Cherubic Ventures

The OS of Global Trade

Ryan Petersen, Sanne Manders

“Matt is one of the most positive high energy people that I’ve ever met Anyone who spends time with him will appreciate the joy that he can bring to their lives The joy for living for investing for doing business, and for winning ” — Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport

Japan’s Leading BNPL Platform

“Thank you, Matt and the Cherubic Team, for believing in us at the very beginning!” — Russell Cummer, Founder of Paidy

Taiwan’s First Homegrown SaaS Unicorn

“Matt often sees markets and trends in an unique way on a global level He is one of the top investors that I will surely recommend to all startups ” — Steven Ho, Chairman of 91APP

Digital Creative Content Solutions for Enterprises

”Matt is one of the few investors who have actually invested in the top companies in both U S and China He can bridge the gaps in different regions and lead us founders to think from a worldwide perspective ” — Fan Ling, Founder and CEO of Tezign

Cherubic x Hims & Hers

Friend First, Investor Second

“Matt frankly believed in my idea and allowed this whole thing to happen, far before we have launched ” — Andrew Dudum, CEO & Co-founder of Hims & Hers

Hims & Hers, a telehealth company founded in 2017, went public in January of 2021, making it one of the fastest-growing startups in the healthcare industry of all time Cherubic was literally the first investor to back Hims & Hers when it was merely an idea When Cherubic issued the first check to Andrew, the co-founder and CEO, it was 10 months before any other external investor joined their cap table

Andrew was introduced to Matt by a friend in 2016 At that time, Andrew was still working on his previous startup, Ever Album After meeting, Matt decided to invest The investment was not only the beginning of their partnership, but also friendship Over the past 5 years, they have had endless discussions over business ideas and life dreams Today when they speak, they call each other “brother ” In late 2017, Andrew told Matt about his new startup idea, a D2C telehealth platform Matt decided to back Andrew immediately, not only because the idea was brilliant, but because Andrew had proven himself an extraordinary founder before With complete trust and overwhelming enthusiasm, Matt wrote the very first check for Hims, 10 months before all other first-tier investors joined Because of the power of believing, Andrew built his dream and led Hims & Hers to become the iconic company it is today

The Power of Founder Market Fit

“Cherubic have been an amazing partner to us as we’ve built Calm, helpful in countless ways Matt and his team are a joy to work with ” — Alex Tew, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Calm “If I had to pick someone to build the world’s best meditation platform, there’s no better person than Alex; I saw the passion in his eyes when he talked about the power of meditation and the importance of mental health ” Matt’s initial instinct after he first met with Alex in 2014

“Matt is one of the most positive high energy people that I’ve ever met Anyone who spends time with him will appreciate the joy that he can bring to their lives The joy for living for investing for doing business, and for winning ” — Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport “Matt, we just received a $1B investment inquiry from Softbank’s Vision Fund What should we do?” Years after his initial investment, Matt is still the go-to person when Ryan needs a hand

Flexport is one of the first freight-forwarding companies to digitize international shipping, and tackle the trillion dollar freight industry In an increasingly borderless and international world, Flexport has built the operating system for global trade When Matt met Flexport in 2014, the freight-forwarding industry was still run by traditional players, and the market wasn’t quite ready for new entrants Nevertheless, Matt saw the potential in Flexport and Cherubic is proudly one their biggest and earliest investors To Ryan, Matt is not only an investor, but a trustworthy confidant and close mentor Matt is still Ryan’s first call when he needs a hand In 2019, Flexport completed its series D round of financing led by Softbank’s Vision Fund, increasing its valuation to $3 2 billion

“Thank you, Matt and the Cherubic Team, for believing in us at the very beginning!” — Russell Cummer, Founder of Paidy From P2P lending to a BNPL platform, Paidy has shown unprecedented courage to tackle all the challenges and obstacles along the way, and ultimately pivoting toward success

Paidy, a “Buy Now, Pay Later” platform based in Tokyo, is Cherubic’s first unicorn in Japan - they are also one of the few to reach this valuation in the entire Japanese market Starting with peer-to-peer lending, Paidy pivoted several times as the market evolved It was never easy for the team to endure so much trial and error without losing faith! But Paidy pushed through the challenges and doubt they encountered to become what they are today In 2021, the market for “Buy Now, Pay Later” arrived! And Paidy was well positioned to participate Soon after Affirm’s IPO and Square’s announcement to acquire Afterpay, the world-renowned payment giant Paypal announced it would acquire Paidy for $2 7B in September Japan is a market where consumers have long preferred cash over credit because of a cultural emphasis on frugality and privacy Thus, Paidy’s success acquiring more than 6M users and becoming the biggest BNPL platform in Japan is not due to luck, but speaks to their tireless efforts to deeply understand their customer and find ways to tackle their pain points with precision

Finding the Right People

“Matt often sees markets and trends in an unique way on a global level He is one of the top investors that I will surely recommend to all startups ” — Steven Ho, Chairman of 91APP “If you are with the right people, even if you go through some twists and turns, you will eventually find your own way ” From his personal experience, Matt encourages founders to focus on finding the right partners rather than finding the right idea at the beginning of the startup journey

In 2005, Matt, Happy (current CPO of 91APP) and Sean (current senior architect of 91APP) founded a tech company Soon they realized that the market wasn’t what they expected it to be So they embarked on a long process of trial and error Unexpectedly, they built up a strong capability to create apps along the journey Still, their business models weren’t materializing until they met Steven Ho, the “godfather of e-commerce” in Taiwan, and his team Back then, Ho believed mobile devices would be the next battlefield for the e-commerce market The two companies combined their strengths and tech, merging to become 91APP in 2013 91APP provided retail brands with a one-stop OMO (online-merge-offline) solution In just 8 short years, 91APP applied to be listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in November 2020 and successfully IPOed in May 2021, becoming Taiwan’s first homegrown unicorn! As of November 2021, 91APP reached a $3B+ market cap Matt believes that finding the right people will eventually lead to the right market Despite countless challenges encountered along the way, those who persist through the difficulties are those who succeed

Grasping Potential But Not Trend

”Matt is one of the few investors who have actually invested in the top companies in both U S and China He can bridge the gaps in different regions and lead us founders to think from a worldwide perspective ” — Fan Ling, Founder and CEO of Tezign