Crack your fundraise

Access Ventures

Access Venture Partners (AVP), based in Westminster, Colorado, has been a key player in the venture capital landscape since 1999. AVP focuses on early-stage investments, primarily in seed and Series A rounds, with particular interest in sectors such as cybersecurity, enterprise SaaS, and managed marketplaces. They look for startups with scalable business models and a clear path to significant market opportunities, often investing between $250k and $500k initially and maintaining reserves for follow-on support. The firm's portfolio boasts successful startups like Red Canary, LogRhythm, and Bonusly, reflecting their commitment to innovative technology companies in the Mountain West region and beyond. AVP values a hands-on approach, offering not just capital but also extensive operational support, leveraging over 100 combined years of expertise among its team members. Co-founded by Frank Mendicino III, who has a strong background in product development and sales, AVP's team includes Brian Wallace, an expert in venture capital finance and legal matters, and Eric Shu and Alex Houghtalin, who bring diverse experiences in strategy and entrepreneurship. Access Venture Partners prides itself on its founder-first philosophy, actively supporting the entrepreneurial community through mentorship, network introductions, and strategic guidance. This approach has enabled them to foster robust relationships with founders and help them navigate the critical early stages of growth

Accion Venture Lab

Accion Venture Lab is an early-stage venture fund focused on empowering inclusive fintech startups that serve underserved and low-income populations globally. Established as part of Accion, a nonprofit dedicated to financial inclusion, Venture Lab provides seed-first capital paired with extensive strategic and operational support to help startups scale and overcome early challenges. Their diverse portfolio features innovative companies like Apollo Agriculture, which offers tech-driven financing to smallholder farmers in Kenya and Zambia, and Bababos, an Indonesian platform that supports small-scale manufacturers with raw materials and financing solutions. With a geographic reach that spans Latin America, the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and even parts of the U.S., Accion Venture Lab's commitment is global. The fund targets industries such as digital lending, insurtech, personal financial management, and MSME-focused solutions, identifying startups with a mission to address systemic barriers to financial access. Their strategy is unique in that they prefer being the first institutional investor, ensuring startups receive not just capital but high-touch mentorship and strategic guidance. In 2019, Accion Venture Lab boosted its support efforts by launching a $23 million fund aimed at deepening their investment into inclusive fintech. Their approach prioritizes not only financial backing but also leveraging their deep-rooted expertise in financial inclusion to provide hands-on operational assistance. The team is led by seasoned Managing Partners Amee Parbhoo and Rahil Rangwala, who bring years of experience in fintech, impact investing, and scaling social enterprises. Founders looking for support from Venture Lab should demonstrate impactful, scalable solutions with clear pathways to financial inclusion.

Acequia Capital (AceCap)

ACME Capital is a prominent venture capital firm based in San Francisco, specializing in early-stage investments in disruptive technologies and innovative business models. Founded in 2013 by Hany Nada, Shervin Pishevar, and Scott Stanford, the firm focuses on sectors such as healthcare, financial services, and space exploration. Their notable investments include high-profile companies like Uber, Slack, and DraftKings, demonstrating a knack for identifying and nurturing industry leaders. ACME Capital's investment strategy is centered on supporting visionary founders who are tackling large-scale challenges with groundbreaking solutions. They emphasize platform shifts and technology breakthroughs that promise significant societal benefits. The firm typically leads funding rounds and provides not just capital, but also strategic guidance and operational support to help startups scale effectively. Geographically, ACME Capital has a strong focus on the United States, but their portfolio also includes companies with a global reach. Their commitment to diversity and inclusion is reflected in their investment choices, with a significant portion of their portfolio companies led by underrepresented founders. The team at ACME Capital includes experienced partners like Brian Yee and Alexander Fayette, who bring a wealth of expertise and a hands-on approach to their investment process. Entrepreneurs looking to engage with ACME Capital are encouraged to present bold, transformative ideas that have the potential to disrupt massive markets and drive significant impact.

Compound

Compound is a thesis-driven, research-centric investment firm that focuses on early-stage investments across deeply technical and science-driven areas. The firm is dedicated to accelerating the futures envisioned by its founders, helping them solve complex technical problems, communicate breakthroughs, and scale commercialization efforts. Founded by Michael Dempsey, Compound has a diverse team of investors, researchers, and operators with extensive domain expertise. Notable team members include General Partner David Hirsch and Venture Partners like Celeste Holz-Schietinger, who has a background in biology and was instrumental in creating plant-based meat products at Impossible Foods. Compound's portfolio is broad, encompassing sectors like AI/ML, robotics, healthcare, biology, and crypto. Notable investments include companies such as Deepgram, Hyphen, Arbitrum, and Dapper Labs. The firm emphasizes a hands-on approach and leverages its network and prior experiences to support the growth and success of its portfolio companies.

Drive Capital

Drive Capital is a prominent venture capital firm based in Columbus, Ohio, founded in 2013 by Mark Kvamme and Chris Olsen, both of whom previously worked at Sequoia Capital. The firm focuses on investing in technology startups outside of Silicon Valley, with a particular emphasis on the Midwest, aiming to prove that world-class technology companies can emerge from any region in the United States. Drive Capital has raised over $2 billion to invest in startups solving significant problems in large markets. They have backed more than 80 companies, including notable investments like Duolingo, Root Insurance, Olive, Greenlight, and ApplyBoard. The firm is stage-agnostic, investing in seed, early-stage, and later-stage companies across various sectors such as healthcare, consumer services, information technology, and life sciences. The firm operates with a strong conviction in the potential of entrepreneurs from non-traditional tech hubs and emphasizes long-term partnerships. They seek out market-defining companies and prefer to journey with their portfolio companies from inception to IPO. Drive Capital's strategy is deeply rooted in leveraging local talent and resources, ensuring startups have the best advantages by building where they are strongest. Drive Capital's team includes a diverse group of investors committed to supporting founders with honesty and strategic guidance. They maintain a robust network and offer substantial resources to help startups navigate their growth trajectories. For entrepreneurs looking to engage with Drive Capital, the firm values bold, innovative ideas that address large market opportunities and demonstrate potential for significant impact​.

Dutch Founders Fund

Dutch Founders Fund (DFF) is an Amsterdam-based early-stage venture capital fund established by a group of successful Dutch entrepreneurs, including Laurens Groenendijk (Just Eat, Treatwell, Miinto), Patrick Kerssemakers (fonQ), Bas Beerens (WeTransfer), Hidde Hoogcarspel (Spacebuzz), and Remco van Zanten (ex-Booking.com, Zalando). The fund focuses on investing in marketplaces, network effects-driven propositions, and marketplace enablers across Europe. Notable investments by DFF include VonWood, which revolutionizes the wood industry with a transparent supply chain solution; Kennek, a SaaS-enabled marketplace for the alternative credit space; and Metycle, a global marketplace for scrap and recycled metal. Another significant investment is Mtor, an automotive parts marketplace in Egypt, addressing logistics and price transparency challenges. Additionally, HomeCooks, a foodtech platform in the UK, allows home chefs to sell their homemade dishes to a wider audience. DFF's investment strategy emphasizes providing intense mentoring from ideation to Series A, seeking companies that offer sustainable solutions and efficiency. They value founders who are ambitious, coachable, and ready to face challenges head-on. The fund is committed to simplicity, transparency, and equal distribution, ensuring every stakeholder gets a fair share of the value created. The team, with extensive experience and a strong track record in building successful companies, offers more than just capital. They dive deep into the operational aspects of their portfolio companies, providing hands-on support to help them grow and succeed.

Eastlink Capital

Eastlink Capital, founded in 2014 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, is a venture capital firm focused on early and growth-stage investments in enterprise software, cloud infrastructure, AI, and data-driven technologies. Led by Steven Xi, the firm specializes in identifying high-potential startups that leverage unique technologies to solve critical problems in large markets. Their approach is deeply technical, often helping portfolio companies refine their product strategies and expand into new markets. Eastlink’s investment strategy is centered on mission-driven founders and innovative technologies, particularly in the AI, cloud-native, and data infrastructure sectors. Some of their prominent investments include StreamNative, TigerGraph, and MotherDuck, showcasing their commitment to supporting companies that build foundational enterprise technologies. What sets Eastlink apart is their cross-border expertise and a strong network, which they use to help their portfolio companies scale globally. Beyond providing capital, the team is known for being hands-on, offering strategic advice and connecting startups with key industry executives and partners. Eastlink has a track record of successful exits, including companies like Evernote and Sensely. The firm’s leadership team includes experienced investors like Eric Ye, who brings a wealth of knowledge in cloud-native infrastructure, and other seasoned advisors who provide deep technical insights and guidance to the companies they back. Eastlink Capital is well-positioned to support startups aiming to disrupt enterprise markets with groundbreaking technologies.