ASTRALABS

Why build your own startup portfolio when you can invest in professional investors and entrepreneurs that have built and sold companies?

Introducing: 'The Venture Studio' That Grew Our Portfolio Startups' Revenue >300% YoY

ASTRALABS is a coalition of hundreds of top startup founders, expert mentors, and investors around the globe focused on rebuilding the world post-COVID-19. 

We are setting a new standard in the ecosystem by making funding, growth, and innovation accessible for every entrepreneur in the new remote economy.

We build, launch, acquire, and scale startups, then if we see more immediate value in exiting a line of business we may pursue that option or we may continue generating cash and building up new lines of business and through that we aim to become a public Berkshire Hathaway for startups, wherein Berkshire has a long history of wholly acquiring companies to add to revenue and then sells them off when it feels that cash be used more effectively in other revenue generating activities.

Join Professional Investors On An Unrivalled Quest

Your typical startup incubator invests capital and expertise in idea-stage businesses in exchange for a small amount of equity, while accelerators operate in a similar way for post-launch or post-MVP companies. 

Not ASTRALABS.

You see, while we operate as an accelerator, we also aim to be a kind of Venture Studio. 

Meaning we build wholly-owned startups from the ground up and may even acquire our best accelerator startups.

Having decades of entrepreneurial experience ourselves, we know what founders need and the roadblocks they face. 

Because of this we don’t fund startups as investors, we found or acquire startups.

We have a step-by-step playbook to recruit top-talent and engineer startups to succeed with the right balance of resources.

We are not direct investors, we're portfolio partners via an ecosystem of products, services, and mentors from launch to exit/IPO/acquisition (potentially even by us).

Our eggs are never in one basket because our vertical focus is the startup ecosystem itself - thus so long as businesses exist, there will be a demand for us.

It’s a big vision, we know - but we also know what we’re doing.

This is the time to do it. And we can do it together. Join us on our mission!

"To all current and new prospective investors (or shareowners as we like to say),

First, I want to give a shout-out to all of our current VC’s and accredited investors that have put in the blood and sweat along with us to build ASTRALABS.

And second I want to thank you for allowing us to open a limited offering on Wefunder and enabling everyday people to join in on this journey with you!

This week we open investing in ASTRALABS to the world.

We are building a platform where tens of thousands of entrepreneurs around the world will be able to come, discover their passion, and build the companies of their dreams.

With the challenges humanity faced in 2020, we find ourselves now in a remarkable new world, rife with risks but also opportunities.

It truly is Day One for a remote startup economy post-COVID 19.

Given the devastation of this last year, we have a newfound passion and drive to not just focus on America but on the entire global recovery and the impact of a borderless internet.

In 2021, we will have to make many conscious and deliberate choices as consumers, entrepreneurs, investors, and operators, some of which will be bold and unconventional.

We’ve seen a lot of innovation in the past ten years, where we’ve opened our minds to things we never would have before, like letting strangers stay in our homes with us (Airbnb) or driving us to work (Uber).

In the post-Covid world, there will be room for even greater innovations.

Hopefully, some will turn out to be winners. Certainly, some will turn out to be mistakes- and in those, we aspire to only have successful failures that we learn from.

Overall, data-driven diversification is our strategy - and we commit to always test to see what the market wants because the market drives innovation.

We invent on behalf of our customers, even when they don't yet know what they want or need and we commit ourselves to a single infrastructure focus for the startup economy.

At ASTRALABS, we want to invite you to join us on this journey, we want you to win when we win, and we want you to learn as we do when we inevitably also have successful failures.

We've seen amazing growth in 2020, but you don't reach the moon in a day- in fact, it took Americans 10 years to put a man there.

We're building a company that we hope all of us can tell our grandchildren about and that you all can say "I was one of the first to be a part of it".

This is a business of risk, however, in this raise, we hope to address those risks and prepare to be a public company focused on growth, transparency, and long-term opportunities.

We predict the next few years are going to be exciting and we hope that you make the choice to join us (or for current shareowners, double down) on this journey to the stars."

- Andrew Ryan (Rafols)
Founder & CEO of Newchip

• 💰 Access to $100M+ startup deal flow with multiple startups exiting in 2020 and 2021.
  
• 📈 Revenue growth of >300%+ from 2019 to 2020 across our product lines. 
• 🚀 Multiple positive exits for alumni companies in 2020 via our accelerator, and we expect to announce more in 2021 as we continue to grow.
• 💵 $4M+ in funding raised from investors and execs from Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Yeoman Capital, JadeValue Fund, Sputnik, Youbi Capital & Polymath Capital.
• 🤝 Expanded to 6 continents in 2020 (we're everywhere but Antarctica ☃️) and developed 100's of VC, angel group, and corporate innovation partnerships.
• 🌎 High social impact: our accelerator graduated 150+ female and minority founders in 2020 and in fact, we're graduating them in record numbers globally.

Two of the most common questions we hear are “What is a venture studio?” and "What is its place in the startup investor ecosystem?".

First, a venture studio is a venture that aims to create multiple companies in rapid succession. This model is sometimes referred to as a startup factory or “parallel entrepreneurship” in some MBA textbooks.

To be classified as a venture studio, there are three generally accepted industry criteria that the studio must meet:

• The resources of the venture studio are focused on creating startups from the ground up, meaning that there is a lot of time, effort, and dedication focused on working on a given project for a segmented period of time with a specific allocation of resources. 
• The venture studio builds several different startup companies in rapid succession so that they are often working on multiple prototypes at the same time, sometimes even competing with each other internally to see who succeeds.
• The venture studio has an infrastructure in place that lends itself to an efficient company-building machine. The venture studio often pools its manpower, technical tools, and skills to build several projects in a year, reusing infrastructure in an efficient manner.

Source: Thibaud Elziere, Startup Studios: The Rise of Human Capital

People often confuse Venture Studios with Incubators and Accelerators:

1. An Incubator typically receives a small amount of equity in idea stage business in exchange for capital and expertise vs. just starting it from scratch.

2. An Accelerator typically operates similar to an incubator but for post-launch or post-MVP companies - think "accelerate growth" vs "build from scratch".

While ASTRALABS operates an Accelerator, at the core, we are a Venture Studio with multiple startups under the same holding company structure. 

However, we also differ in that we see ourselves as an ecosystem as opposed to a single entity - we're multiple companies vertically integrated with the same mission.

Below are two of our startups from our venture studio, of which we have whole (100%) ownership, one of our investments, some examples of startups in our overall portfolio, and exits we saw in 2020:

2020 Accomplishments
-$100,000,000+ Portfolio in Equity Warrants
-Generated $2,800,000+ in Revenue (300%+ growth)
-1,000+ New Startups Added to the Portfolio 
-Expanded to 200+ Cities, 35+ Countries, & 6 Continents

Equidam Valuation Estimate: $124,000,000
Recent Closed Round Valuation: $71M (Post-Money)
Most Recent Round Date: 04/2021 (Close Date)

Startup Portfolio Examples - Acquisitions & Exits in 2020 (Multiple in Diligence)
- Organic Candy Factory, founded by Piper Cochrane, acquired by Vertical Wellness
- Absorbits, founded by Elliot Harris, took on a majority private equity stake
- VZ Games, founded by Kristaps Vaivods, closing an acquisition
+ Numerous Others Currently in Due Diligence

Startup Portfolio Examples - Raised Funding in 2020 (100+ Not Listed)
- AgShift, founded by Miku Jha, raised over $1M
- ACE Recycling, founded by Nishchay Chadha, raised over $1M
- Santa Cruz Berries, founded by Andrea Freydell, raised over $500k
- Simplenight, founded by Mark Halbertstein, raised over $1.5
- Aiden, founded by Josh Aaron, raised over $450k
- Adelante Shoes, founded by Peter Saccro, raised over $800k
- Safedeploy, founded by Volker Dahm, raised over $1.5M+
+ Numerous Others Raised But Not Announced

2020 Accomplishments
- $48,000 in Sales in First 90 Days Post-Launch
- Over 265+ Active & 500+ Lifetime Clients
- Exited Beta for Launch in Q4 of 2020

Astralabs Ownership Percent: 100%
Equidam Valuation Estimate: $8,500,000
Recent Closed Round Valuation: NA / Venture Studio
Most Recent Round Date: NA/Venture Studio

2020 Accomplishments
-Hit $1,000,000 Annual Recurring Revenue
-20X'd Revenue Growth from Prior Year
-Partnered with Auburn & Univ of Michigan
-Raised $1,000,000 for Seed Round

Astralabs Ownership Percent: 4%
-Warrant Option to purchase 5% at discount (prior valuation)
Recent Closed Round Valuation: $40,000,000
Most Recent Round Date: 12/1/2020

Once you become an investor, you'll get a monthly update with our results, information on the smaller goals that lead into larger yearly goals, and our stretch goals and initiatives that we really believe are going to rock the world through 2023.

* Forward-looking statements that cannot be guaranteed. Due to Reg CF's Forward-Looking Statements requirements, confidentiality to some of the plans we have from the competition, and our desire to be conservative, these are our top public/Reg CF goals, however, please see the disclosures at the bottom in regard to forward-looking statements.
* We have not listed all of our projects or the potential acquisitions that we're pursuing due to confidentiality as well as stealth development/pre-market launch of new startups.

ASTRALABS is the new brand and parent company of the Newchip Accelerator. 

Newchip is the #1 remote accelerator (measured by companies joining in a year) grew to international acclaim and became a world-recognized brand during COVID-19. ASTRALABS also is the parent company of both Sofos.ai and Journey Venture Partners.

This is a public opportunity for our network of investors to join.

We intend to use the funds to continue technology development, marketing, advertising, and revenue-generating activities allowing us to grow current and future revenue streams.

We plan to spend the remainder of funds on expanding our portfolio of wholly-owned startups with a focus on building and or acquiring startups that we can take to profitability and grow, utilizing our unique resources within 6-12 months.

• You'll receive direct equity (shares) priced @ $3.20 per share.

ASTRALABS provides a different investment opportunity from every other company raising via Equity Crowdfunding. With ASTRALABS, instead of putting all of your eggs into one basket, you get exposure to the hundreds of startups in which we take positions.

When you invest in ASTRALABS, you are investing in a company that owns multiple diversified, cash-generating business units and investments, each with asset protection and significant opportunity of de-risked upside built into our overall business model.

The core of which comes from fee for service and software packages in addition to taking options to purchase stock (warrants or options for equity - we call these equity warrants) in the startups we work with to help them fundraise and grow in our portfolio.

This has resulted in a diversified warrant portfolio of over $100M if all warrants were exercised, across 20+ verticals, 200+ cities, and 35+ countries; of which ASTRALABS investors benefit from, on day one.

One of the greatest values of our model is our ability to cross-sell across our portfolio companies which results in decreased marketing costs, increased customer life-time-value, and continuity of relationship and service for the over 1,000 startups we have worked with.

The most important reason we believe you should invest in us though is that you believe in our vision and our mission. 

We believe that entrepreneurs have the potential to improve the quality of life for billions of people globally post-COVID-19 and we're going to lead the charge.

Want to learn more? Learn why 1,000+ investors believe in us below!

Why not crowdfunding? We were there when the JOBS Acts was signed into law and we've been a part of the mission that has been equity crowdfunding since 2016. 

We have VCs and professional angel investors around the world backing us to solidify and bring confidence to public investors but the why is separate.

We originally started Newchip as a platform for everyday investors to invest in startups, and from Day One we have focused on building something meant to be owned by the people that we bring the most value to; investors and entrepreneurs.

So yes, we want you to be a part of the journey with us and bring forward a different future in technology and startups!

Amazon truly is the great startup of our generation and potentially the next generation as well. That is why we've built ASTRALABS around Anderson's 14 Growth Principles of Jeff Bezos. We believe that by setting a foundation similar to what built a trillion-dollar company, we can build not just a global infrastructure, but a global culture as well. 

Read more about our vision and principles in our updates below:

ASTRALABS makes money through its operating subsidiaries that earn revenue for their various products and services.

One of the important questions when it comes to our Venture Studio model is how we make returns aside from revenue. The answer is "equity" and in our case, "equity warrants".

Equity is incredibly valuable to startup companies, particularly given the potential for massive returns with the success of even one product prototype.

Take for example a single warrant or option to invest up to $250k into a startup valued at $5M dollars.

That option, if exercised, is worth 5% of that startup. Now if you exercise it immediately, there is no immediate benefit and you take the same risk as other investors.

However, if you wait until the startup is worth $25M to exercise, your 5% warrant for $250k is now worth 5x more ($25M divided by $5M = multiple of value warrant is worth)

That warrant is now worth exercising as you're making an immediate portfolio return, but there are many other ways to generate immediate value from the success of our client startups such as selling the warrant off to an interested investor.

We've taken this to scale with hundreds of startups in our portfolio and overtime these portfolio companies may increase in value and eventually exit, providing returns.

When you invest in Berkshire Hathaway, you are investing in Warren Buffet and the entire portfolio that he curates and manages.

ASTRALABS is similar to Berkshire Hathaway in this respect, except that we're focused on private equity and startups (i.e. early-stage ventures) and we are not actively investing or picking winner. The equity warrants allow us some time to see who ends up winning, and at that time we can decide how to proceed with the equity warrant.

Our goal is to eventually go public. That would allow liquidity for investors and a publically traded investment asset that is focused on early-stage startups.

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Instead of putting all of your eggs into one basket, with ASTRALABS, you’ll get exposure to the hundreds of startups in which we take positions.

ASTRALABS is the new brand and parent company of the Newchip Accelerator.

Newchip is the #1 remote accelerator that grew to international acclaim and became a world-recognized brand during COVID-19. ASTRALABS also is the parent company of both Sofos.ai and Journey Venture Partners.

This is the public opportunity for our network of investors to join.

We intend to use the funds to continue technology development, marketing, advertising, and revenue-generating activities allowing us to grow current and future revenue streams.

We plan to spend the remainder of funds on expanding our portfolio of startups with a focus on building and or acquiring startups that we can take to profitability and grow, utilizing our unique resources within 6-12 months.

ASTRALABS provides a different investment opportunity from every other company raising via Equity Crowdfunding.

Not Sure Whether You Want to Invest?

If you’re unsure whether we’re the right fit for you, do check out our ‘Ask a question’ - page. With 50+ Q&A, we've likely already answered your questions- and if not - just ask!

*FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: THE OFFERING MATERIALS MAY CONTAIN FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION RELATING TO, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE COMPANY, ITS BUSINESS PLAN AND STRATEGY, AND ITS INDUSTRY. THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE BASED ON THE BELIEFS OF, ASSUMPTIONS MADE BY, AND INFORMATION CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO THE COMPANY’S MANAGEMENT. WHEN USED IN THE OFFERING MATERIALS, THE WORDS “ESTIMATE,” “PROJECT,” “BELIEVE,” “ANTICIPATE,” “INTEND,” “EXPECT”, "GOALS", AND SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS ARE INTENDED TO IDENTIFY FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, WHICH CONSTITUTE THE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. THESE STATEMENTS REFLECT MANAGEMENT’S CURRENT VIEWS WITH RESPECT TO FUTURE EVENTS AND ARE SUBJECT TO THE RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES THAT COULD CAUSE THE COMPANY’S ACTUAL RESULTS TO DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE CONTAINED IN THE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. INVESTORS ARE CAUTIONED NOT TO PLACE UNDUE RELIANCE ON THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, WHICH SPEAK ONLY AS OF THE DATE ON WHICH THEY ARE MADE. THE COMPANY DOES NOT UNDERTAKE ANY OBLIGATION TO REVISE OR UPDATE THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS TO REFLECT EVENTS OR CIRCUMSTANCES AFTER SUCH DATE OR TO REFLECT THE OCCURRENCE OF UNANTICIPATED EVENTS. 

NOT AN INVESTMENT VEHICLE OR INVESTMENT COMPANY: WHILE ASTRALABS MAY MAKE INVESTMENTS, IT IS NOT WHOLLY AN INVESTMENT VEHICLE, VENTURE CAPITAL FUND, HEDGE FUND,  SPECIAL PURPOSE VEHICLE, OR OTHER POOLED INVESTMENT VEHICLE. THE MAJORITY OF FUNDS RAISED AND REVENUES MAY GO TOWARD OPERATIONS OF THE BUSINESSES, EXPANSION OF NEW REVENUE LINES OR NEW VENTURE STUDIO PROJECTS, IN ADDITION TO POTENTIAL ACQUISITIONS THAT MANAGEMENT BELIEVES WOULD VERTICALLY SERVE AND EXPAND THE POTENTIAL AND SERVICES OF THE GROUP OF ENTERPRISES & OTHER USES PER THE USE OF FUNDS AND OR TO THE NEEDS OF EACH SUBSIDIARY.