Point Nine is a software-focused, early-stage (v0.9 / seed) firm based in Europe and investing globally, historically built around B2B SaaS and B2B marketplaces and now leaning hard into AI. They describe themselves as working 'alongside exceptional founders to accelerate their learning, provide unfair shortcuts, and help them realize their potential,' writing $1-10M checks with a concentrated, hands-on model where each of four partners works with only 6-8 companies. Their public playbook (the SaaS Funding Napkin, the 'five animals' market-sizing framework, the 'bulletproof your deck' guide) is one of the most-cited evaluation rubrics in seed SaaS.
A genuinely important, top-priority pain for a clearly defined buyer — P9 wants to see the problem framed as one of the buyer's top few priorities, not a nice-to-have.
“It addresses an important pain point (can be read as 'in the top 3 priorities of the buyer') for a well defined target audience.” — The AI-first SaaS Funding Napkin
“Collecting primary supplier data is time-consuming and expensive. A large FMCG brand might source milk, eggs, grain and other agricultural products from hundreds of thousands of farmers across the globe.” — Christoph Janz
A product that clears a meaningful performance bar for real users; for AI companies, evidence that the team knows the data/time/money needed to reach a usable accuracy level (Minimum Algorithmic Performance).
“The team has already reached or has precise ideas on how much data, time or money is required to get to an accuracy level that is significant enough for customers to use the product.” — The AI-first SaaS Funding Napkin
“Where we still invest in pure software, it's mostly foundation models or agentic systems that require extraordinarily deep domain knowledge” — Christoph Janz
A bottom-up TAM derived from a real customer count multiplied by realistic ARPA, with the go-to-market 'animal' (elephants to mice) that makes $100M revenue reachable. Top-down market-research numbers must be sourced.
“if you say that there are approximately 230,000 physician practices in the US, which multiplied with your ARPA of $500 per month leads to a TAM of around $1.4B, that's much better” — How to bulletproof your fundraising deck
“come up with a bottom-up estimate of your addressable market as opposed to relying exclusively on top-down numbers” — Christoph Janz
“you'll have to find customer acquisition channels that are highly scalable and profitable” — Christoph Janz
“If your deck mentions, for example, a TAM estimate by a market research firm, always add the source of that number” — Christoph Janz
At seed, traction expectations have risen but recurring revenue isn't strictly required — roughly $0-1.5M ARR with about half of funded companies still pre-revenue; paid pilots count for AI-first. Series A expects materially more (commonly ~$2.5-3M+ ARR).
“most Series A investors expect $2.5–3M or more in ARR vs. the $1–2M from previous years” — What Does It Take to Raise Capital, in SaaS, in 2023?
“No, MRR is not a requirement!” — Louis Coppey
“significantly fewer startups raise an early-stage round, but those that do still do it on good terms” — Christoph Janz
Exceptional founders with persistence and a vision so ahead of its time that the original product idea isn't fully realized even a decade in. P9 backs 'exceptional founders' and works hands-on with very few companies each.
“We still invest in software, but in many cases it's software and AI for the world outside of offices” — Point Nine — firm homepage
“the #1 factor behind Clio's success was their persistence” — Christoph Janz
“It's an ambitious mission, but we can't think of a better team than Eric, Maurice, Rodrigo, and their team of 24 Rooties to achieve it.” — Christoph Janz
“At any given time, each of our four partners works closely with 6-8 companies” — Christoph Janz
Capital-efficient economics and, for any low-ARPA model, a path to negative churn. P9 cares far more about capital efficiency than before; great companies (like Clio) never relied on excessive S&M.
“In order to get very large, you have to get your churn rate close to zero or better yet, achieve negative churn.” — Five Years Later: Five Ways To Build a $100 Million SaaS Business
“almost every investor cares much more about capital efficiency than before” — Christoph Janz
“Clio never relied on excessive sales and marketing spend in the first place, so they didn't have to cut back” — Christoph Janz
A defensible edge — for AI companies, hard-won data access or proprietary data; for vertical SaaS, an 'unsexy' niche with less competition. P9 explicitly probes how you win versus OpenAI/foundation models and incumbents.
“What makes you win vs. OpenAI and other foundational models, as well as incumbents in your space?” — What Does It Take to Raise Capital, in SaaS, in 2023?
“It's neither obvious, nor fast nor cheap to access enough data to reach the MAP.” — Louis Coppey
“Nobody wanted to invest. And vertical software was so unsexy that it took years before the first serious competitors emerged” — Christoph Janz
A credible inflection — regulatory/market/technology shift (or AI capability jumps) that makes the company possible and urgent now. P9 wants founders who can articulate why this is the moment.
“With increasing regulatory requirements, investor expectations, consumer demands (and temperatures), the time is now.” — Why We Invested in Root Global
“If foundational models expand the opportunity surface faster than they can provide complete solutions, we're entering a golden age for AI startups.” — Christoph Janz
“A lot of these companies are working on things that could have an enormous impact on the world, using technologies that would have been impossible to build just a few years ago” — Christoph Janz
A round sized for capital efficiency with an honest, well-defined set of metrics. Define any non-standard metric in the deck, source third-party numbers, and don't dress up charts — raw numbers surface in diligence.
“If you're using any metrics for which there is no universally accepted definition, include your definition in the deck” — How to bulletproof your fundraising deck
“It's fine to show your numbers in a good light, but don't overdo it... remember that people will want to see the raw numbers later” — Christoph Janz
“almost every investor cares much more about capital efficiency than before”
“No, MRR is not a requirement!”