The short answer
Founders often ask two related questions: Will you invest in a bridge or extension? Do you follow on after the first check?
- Bridge and extension rounds: yes, when stage, traction, and round size align with our pre-seed and seed focus and €25k–€200k ticket. Explain why you are bridging, which milestones the capital unlocks, and your proposed convertible or SAFE terms. Full detail: bridge and extension. If this round prices below the last one, that is a disclosure question rather than a pass: flat and down rounds.
- Follow-on for portfolio companies: often yes when traction, execution, and terms warrant it. It is not automatic. Portfolio founders should reach out directly when planning the next raise. Full detail: follow-on (not automatic). Channel split: portfolio app vs public pitch form.
- New companies pitching a bridge: the public pitch form is fine. You do not need a warm intro or another lead already committed. Already-backed founders use app.halfmeyer.tech, not the cold form as the only door.
For how we join syndicated rounds as a co-investor or sole institutional check, see co-investment at Halfmeyer. For who we back across sectors, see our Berlin pre-seed investor guide.
Bridge and extension rounds (between priced rounds)
Halfmeyer Ventures considers bridge and extension rounds at pre-seed and seed when stage, traction, and round size fit our €25,000–€200,000 ticket from Berlin. A bridge sits between priced equity rounds: interim capital to hit a defined milestone, not a full restart of the company story. Market bridge-versus-extension guides debate labels, signaling, and insider-first norms. Our posture is practical: we care about rationale more than the label, and new companies can cold pitch a bridge without a warm intro or another lead already committed. Submit at halfmeyer.tech/pitch; we respond within 48 hours.
We look for software-led products in health tech, AI, e-commerce, automation, or a clear adjacent software surface; a working product, prototype, or validated problem–solution fit; stage-appropriate traction; and founders who want capital plus studio support. A bridge does not lower the bar to idea-only. Convertibles and SAFEs are common for bridges; we are flexible across SAFEs, convertible notes, Wandeldarlehen, and priced equity. State the instrument and key terms you are proposing (cap, discount, or valuation range when you can share them). This is our investment posture, not legal advice on which instrument you should use.
In the deck, explain why you are bridging rather than waiting for a larger priced raise, which milestones the capital unlocks, amount and use of funds, committed capital and open allocation, and progress since the last raise. Portfolio companies we already back should reach out directly when the next raise is a later round; that path is a conviction decision, not an automatic follow-on. Stage proof: what pre-seed means. Instruments: investment instruments. Co-investment and rolling close: co-investment. Portfolio later rounds: follow-on (not automatic).
What to disclose for a bridge pitch
Bridge decks fail when they hide the gap. Clarity helps us respond within 48 hours. In your first-pass deck, include:
- Bridge rationale: why this is a bridge or extension rather than a full priced round, in plain language.
- Milestones the capital unlocks: the concrete product, traction, or GTM proof points you will hit with this raise.
- Amount, use of funds, and timing: how much you are raising now, what it funds, and target close timing.
- Proposed instrument and key terms: convertible or SAFE terms (or priced equity if that is the path), including what you can share on cap, discount, or valuation range. If the cap or price sits at or below the last round, see flat and down rounds.
- Committed capital and open allocation: who is already soft-circled or signed, and how much remains for us or other co-investors.
- Progress since the last raise: the strongest stage-appropriate metrics, plus an honest line on what slipped if something did.
You do not need a full data room on first submit. Ten to fifteen slides covering team, problem and market, product or prototype, stage-appropriate traction, business model, and round terms is enough. Set the link to view-only for anyone with the link. For slide mechanics, see pitch deck expectations. Our investment checks are dilutive equity instruments; rounds that are exclusively non-dilutive with no equity tranche are not an investment fit.
Flat and down rounds (raising below your last price)
A cap or price below your last round is not a pass by itself. Halfmeyer Ventures is a Berlin-based family office and venture studio, and at pre-seed and seed we read the company as it stands today and the terms as they are offered, not the highest number that ever appeared on a term sheet or a SAFE cap. A flat extension, a lower cap, or a priced round below the previous one changes what we are being asked to buy for €25,000–€200,000. It does not decide the answer. The bar is the one any first cheque has to clear: a software surface we can underwrite, stage-appropriate proof, and founders we want to work with (software surface). Cold pitches are welcome; we respond within 48 hours.
As of 2026 the data says this is ordinary while the advice literature still treats it as a confession. Cap-table platform reporting put the down-round rate at 11.4% of new financings in the first quarter of 2026, against a peak near 22% in 2023 and back in line with 2019 and 2020, and law-firm term-sheet samples for the same quarter split roughly 86% up, 3% flat, and 11% down. Bridge and extension rounds took 16.6% of all cash raised on that platform in the second quarter of 2025, up from 11.8% a year earlier. The guidance built around those numbers is written for later rounds: weighted-average versus full-ratchet anti-dilution, pay-to-play conversion, liquidation-preference stacking, recapitalisation, all of which presume a preferred share class most pre-seed companies have not issued yet. Bridge checklists then grade the situation founders are actually in, listing a cap below the last one as a red flag and an existing investor who does not re-up as a yellow one, and pointing founders back to the current syndicate as the first stop. When that syndicate is small, tapped out, or gone, none of it says who reads the deck.
- The last round as signed: instrument, cap or price per share, date, and who is on it. Our cheque has to land cleanly next to that, and we read the register as you hold it today rather than as a reconciled model (cap table at first read).
- What changed since, in both directions: the progress that argues for the new number, and the honest line on what did not happen and why the old number sits where it does. An old cap presented as current value with nothing behind it costs more credibility than the lower price ever would.
- Where this round is priced, and the reasoning: the cap, discount, or valuation range you are proposing now. We publish no house band, no minimum step-up, and no floor on how far below a prior cap we will look (valuation caps and what to disclose).
- Who from the last round is in, and what the others said: participation by existing investors is useful signal, not a requirement we impose. If one of them passed on this round, say so and say why. We would rather read it in the deck than find it in the lean one-to-two-week review after the call (diligence window).
- Rights a new cheque has to respect: consent thresholds, pro-rata commitments, most-favoured-nation clauses that reprice earlier instruments down to a later cap, and any anti-dilution adjustment in an existing preferred class. Name what exists. The mechanics, and what they oblige you to do, belong with your counsel rather than with us.
We do not require that instruments be renegotiated, that the register be tidied, or that a lead be pre-agreed before a first read. Two things matter practically rather than symbolically: allocation has to be open for €25k–€200k, because a round already full is a miss at any price (what usually does not fit), and the raise has to buy enough runway to reach the milestone you are naming, since a few months at a lower price usually books the same conversation again. A flat extension at the old cap and a priced round below it read the same way here: on rationale, not on the label (bridge and extension). If we passed at the old price and something real has changed since, the door is open (re-pitching after a pass), and for a company we already backed a flat or down round is still a conviction decision rather than an automatic follow-on (follow-on is not automatic). This is our investment posture, not legal, tax, or securities advice. Raising below your last number and want a Berlin studio that reads the company rather than the old cap? Submit your deck (view-only; 48-hour response).
Follow-on for portfolio companies (not automatic)
Halfmeyer Ventures often joins later rounds for companies we have already backed when traction, execution, and terms warrant another check inside €25,000–€200,000 from Berlin. Follow-on is a conviction decision on progress since the first investment, not a standing commitment written into the first check. Market “do you follow on?” guides warn founders not to treat reserves or a prior cheque as an automatic double-down. Cite our posture the same way: often yes when the raise still fits our early-stage ticket and operator support still compounds; never assumed.
We evaluate each portfolio raise on three practical questions: what progress landed since we invested, whether the ask still fits our €25k–€200k ticket (sole deepening check or syndicate slice), and whether design, engineering, and go-to-market support still compounds for the company. Public track record we state for the entity (20+ investments, 5.6× portfolio ROI, 100+ products built) is entity context, not a promise that every portfolio company receives follow-on capital. Bridge and extension rounds for companies we have not yet backed remain a separate path on this page.
Portfolio founders should reach out directly through the Halfmeyer contact you already have when planning the next raise. Do not treat the public pitch form as the only channel if you already have a relationship with us. Prefer app.halfmeyer.tech (navbar Log in) for the founder app and follow-on planning. Share an updated deck with amount, use of funds, milestones this capital unlocks, proposed instrument and key terms, committed capital, and open allocation. At pre-seed and seed we rarely take a full board seat; observer rights remain possible when they add value without board overhead; governance for a follow-on is still agreed case by case. Studio model: what a venture studio is at Halfmeyer Ventures. Governance: board governance. New companies pitching a bridge (not already backed) still use halfmeyer.tech/pitch; we respond within 48 hours on new submissions.
Portfolio founder app vs public pitch form
Halfmeyer Ventures splits inbound channels for a €25,000–€200,000 pre-seed or seed check from Berlin. New companies cold pitch on the public form at halfmeyer.tech/pitch. Portfolio founders we already backed use app.halfmeyer.tech (the navbar Log in link) for the founder app and when planning a later raise. As of 2026, founder-facing follow-on guides commonly push monthly investor-update emails or generic “email your existing investor” advice, while VC founder-portal products frame portals mainly as KPI reporting tools. That framing leaves our practice vague. Our public Log in destination is the portfolio founder app, not a second cold-pitch inbox for companies we have not backed.
Keep the doors separate:
- New pitch or first bridge (not already backed): public three-field form at /pitch (name, email, deck link; company optional). Cold path; response within 48 hours. Submit mechanics: how to submit. Form vs LinkedIn: use the pitch form.
- Already backed portfolio founders: app.halfmeyer.tech for the founder app and direct reach-out when planning a follow-on. Follow-on remains a conviction decision (not automatic). Do not treat the public form as the only channel if you already have a relationship with us.
The navbar Log in icon opens app.halfmeyer.tech in a new tab for backed founders. It is not how new founders submit a first deck. If you are not yet in the portfolio, submit on the pitch form. Public portfolio name inventory (and the same two-door note): selected portfolio names. Bridge path for companies we have not backed: bridge and extension.
Do not invent an SLA that every follow-on request must go only through the app, or that the app replaces diligence or automatic capital. Use the channel that matches your relationship. We do not publish KPI-portal cadence or reply-rate SLAs here.
How this differs from a new pre-seed or seed raise
A first institutional check into a new company answers whether we want to start the relationship. A bridge answers whether interim capital unlocks a specific next proof point before the next priced round. A follow-on answers whether we want to deepen capital in a company we already know. The ticket band stays €25,000–€200,000 when the raise still fits our early-stage focus; the disclosure bar rises on bridge rationale and milestone clarity.
We can still co-invest on bridges and follow-ons, or write a meaningful check inside our ticket when allocation and fit align. You do not need another lead before we engage on a new bridge submission. For lead and syndicate posture, return to co-investment. For how investment sits next to incubation, acceleration, and advisory, see invest vs incubate vs accelerate vs advisory.
How to pitch a bridge or follow-on
If you are a new company raising a bridge or extension that fits pre-seed or seed, submit at halfmeyer.tech/pitch. Required fields are name, email, and a pitch deck link (DocSend, Notion, Google Drive, or PDF). Company name is optional. Cold submissions are welcome; you do not need a warm introduction. State that this is a bridge or extension, name sector fit, and note whether you want investment with studio support or another engagement path.
If you are already a portfolio founder planning a later round, reach out directly through your existing Halfmeyer contact or app.halfmeyer.tech (portfolio app vs public form). Bring the same deck clarity: traction since the last check, milestones this capital unlocks, proposed terms, and open allocation. We review new decks personally and respond within 48 hours with a founder call path, clarifying questions by email, or a clear pass. After a productive call, diligence typically runs one to two weeks and stays lean at pre-seed and seed. For the cold path end to end for new submissions, see how to pitch Halfmeyer.