✦ Service Providers and Software Companies

How B2B software gets bought in 2026.

The world's fastest-growing companies don't take cold calls. They take recommendations from the VCs, banks and PE firms they already listen to. Proven is the trust layer carrying those recommendations to 61,000+ active founders.

See your potential reach See a vendor case study →
Real clients. Real portfolios. Real recommendations.
JPMorganJPMorgan
HSBCHSBC
SVBSVB
Wells FargoWells Fargo
NEANEA
Kleiner PerkinsKleiner Perkins
Khosla VenturesKhosla
LightspeedLightspeed
RedpointRedpoint
NorwestNorwest
Insight PartnersInsight
Bain CapitalBain Capital
Francisco PartnersFrancisco
SoftBankSoftBank
GVGV
+185
more partners
61,000+ portfolio companies in network
See the network →
2x+
Monthly redemption uplift with active promotion
33%
Of engaged founders return monthly
200+
VC, bank & PE partner programs
6 yrs
Of attributed redemption data
The network

This is the room you'd walk into.

The VCs, banks and PE firms who recommend vendors through Proven — and the kinds of companies you'd be in front of. Not a directory. A network of recommendations carried by partners founders already trust.

60%
Of the top-10 largest VC firms use Proven to recommend vendors to their portfolios. Plus a deep bench of seed, Series A and growth-stage funds globally.
NEANEA
Kleiner PerkinsKleiner Perkins
Khosla VenturesKhosla
LightspeedLightspeed
RedpointRedpoint
NorwestNorwest
SoftBankSoftBank
NFXNFX
GVGV
GreycroftGreycroft
USVUSV
MadronaMadrona
PanteraPantera
Plug and PlayPlug and Play
AntlerAntler
AtomicoAtomico
BaldertonBalderton
CreandumCreandum
Notable CapitalNotable Capital
Crosslink CapitalCrosslink
Square PegSquare Peg
Eight RoadsEight Roads
PayPal VenturesPayPal Ventures
Toyota VenturesToyota Ventures
Munich Re VenturesMunich Re Ventures
Digital Currency GroupDCG
Blockchain CapitalBlockchain Cap
AnthemisAnthemis
SOMVSOMV
E14E14

Plus 100+ other VC clients not shown publicly. Full list shared with approved vendors under NDA.

Growth + PE
Major private equity firms use Proven to deliver vendor benefits at scale across portfolios in the hundreds — supporting operating teams looking for proven tools and services.
Insight PartnersInsight Partners
Bain CapitalBain Capital
Francisco PartnersFrancisco
Summit PartnersSummit
L CattertonL Catterton
Spectrum EquitySpectrum
ClearlakeClearlake
Serent CapitalSerent
Volition CapitalVolition
Major US & global
Innovation banking divisions at leading US and international banks use Proven to power their startup banking client perks programs.
JPMorganJPMorgan
HSBCHSBC
SVBSVB
Wells FargoWells Fargo
CitizensCitizens
AvidbankAvidbank
SafraSafra
CreandCreand
61,000+
Portfolio companies in our network — including some of the fastest-growing companies on earth across SaaS, fintech, AI, climate, healthtech, and consumer. We know their domains before PitchBook does, because their VC adds them on day one of funding.
Largest tech hubs
In the world covered
Pre-seed → growth
Every funding stage covered
Global
North America, Europe, APAC, LATAM
Domain-verified
Added by their investor at funding
Vendor case study · 2025–2026

When a major SaaS vendor turned on active promotion, the curve bent.

A leading SaaS vendor in our network moved from passive listing to active promotion — emails, featured placement, partner-led recommendations. Here's what happened to monthly deal volume and lead flow. Numbers shown as relative uplift to protect vendor commercials.

Major SaaS vendor
Active promotion turned on · 9 months of data vs. prior baseline
Monthly deal redemptions — relative uplift
Before
Multi-year baseline
Baseline
After
9 months of promotion
+120%
Monthly leads generated — relative uplift
Before
Baseline
After
+111%
Monthly redemptions
+120% vs baseline
Monthly qualified leads
+111% vs baseline
01

Monthly deal volume more than doubled

The same offer, the same partner programs, the same target audience — the change was activating email promotion and featured placement. The curve bent within the first quarter and held.

02

Qualified lead flow more than doubled too

The lead volume uplift tracks the redemption uplift closely — meaning the promotion isn't just driving short-term clicks, it's driving founders into evaluation conversations with the vendor.

03

Active promotion is the lever

The before-period was a perfectly good marketplace listing. The after-period was the same listing plus deliberate inclusion in partner email campaigns, recommendation surfaces, and category placement. The takeaway: passive listing leaves most of the value on the table.

Active promotion turned a steady trickle into a measurable channel. We've moved Proven from "marketing line item" to a tracked acquisition source we plan around.

— Vendor partnerships team, 2026
Get this for your offer Active promotion unlocks at Featured tier and above.
Partner program engagement · 2025 full year

What a partner program actually looks like.

Engagement, not inventory. The funnel below is from one bank partner in one year. This is the room your offer walks into when you get approved.

Step 1 — Describe your audience

Show us who you serve. We'll show you how many companies you can get in front of.

Describe the buyer profile you sell to. We'll map you to the portfolios across our 200+ partner programs that match — and show you indicative reach before you commit a cent. Final reach calibrates against your Crossbeam overlap after approval.

Stage you sell to multi-select
Pre-seed Seed Series A Series B Series C+ Growth / PE-backed
Sector multi-select
SaaS / Horizontal Fintech AI / ML Dev tools Healthtech Climate / Hardware Consumer Sales & Marketing
Geography multi-select
North America UK & Ireland Europe APAC LATAM Global
Primary buyer persona multi-select
Founder / CEO CTO / Head of Eng CFO / Finance COO / Ops CMO / Sales Legal / People
Indicative portfolio companies you can reach
~0
Portfolio companies
Pick filters to see how many portfolio companies match your buyer profile. Final reach calibrates against your Crossbeam overlap data after approval.
Across
0 matched partner programs
Partner mix
VC programs Bank programs PE programs
★ Reach calculated against our network of 61,000+ portfolio companies. Exact match list shared after approval.
0 filters selected
Pick at least 2 filters to continue
Reach summary sent. Check your inbox in a few minutes. Ready to apply? It's a $100 refundable deposit and verification of your client overlap.
Continue to apply →
Step 2 — Pass our quality bar

Trust transfers — but only for vendors who earn it.

Our partners trust the recommendations we send because we curate hard. You can submit while verification is being wired up — review starts the moment we have your client overlap data, whether by Crossbeam or by CSV upload.

1

Verify your client overlap

So we can match you against our 200+ partner portfolios and show you exactly which programs your existing clients overlap with. Crossbeam is the fastest path — but you can also upload a client list directly if you'd prefer.

How would you like to verify?
🔒 Read-only access · We see overlaps with our partners' portfolios, nothing else ⚙️ If your CRM admin needs to authorise Crossbeam, we save your progress and email when ready 🛡️ SOC 2 Type II certified · GDPR compliant · Bank-level encryption on every upload
2

Tell us your ICP

So we can pre-match you with the right buyers before they land on your offer. The tighter the ICP, the higher the conversion.

Refundable
$ 100

Skin in the game. Not a subscription.

A small commitment so we know you're serious. We only review applications backed by a deposit — it cuts our review queue from thousands to vendors who actually mean it.

  • Refunded in full if not accepted within 14 days
  • Credited to your first month if approved
  • Charged via Stripe — never stored by us
  • Cancel anytime before review starts

Submit now — we'll wait for Crossbeam.

Lock in your spot in the review queue. We start review the moment your populations are shared with us.

Pay $100 & submit
After approval · Two pricing models

Two ways to pay. One quality bar.

After approval, choose how you want to pay: a predictable flat fee with active promotion baked in, or a Crossbeam-tracked revenue share where you only pay on attributed outcomes. Both require the $100 application deposit and verified overlap.

Listed
Entry tier · marketplace inclusion
$200/ month
Free if invited by a partner VC. Includes the $100 deposit (credited).
  • Profile in marketplace across all relevant partner programs
  • Eligible for organic discovery and search
  • Included in standard founder monthly digest
  • Basic monthly analytics dashboard
  • Crossbeam overlap visibility
For: dev tools, niche specialists, vendors with low ACV who want to be findable when founders search.
Most popular
Featured
Active promotion · category placement
$2,000/ month
$24,000 annual · or quarterly billing.
  • Everything in Listed, plus:
  • Active promotion in 3–5 partner email campaigns per quarter
  • Category hero placement in matched partner programs
  • Crossbeam lead alerts as founders click through
  • Monthly performance report
  • Eligibility for "Recommended for you" surfacing
For: mid-market vendors who want to drive real lead flow, not just a listing. The active-promotion playbook that doubles monthly redemptions lives here.
Sponsor
Maximum exposure · co-branded
$5,000+/ month
Custom: $60K–$96K annual depending on scope.
  • Everything in Featured, plus:
  • Featured placement across all matched partner programs
  • Named, co-branded campaigns with partners
  • Dedicated CSM & quarterly business reviews
  • Founder office hours and AMA placement
  • Custom case study production
For: category-leading vendors who want the maximum surface area across every relevant partner program — and are willing to invest behind it.
All pricing is post-approval. The $100 application deposit is refunded if you're not approved, or credited to your first month if you are. Final tier offer is set by our team based on your verified reach, ICP fit and category density. You can switch pricing models once per year. Crossbeam connection is required for both models.
After you submit

What happens next, step by step.

No black boxes. Here's exactly what happens between paying the $100 deposit and getting your first founder click.

1
Day 0

You apply

Pay the $100 deposit, submit your ICP, kick off Crossbeam connection. Confirmation email lands within minutes.

2
Day 1–3

Verification

Crossbeam populations shared. We run overlap analysis against our 200+ partner portfolios and match your ICP to the relevant programs.

3
Day 7–14

Decision

Approval with tier offer, polite decline with feedback, or referred-back if Crossbeam isn't connected yet. Deposit refunded or credited.

4
Day 14+

Onboarding & launch

Profile setup with your CSM. Offer page live within 7 days. First active partner promotion within 30 days of launch.

What approval unlocks

Trust is the moat. We're how you cross it.

When the VC, bank or PE firm a buyer already listens to recommends you, conversion runs orders of magnitude above cold outbound. Approved vendors don't sit in a directory — they get carried into the recommendation flow.

Recommended, not advertised

Your offer surfaces inside the VC, bank and PE portfolios you match — when buyers are evaluating, with the trust of the partner already attached. Not a listing. A recommendation.

Active promotion: 2x+ monthly redemptions
Founders come back

33% of engaged founders return monthly. The platform isn't a one-time browse — it's a habit. Vendors that show up consistently in the right categories get repeat redemptions, not one-off clicks.

~⅓ of founders return monthly
Verified, not claimed

Every match is backed by Crossbeam-verified client overlap and six years of redemption data. No claimed logos, no fake case studies. Partners trust the recommendation because we've proved it.

Crossbeam-verified · six years of redemption data

Real questions, real answers.

If you have other questions, our team is happy to walk you through how Proven works for your specific category and ICP.

Why $100? Why not free?
Free attracts spam. Even $100 — refundable, credited to month one — filters out vendors who aren't serious. Our VCs, banks and PE partners trust the curation, which is why our recommendations actually convert. The $100 is the application deposit, not the cost of the product.
How does pricing work after approval?
Approved vendors pick one of two pricing models: Flat subscription (Listed $200/mo, Featured $2K/mo, Sponsor $5K+/mo) for predictable cost with active promotion baked into Featured and above; or Performance rev share (20–30% of Crossbeam-attributed first-year ACV) for outcome-based pricing with $0 upfront. You can switch models once per year.
How does the rev share model actually work?
Crossbeam tracks which founders click your offer on Proven. If those founders become paying customers in your CRM within 90 days, Crossbeam shows that attribution. We invoice you quarterly: 30% of the first $50K of attributed first-year ACV per year, 25% of the next $200K, 20% above that. You see every attributed deal in your dashboard — no audits, no surprises. Requires Crossbeam click-tracking enabled and your CRM populating won/lost statuses.
Do I have to use Crossbeam?
Crossbeam is the fastest path — it's read-only, takes two minutes if you're already on it, and lets us verify overlap automatically. But if you'd prefer not to connect Crossbeam, you can upload a CSV of your client domains directly to us instead. We match it against our 200+ partner portfolios and show you the overlap. Either way, we need objective proof you serve buyers our partners care about — anyone can claim "we sell to startups." The performance-based rev share pricing is only available to vendors with Crossbeam click-to-customer attribution, but the flat subscription tiers work with either verification method.
How do you keep my client list safe?
Your client list is treated as confidential commercial data. We're SOC 2 Type II certified and GDPR compliant, with bank-level encryption at rest and in transit. The list is used only for matching against our partner portfolios — never sold, never shared with partners, never used for any other vendor. If you withdraw your application or ask us to delete it, we permanently remove the file within 7 days. Our Data Protection Policy and full Risk Assessment Policy are available on request.
How long does verification take to set up?
If you're already on Crossbeam: about 2 minutes — accept our partner invite and pick which population to share. If you're new to Crossbeam: typically 30 minutes if you can authorise your CRM yourself, longer if your CRM admin needs to grant Salesforce or HubSpot OAuth. If you'd rather skip Crossbeam, the CSV upload path is about 5 minutes — drop in a list of at least 25 client domains and we run the match on our side. You don't have to wait — submit your application now and we'll start review the moment your data is shared.
What if I'm not approved?
Full refund within 14 days. We tell you what didn't clear the bar so you can re-apply when you're ready. Most rejections are about ICP fit or insufficient client overlap — both are solvable.
Can I switch between pricing models later?
Yes — once per year, at your contract renewal. The performance model rewards vendors with strong product-market fit and high ACV; the subscription model rewards vendors with predictable budgets and growing brand recognition. Most vendors start on subscription, then move to performance once their attribution data is clean and their close rate is known.
Do banks and PE firms work the same way as VCs?
Same mechanic, different audience. Banks recommend you to their startup banking clients (often CFO/Finance buyers). PE firms recommend you to portfolio operating teams (often Ops/Tech leaders). The trust transfer is identical — and the buyer pool is far deeper.
Already with Proven?

Already on Proven, or know a VC who should be?

Two quick paths for vendors who already work with us — or who want to bring their VC into the network.

I'm already a vendor on Proven

Pop in your email and we'll send you a login link to your communities. Manage your offer, update your profile, or check your analytics.

Refer a VC and get featured

If your VC isn't on Proven yet, refer them. When they join, we'll feature you at the top of their category and credit your account for the intro.