Term Sheet Next: Erica Wenger on elephants, branding in VC, and her first fund

“The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was against a lot of unicorn craze,” she said. “It’s one-dimensional. Listen, I’m all for raising money, and I think elephants can be worth a lot more than a billion dollars. But people have to look at attributes beyond valuation to define success. I’ve seen a lot of people brag: ‘I backed eight or 10 unicorns.’ I’m like: ‘What, did you come to Series B?’” It wasn’t about versatility, it wasn’t about the fundamental health of the company.

So Wenger — who has been a founder three times, including at exited startups Mistaken for Bacon and Mahkana — came to a decision: “Aileen (Lee) owns unicorns. I want to own elephants.” She said the elephants focused on resilience, strong business fundamentals and longevity, rather than chasing sometimes ephemeral billion-dollar valuations. At Beehiiv in 2023, she first published her thesis “Elephants, Not Unicorns” and it went viral, resonating in a landscape where profitability for all but the most sought-after AI fans is key. Her goal was for the writing to serve as a club reference for the brand. (She said her articles attracted more than a million views luck. Wenger, who also served as president of Worklife Ventures, has more than 90,000 followers across social media platforms.)

“I want people to find me online, get my point of view, and look me up,” Wenger said. “I want my brand and our company to be bigger than me. You can only have so many meetings in one day, so this was a way to reach people. You can also time-stamp ideas: ‘I was calling this at the time, look at the date.’”

Wenger kept the wilderness theme going, to some extent, when she set up Park Rangers Capital in 2023. Now, having raised from 130 LPs, she has closed the firm’s first fund at $4.3 million, and there are some potential early winners in her portfolio like Superpower, Clay and Beehiiv.

“I really wanted to create a broader metaphor around what I want to see changed in the project,” Wenger said. “When I was a founder, I always felt that the relationship between VC and founder was a little bit unconventional. The VC shouldn’t be the star of the show, it’s the founder who’s building. So, the analogy is that founders are the national parks of the world. They’re majestic. They have life in them…and VCs are the humble park rangers. They’re custodians of the land. They make sure no one litters. They let you.” Get in, get out, protect and serve.”

Wenger wanted to evoke “integrity, service and humility” with the name. It was a remarkable piece of narrative craft, and one that resonated with Jacob Peters, founder of $300 million health-tech startup Superpower.

“It proves that brand, content and conviction can multiply just like capital,” he said via email. “While most investors wait decades to achieve reputation, Erica is intentionally building it with ideas that resonate.”

Initially, the Park Rangers were writing checks for between $100,000 and $200,000. But General Atlantic’s Anton Levy, known for his backing of Alibaba, Uber, Snapchat and Slack, said via email that Wenger will continue to punch above his weight.

“I’ve only known Erica for a few years, but Erica is a force of nature in the best way,” said Levy, co-president, managing director and head of General Atlantic’s global technology group. “She’s a hustler in the best sense of the word…relentless, creative, and deeply connected to the founders she supports. What makes her unique is that she doesn’t just talk about community and distribution, she lives it. She’s built a brand, platform, and network that would be the envy of most companies that scale.”

The term sheet asked Wenger the central question of this series: What’s next?

“For me, it’s continuing to build our distribution, and build a company that’s really well-respected and loved,” she said. “The way we ask our founders to build their distribution — that’s the final moat — we do the same thing as a company. My philosophy is that software is a commodity, as is capital. So, to stand out in the next decade, you have to be a great storyteller and a market leader. You have to have a great brand, great content, and be very human. As a fund, we emulate what we ask our founders to do.”

See you Monday,

Allie Garfinkel
tenth: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Joey Abrams coordinated the deals section of today’s newsletter. Subscribe here.

Project deals

– chaos Industriesa Los Angeles, California-based company that specializes in developing threat detection and counter-radar software for the defense industry, has raised $510 million in Series D funding. valor justice Partners He led the tour and joined him 8VC and I’m accelerating.

– Gobova courier service based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has raised $250 million in funding. Eldridge Industries and valor justice Partners He led the tour and joined him Billy Gifford, equal capitalet al.

– Alenbeca San Francisco-based developer of an informal AI platform designed to provide marketing analytics to C-Suite executives, has raised $145 million in Series B funding. Prism capital and Accenture He led the tour and joined him silver lake Water man, liquid 2 Projectset al.

– Parallela Palo Alto, California-based company that develops infrastructure designed to enable AI agents to access and reason on the web, has raised $100 million in Series A funding. Kleiner Perkins and index Projects She led the round and was joined by Spark Capital and existing investors.

– Fabric8Labsa San Diego, California-based company that develops advanced additive manufacturing facilities that can create metal parts that can’t be made with traditional manufacturing, has raised $50 million in funding. Nya and Intel capital She led the round and was joined by existing investors LAM Capital, TDK Projects, SE Projectset al.

– Cloudexa San Francisco-based AI-powered advertising platform for mobile publishers, has raised $30 million in Series A funding. addition He led the tour and joined him Daylight saving time worldwide, Terrainet al.

– Sundayan Atlanta, Georgia-based payment platform designed for restaurant hospitality, has raised $21 million in Series B funding from Daylight saving time worldwide Partners And others.

– sale gardenan AI-powered parking technology and operations company based in Boston, Massachusetts, has raised $17.5 million in Series A funding. Blue Heron Capital He led the tour and joined him Noveen TRUE pedigreed Projects, community capitalet al.

– Anzina San Francisco-based AI-powered distribution platform for commercial insurance, has raised $16 million in Series A funding. Madrona He led the tour and joined him sand Industries, SNR, Andreessen Horowitzet al.

– turna platform based in Tel Aviv, Israel for measuring the adoption and impact of AI coding tools, has raised $10 million in seed funding. Heavybeat and Hanako Projects He led the tour and joined him Atlantic Projects And angel investors.

– Obeloa San Francisco-based AI graphic design platform, has raised $8.5 million in seed funding. Intuitive Projects He led the tour and joined him Build And others.

– Bendwella San Francisco-based company that uses artificial intelligence to develop pesticides designed to be safer, has raised $6 million in seed funding. general Catalyst and A capital He led the tour and joined him SV angel and pee Graham.

– Skycore SemiconductorThe data center power integrated circuit technology developer, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, has raised €5 million ($5.8 million) in seed funding. Amadeus summit technology finance He led the tour and joined him Firstly batch, match VCand With light.

– carnivalan industrial procurement marketplace based in Helsinki, Finland, has raised €3.9 million ($4.5 million) in funding from Green symbol Projects, Stephen Industriesand Innovative.

– lifean Austin, Texas-based AI phone agent operating system for enterprises, has raised $4 million in Series A funding. Trammel Take risks Partners He led the tour and joined him Time series And others.

– Theo Amnesty Internationala Palo Alto, California-based AI legal platform designed to predict case outcomes, has raised $3.4 million in seed funding. Being Projects He led the tour.

– Greenshawa Chicago, Illinois-based AI platform designed to automate SEC securities disclosure and investor relations, has raised $3 million in seed funding. Ex Projects He led the tour and joined him Hurst level Even projects, a plan Federal Trade Commission, service provider capitalet al.

– translatora Los Angeles, California-based AI care navigation platform designed for specialty care, has raised $2.4 million in a Series A extension. Move Projects and Sovereign capital He led the tour and joined him Bull barn capital and TMV.

– They are sensitivea touch and data startup based in Princeton, New Jersey, has raised $1.8 million in seed funding. metafc Partners and Fitz gate Projects He led the tour and joined him blue sky capital and AIC Projects.

Private equity

– TSG consumer acquired a minority stake in Pura Vida Miamia café and lifestyle brand based in Miami, Florida. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Exits

– aware I agreed to the takeover 3Clouda Microsoft Azure services company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, from Gryphon Investors. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Investcorp acquired fabric Scales and systemsa Poca, WV-based company that provides calibration, maintenance and repair systems for industrial weighing systems and automation control solutions, from American equipment Collectibleswhich is a portfolio company Round capital Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Chests + chests of chests

– nvp capitala New York City-based venture capital firm, has raised $80 million for its second fund focused on enterprise software and vertical AI companies.

the people

– redpoint Projectsa San Francisco-based venture capital firm, was appointed Rene Shah As a partner. It used to be with her Elaborate Partners.