JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) has quietly shut down Capital Connect, its startup-venture capital matchmaking platform launched just two years ago. The site went offline in late 2024 without a formal announcement from the bank, and sources familiar with the decision say the platform failed to meet expectations, according to Fortune.
Capital Connect was introduced in 2022 as a bold move to deepen JPMorgan’s presence in the venture capital space. Designed to streamline fundraising for startup founders and strengthen ties with VC firms, the platform was seen as JPMorgan’s answer to Silicon Valley Bank’s once-dominant position in the startup ecosystem, Fortune reports.
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Capital Connect promised seamless fundraising tools, streamlined investor matchmaking, and integrations with JPMorgan’s broader banking services. The launch came in October 2022, just two months after the bank acquired Global Shares, a company offering software for managing employee stock plans, and shortly before it closed its acquisition of data analytics firm Aumni, as confirmed in a statement by DLA Piper in May 2023.
Four sources familiar with the matter confirmed that Capital Connect simply didn’t meet expectations, according to Fortune. One of those sources told Fortune that Capital Connect “didn’t really reach a state where it had bespoke value to offer all ends of the marketplace.”
Despite the platform’s ambitious vision, Capital Connect struggled to gain meaningful traction in the market. Though JPMorgan has not officially disclosed the reasons behind its quiet closure, the decision shows that the initiative may have fallen short of delivering the strategic impact originally envisioned. Rather than continue pouring resources into a standalone product, the bank is now redirecting its focus toward deepening its relationships with the venture capital ecosystem through its existing, more established banking channels, according to Crowdfund Insider.
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Meanwhile, global venture capital was entering a cooling phase. Crunchbase says that in the first quarter of this year, global venture capital funding hit $113 billion, but according to Fortune, over $40 billion of that came from OpenAI‘s raise alone.
