You’ve heard of trading cards featuring baseball legends, comic book superheroes, and maybe even K-pop idols. But what if we told you there’s a set of collectible cards starring… *venture capitalists*?
No, you’re not hallucinating from too much coffee.
A startup called Allocations—which builds tools for private market investing—decided the finance world needed a little more flair. Their solution? Glossy, professionally designed VC trading cards that spotlight Silicon Valley’s top dealmakers like the stars they think they are.
Each card features a photo of the investor, their portfolio highlights, and quirky factoids. Some even have stats like how many unicorns they’ve backed, or their average Series A valuation. It’s basically Top Trumps meets TechCrunch.
The idea started as a tongue-in-cheek holiday gift for clients. But the cards went viral in VC circles, prompting actual trading, hoarding, and a few intense office showdowns over who got the Marc Andreessen or the Aileen Lee card.
It’s part parody, part love letter to the ecosystem of startup funding, and a weirdly genius bit of branding.
According to Allocations’ founder, the goal was to “make finance a little more fun.” Mission absolutely accomplished.
Now if only someone would make a holographic limited-edition “Unicorn Whisperer” card…
