Thesis

Investing in the infrastructure layer of the future

We invest in technology companies that solve hard problems at scale. Our thesis is built on 12 years of pattern recognition: the biggest outcomes come from backing brilliant founders early, supporting them deeply across every stage, and staying patient for outsized returns.

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Philosophy

How we think about investing

Great companies are built by founders who see the world differently. We look for contrarian conviction, deep domain expertise, and the relentless grit to build through years of uncertainty. The best investments we've made were in founders everyone else thought were too early, too niche, or too ambitious.

We don't chase consensus deals. We develop independent thesis work on where markets are heading, then actively seek founders building in those spaces — often before anyone else is paying attention.

We lead or co-lead rounds and take board seats when it matters. Our role goes beyond capital — we help with recruiting the first 50 hires, refining go-to-market strategy, structuring follow-on fundraising, and connecting founders to our network of 1,200+ operators and executives across 18 countries.

We are multi-stage investors, writing first checks as small as $250K and follow-on investments exceeding $100M. We optimize for long-term ownership and deep partnership, not deal volume. Our average fund has made just 30-40 investments — each one with conviction.

Across 4 funds and $2.4B in AUM, we've maintained top-quartile returns with a 3.8x average MOIC and 45% net IRR. We believe this discipline — fewer bets, deeper support, longer holds — is why our founders re-up with us round after round.

Principles

What guides our decisions

Four principles that have remained constant across 12 years and 120+ investments.

Contrarian Conviction

We invest behind thesis-driven insights that most of the market hasn't priced in yet. Every deal starts with a non-consensus belief about where the world is going.

Founder Alignment

We optimize for long-term value creation, not short-term markups. Average hold period of 8+ years. We've never forced a founder into an exit they didn't want.

Concentrated Bets

We make fewer, larger investments than most firms our size. 120+ companies across 12 years means roughly 10 new investments per year — each one deeply diligenced.

Operational Depth

Our partners have collectively built companies to $10B+ in valuation. We bring recruiting networks, pricing playbooks, sales methodologies, and board governance — not just advice.

Focus Areas

Where we invest

Sectors where we have deep conviction, operator experience, and a track record of category-defining investments.

Artificial Intelligence

From model inference to AI-native applications. We've backed Replicate, LangChain, Modal, Together AI, and Qdrant — investing at every layer of the AI stack.

Portfolio: Replicate, LangChain, Modal, Together AI

Developer Tools & Infrastructure

Platforms that make engineers 10x more productive — from code to deployment. We believe developer experience is the ultimate moat. Our portfolio includes the tools the best engineers reach for daily.

Portfolio: Linear, Prisma, Railway, Resend, Zed

Cloud & Data Infrastructure

The foundational infrastructure layer powering modern applications — databases, observability, edge compute, and real-time data pipelines serving billions of requests.

Portfolio: Neon, Turso, Upstash, Tinybird, MotherDuck

Fintech

Reimagining financial infrastructure from the ground up — startup banking, payments, and embedded finance powering the next generation of commerce.

Portfolio: Mercury

Climate & Energy

Breakthrough technologies in energy storage, carbon capture, grid optimization, and sustainable infrastructure. We invest where deep science meets massive market opportunity.

Portfolio: Multiple stealth investments

AI Infrastructure

Vector search, GPU compute, workflow orchestration — the essential picks and shovels of the AI revolution. We back the infrastructure layer that every AI company depends on.

Portfolio: Qdrant, Modal

Stages

Stage & Check Size

We invest across the full lifecycle — from first check to IPO readiness.

Pre-Seed

$250K – $1M30+ companies

Conviction-based bets on exceptional founding teams before product-market fit. We back technical founders with deep domain expertise and a contrarian view of where their market is heading. At this stage, we're investing in people and ideas — not metrics.

Seed

$1M – $5M40+ companies

Partnering at the earliest inflection point — where strong signals emerge from early traction, design partners, or waitlist demand. We help founders refine positioning, build their first GTM motion, and recruit their founding engineering team.

Series A

$5M – $20M35+ companies

Scaling proven models with significant capital and hands-on operational support. At this stage, we focus on companies with clear product-market fit, repeatable revenue, and a path to category leadership. We take board seats and get deeply involved.

Growth

$20M – $100M+15+ companies

Selective follow-on and new investments in breakout companies approaching or exceeding $50M ARR. We help with international expansion, M&A strategy, executive recruiting, and IPO readiness. Our network of 1,200+ operators becomes especially valuable here.

Criteria

What we look for in founders

Technical depth

We gravitate toward founders who are domain experts — people who've spent years thinking about the problem they're solving and can articulate a non-obvious insight.

Market timing

The best companies ride a secular tailwind. We look for founders who understand why their market is inflecting now and can capture the window before incumbents react.

Capital efficiency

We value founders who can do more with less. Capital discipline in early stages often predicts long-term operational excellence and margin expansion.

Distribution advantage

A great product isn't enough. We back founders with clear insights on how to reach customers — whether through bottom-up adoption, community, or enterprise sales.