismissed with the refrain, “Let’s fix VC.” 

What if we stopped trying to fix a system that was never built to serve most of us in the first place?

We’re building Scroobious to scale a model where capital flows through more and different hands rather than fewer and familiar ones. Where new and experienced angel investors, family offices, and other early funders connect with founders based on shared values and real context. 

We’re modeling our platform on how funding actually works in real life: it follows relationships. The problem? Most of us have been excluded from the rooms where those relationships form. We haven’t met each other. 

Instead of contorting ourselves to get VCs to see our value, what if we focused on activating the people who already do?

That’s where I’m putting my energy.

Investors are so much more than venture capitalists. We number in the millions, and we’re looking for what, and who, is next in the areas we care about most. We invest not only for the financial return, but to vote with our dollars and human capital for the innovations we believe in, led by founders who are too often underestimated, yet are statistically more likely to deliver better business outcomes.

We’re not trying to play someone else’s game better. We’re building a new one for the rest of us.

I’m not interested in endlessly fighting for thinner slices of a smaller pie. And if you’re reading this, I bet you’re not either. 

Here’s to baking a bigger pie together!

⚡ Bronze Valley Venture Lab Accelerator invests up to $100K in five high-growth startups a year. Each participating startup also receives 12 weeks of concierge, mentorship-based programming.
Applications due 7/27

😎 LISC LA Fueling Entrepreneurs Grant LA grants $5K for LA-based small businesses with community-centered plans.
Applications due 7/31

🌏 Prose 10k Emerging Entrepreneurs Grant in partnership with Ellis Brooklyn is for AANHPI entrepreneurs.
Applications due 8/1

🎨 Bombshell Impact Design Agency The Sky Is Not the Limit Social Impact Grant
gives social impact brands access to up to $10K in professional design, marketing, and “AI for Good” strategy services.
Applications due 8/19

Beth Mach is the Co-founder and COO of Spacely.Media. The first transactional marketplace for premium media, Spacely brings innovation forward for those channels who have not received the same outsized attention to automation that the digital counterparts have over the last decade. Buying a page in a magazine or on a billboard in 2025 is the same as purchasing an airline ticket in 1995. It’s time-consuming. It’s insecure. But it doesn't have to be. With Spacely, media buyers get instant visibility into which magazines have open ad space and where their ads will go, while media sellers get a sense of who is shopping their shelves. A resource that cuts through the industry noise, Spacely has finally ushered offline media into the 21st century.

“I co-founded Spacely.Media because we believe in the power of transforming an industry that has long been stuck in outdated practices. After decades of working in the space as a leader and practitioner, I felt a deep frustration with the inefficiencies and lack of transparency that plagued the print and OOH media buying process. We knew there had to be a better way, one that would empower advertisers and give them the tools to succeed with deeper industry knowledge, clarity, and confidence and one that would help sellers build a more connected and efficient environment for their teams to achieve their goals. Spacely.Media was born from the desire to create something that truly makes a difference, offering a new, innovative approach to media buying that helps everyone in the ecosystem thrive.”

- Beth

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