Investment Criteria & Eligibility
Review the investment criteria and eligibility requirements to determine if your company is a fit for Golden Seeds funding.
Golden Seeds is always looking for new, exciting women-led companies.
Golden Seeds invests in early-stage, women-led U.S. companies with strong leadership, scalable models, and market potential. Our investment criteria reflect two decades of experience evaluating companies across technology, health care, and consumer sectors. Typical first-round investments range from $250,000 to $2,000,000, with valuations generally under $10 million at first funding.
Please carefully review our investment criteria. If you meet the criteria, we welcome your application.
Eligibility
Requirements for Golden Seeds Funding
Golden Seeds accepts applications only from women-led companies domiciled in the U.S.Eligible companies must have at least one woman in an operating C-suite role.
While many have a female founder or CEO, we also consider companies with women in other executive positions.
When evaluating leadership, we consider:
- Does the female executive have power and influence in the company?
- Does she own a “fair” amount of company equity, given her role and the stage of the company?
What We Look For
- A capable management team with domain expertise
- A scalable business model
- An addressable market of at least $500 million
- Limited capital expenditure requirements
- Opportunities that can be accelerated with support from our investors
- A product or service in beta (versus alpha) stage of development that has been created with input from clients or potential clients
- “Proof of concept” revenue or significant pilots, except for health care bio/pharma, diagnostics, and devices companies
- A plausible exit strategy within 5-8 years
- Valuation at first funding is typically below $10 million
- Typically seeking first-round of funding of $250,000-$2,000,000
Sector-Specific Criteria
For consumer product companies, additional criteria include:
Primary Criteria- Trailing Twelve Months Net Revenues of over $1M
- Gross Margins in excess of 40% or clear pathway to achieve that figure with the planned raise
- Market size in excess of $1B
- Proof of product/market fit for consumer products
- Differentiated product or service that either meets customer need or addresses pain point or problem
- Existence of patents or evidence of demonstrable competitive moats
- Successfully attracted talent and/or advisors
- Well-conceived business model based on rational assumptions
- Historical record of capital efficiency
- Potential to benefit from secular tailwinds
- Product roadmap with track record of introducing new products or enhanced product capabilities
- Success in or established plans to diversify channels of distribution
- Well-developed marketing plan with experience in testing select plan elements
- Reliable manufacturing partners and supply chain providing consistency, redundancy, and ability to scale
- Consideration of commitment to sustainability and the environment
- Successful use of AI to improve the business, with plans to expand its usage
- Established growth trajectory with clear path to near and long term expansion
- Positive trend lines in relevant KPIs, in particular, marketing efficiency, repeat purchase behavior, and margins
For Enterprise Services and Technology (B2B) companies, additional investment considerations include:
- Current revenue, or strategic pilots or partnerships, evidencing commercial traction
For health care companies (bio/pharma, digital health, consumer health, diagnostics, and devices), additional investment considerations include:
- Strong, Defensible Moat
- Protectable intellectual property with filings underway or granted
- Clear evidence of differentiation vs. competitors - Large Market with High Unmet Need
- Solutions targeting significant clinical or commercial pain points
- Market size and adoption potential aligned with VC return expectations - Early Commercial or Clinical Traction
- For devices: Meaningful and positive in vitro, or ideally, in vivo data validated externally
- For diagnostics: Strong retrospective, ideally prospective data validated externally
- For digital/health tech models: Early customer pilots, traction, or partnerships with health systems
- For consumer health (OTC): $500k ARR
- For Biopharma: after IND stage - Validated Science
- Verifiable, peer-reviewed science supporting the concept - Regulatory & Clinical Pathway and Reimbursement Readiness
- Articulated plan and projected timelines for FDA/CE/other approvals
- Defined pathway for required studies, with understanding of cost, design, and endpoints
- Clinical partnerships ensuring patient access for trial and adoption
- Clear reimbursement pathway or evidence of willingness-to-pay models - Scalable Business Model
- Manufacturing/supply chain readiness or rationale if not required
- Strong go-to-market strategy with potential for rapid scaling - Ecosystem Fit
- Evidence of commercial/strategic partnerships in therapeutics that support scaling and exit pathways
Note: Golden Seeds typically does not invest in therapeutics
If you have any questions regarding our criteria, please reach out to us at info@goldenseeds.com.
What We Don't Fund
The following categories do not meet our investment criteria:- Venture Funds: Golden Seeds invests directly in early-stage operating companies, not pooled investment vehicles. Venture funds have different structures, timelines, and risk profiles that fall outside our angel investing model.
- Ventures with a large real estate component: Companies whose primary value is tied to real estate or property assets are not a fit for our early-stage investment strategy. We focus on scalable businesses where growth is driven by innovation, not real estate holdings.
- Television or radio programs: Media productions typically lack the scalable business structure and exit potential required for angel investing. These projects often rely on sponsorship or episodic funding rather than repeatable, high-growth revenue.
- Film, theater, or art productions: Creative productions operate on project-based timelines and do not offer the long-term scalability or exit pathways we look for. Our investments prioritize companies developing products or services with broad market adoption potential.
- Non-profit organizations: We fund for-profit companies with growth and exit opportunities that can generate investor returns. Non-profits operate under different financial models and missions that don't align with angel investment structures.
- Companies domiciled outside of the U.S.: Golden Seeds invests only in U.S.-domiciled companies to maintain alignment with regulatory frameworks and our nationwide deal flow process. International companies fall outside our investment scope.
- Companies using the 506(c) exemption or Reg CF (crowdfunding) or where our investments are subject to a broker/dealer fee: We do not participate in offerings that publicly solicit investment (506(c), Reg CF) or transactions requiring broker/dealer fees. These models introduce regulatory complexities and fee structures that don't align with our investment process.
Not Sure if you Qualify?
If you feel you don’t currently qualify for Golden Seeds funding, or are unsure, but would like to engage with us and learn more, consider attending an Information Session or Office Hours.
Information Sessions offer a brief overview of the basics of raising capital and how the Golden Seeds process works and Office Hours allow entrepreneurs to get feedback on their company from Golden Seeds members before applying.
Information Sessions Office Hours
Frequently Asked Questions About Golden Seeds Funding Criteria
Golden Seeds evaluates startup investment criteria across four dimensions: leadership (at least one woman in a C-suite role with meaningful equity), market (addressable opportunity of $500 million or more), traction (product in beta with early customer validation or proof of concept), and financials (seeking $250,000–$2,000,000 at a pre-money valuation typically under $10 million). Companies must be domiciled in the U.S. and operate in the technology, health care, or consumer sector. Sector-specific criteria apply, see the full breakdown above.
During the Golden Seeds review process, investors evaluate the management team's domain expertise, the scalability of the business model, addressable market size, capital efficiency, competitive positioning, and the company's readiness to deploy investment capital against a clear milestone plan. The due diligence process is led by Golden Seeds members with relevant sector experience.
Golden Seeds typically invests $125,000 - $350,000 in a company's first round of outside capital. Pre-money valuations at first funding are generally below $10 million. Individual investments are made by accredited Golden Seeds members directly into the company, often alongside co-investors and through Golden Seeds' managed funds. Check size and round structure vary by company.
Angel investors typically look for a combination of strong leadership (relevant experience + drive), a large and clearly defined market, early evidence that the product solves a real problem, a realistic path to exit within 5-8 years, and capital efficiency, meaning the business does not require massive ongoing investment before it can generate returns. At Golden Seeds specifically, companies also need to meet the women leadership criteria and be U.S.-domiciled. The combination of these factors is what makes a startup fundable at the angel stage.
Ready to Apply?
You’ve reviewed our investment criteria — now take the next step toward funding with Golden Seeds.