Yonder Ventures: Making Fund I Feel Achievable for Marketplace Operators
Apr 10, 2025
Gavin Freeman
At a Glance
Marketplace operator-turned-investor Colin Gardiner launched Yonder Ventures Fund I to invest in overlooked early-stage startups—with speed, flexibility, and without raising a massive fund.
Replaced a slow, syndicate-driven model with a fund structure that enables faster decisions and consistent founder support
Built a thesis around sub-$10M marketplaces often overlooked by name-brand firms
Leveraged Sydecar to launch Fund I without the pressure of needing to raise a massive fund, and to spin up co-investments that expand access and deal size
Reopened Fund I after hitting his initial close to back more founders and explore emerging themes like agent-led marketplaces
Colin Gardiner spent 15 years helping to build marketplaces that raised hundreds of millions of dollars and generated billions in GMV. In doing so, he developed a deep conviction in his ability to identify promising marketplace startups. That conviction fueled his desire for a greater share of the financial upside in the companies he was advising. However, launching a fund to back those companies felt out of reach. Fund admin options were expensive, setup was complicated, and raising tens of millions seemed the only way to be seen as a legitimate fund manager.
Then he found Sydecar.
Colin started with a syndicate, running eight SPVs through it in his first year as a Sydecar customer. He built his network of LPs, honed his diligence muscle, and sourced deal flow in a segment he knew well: early-stage marketplaces. But as those deals moved faster and faster, the syndicate model started to break down. He needed something more efficient.
So Colin launched Yonder Ventures Fund I with Sydecar’s Fund+.
From Operator to Fund Manager
Colin describes himself as a co-pilot. He has been a right hand to founders and helped build three marketplaces from the ground up. But after years of being in the trenches, he wanted to participate more meaningfully in the financial upside of the companies he believed in. Building a syndicate gave him a starting point, but this came with significant friction, especially for his niche: sub-$10M post-money marketplaces often overlooked by name-brand firms.
Fund I allows Colin to lead with conviction and layer in co-investments when necessary. It creates a more consistent value prop for founders: a guaranteed check from the fund plus potential upside from additional capital. It also lets him stay focused on what he does best: evaluating marketplace dynamics and supporting early founders.
Supplementing with Co-Investments
Colin sees co-investments as a way to support more founders without overextending the fund’s capital. They also give LPs more flexibility in how they participate in deals and help founders by consolidating multiple co-investors into a single line item on the cap table.
With Sydecar, co-investment isn’t an afterthought—it’s built into the platform. Colin can easily create co-investments which help him deploy larger checks, attract more investors to a deal, and act quickly when standout opportunities arise.
Built for Speed and Simplicity
As someone who values speed, structure, and sustainability, Colin did not want a manual, resource-intensive fund admin that slowed him down. Fund+ offers automation, standardization, and personalized customer support to keep things on track.
Sydecar's combination of automation, affordability, and streamlined setup allowed Colin to launch Fund I without raising a large fund upfront. He didn’t need to raise tens of millions of dollars out of the gate to justify high administrative costs. He could start small and then scale.
What He Is Building
Colin recently reopened Fund I to new investors after reaching his initial target. He continues to back marketplace startups building new economies with unique demand-side strategies, like Autopilot, a stock copy-trading platform built on memes.
He is also thinking deeply about the next wave of marketplaces. In his recent piece, “AI and Marketplaces: Agent-Led Marketplaces,” Colin explains how the rise of agentic AI is turning marketplaces into active participants in the transaction process, transforming them from passive aggregators into proactive facilitators. Read the full piece here.
But beyond fund strategy and returns, Colin is building a community. Between his podcast, newsletter, co-investments, and operator experience, he is creating the kind of network that supports founders from the earliest stages with speed, candor, and conviction.
Sydecar helps make that vision sustainable.
To learn more about how Sydecar supports emerging fund managers like Colin, visit our Fund+ page here:
