Helping Founders Access Non-Dilutive Capital

Carlos Antequera

Founders often seem to have entrepreneurial skills in their DNA—their talents kicking into gear at a young age—and Ulupreneur Carlos Antequera is no exception. As a kid growing up in La Paz, Bolivia, he was always devising ways to make a little extra cash. Whether making slingshots or adding a small margin to snacks sold during school breaks, his creativity added up. He eventually saved up enough money to buy an Atari computer, launching his passion for tech.

Carlos came to the US for college, studying computer science at the University of Kansas, and earning his MBA there. In 2001, he launched Netchemia, a talent management software company that helps K-12 school districts identify and hire the best possible teachers and administrators. He gained initial traction, but realized the firm needed capital to grow faster, hire more people, and take advantage of opportunities. But banks told him the company didn’t have the assets needed for collateral and wasn’t profitable enough.

Netchemia was acquired by PeopleAdmin in 2015, and soon after he met his future co-founder, Keith Harrington. They launched Novel Capital in 2021 as a new way to help software startups gain access to funding by leveraging technology and data.

Novel Capital

Novel Capital now boasts 150 startup customers ranging in revenue from $350K to $20M. We caught up with Carlos as the firm launched a new platform, VentureMatch(™) for founders to more efficiently connect with their ideal VC.

How does Novel Capital work?

Novel is a fintech platform designed to support software entrepreneurs growth with non-dilutive capital, insights from data and analytics, and resources so founders can accelerate their growth and fundraise better.etter.Founders register on Novel’s platform, share key company data and within days get access to non-dilutive capital directly from Novel or can be matched with VCs that are a good fit for the startup.

Why Novel, why now?

There’s always a need for young software companies that don’t have the assets a bank requires, and often venture capital is not the right instrument—they’re not VC-ready, but still need capital to grow. After the bank failures in 2023, startups were looking for other options and Novel offers alternatives.

Tell us about your new equity marketplace for early-stage companies

We had been seeing a lot of prospective customers, and noticed that there were several that were too early for us and yet they really needed equity. Identifying the right VC, getting introductions and getting that initial meeting can be very time consuming. So we’ve created an equity marketplace called VentureMatch, where startups can be matched with their best-fit VCs.

Using our marketplace, founders will be able to leverage the same data we’re using to do our underwriting, and get matched up with VCs that would be the best fit for their companies. It gives us more ways to help the founders.

What are your dreams for Novel?

We think access to capital for entrepreneurs is a global problem. Looking at developing countries—where there’s less banking, less sophistication about financial instruments—we think that the opportunity is really large. We want to be able to help the largest number of entrepreneurs around the world that we can using financial instruments that are digitally driven, data-driven, fair, transparent, and that allow them to grow the businesses that they want to build.

Share this story
Picture of Rusty Dornin
Rusty Dornin
Rusty Dornin is the director of marketing and communications for Ulu Ventures. An award-winning radio and television journalist, she was a CNN correspondent for nearly 18 years covering domestic and world news ranging from war to natural disasters and tales of crime and politics.
Scroll to Top