AI8 Ventures

AI8 Ventures (Alpha Impact 8 Ventures) is a San Francisco-based minority-owned venture capital firm founded in 2017, operating as the strategic VC platform within 8alpha.ai. The firm describes itself as anti-venture capital — focused on solving systemic problems by investing in technology companies across three defined verticals: AI credit infrastructure, AI applications, and AI resilience technology. Managing Partners Carlos Ochoa and Nik Schrobenhauser lead the investment effort from offices in San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC Metro, and Mexico. AI8 was named to Inc. Magazine's 2023 Founder Friendly Investors list. The firm leads seed-stage rounds with $1 million to $5 million initial checks, targeting a 3-to-5-year investment horizon across North and South America. Twenty investments to date span fintech, edtech, AI, healthtech, B2B services, telecoms, medtech, and web3. Portfolio companies include Seemexic, UnDosTres, and X0PA AI, with a notable exit — Arcus — acquired in November 2021. Co-investors include firms across the US and Latin American ecosystems. AI8 is committed to backing women and minority-led startups and promoting social mobility through technology. The firm targets founders with operating experience and math-or-science-driven approaches, seeking companies that deliver venture returns with a private equity risk profile — a positioning that reflects its belief that disciplined company selection and a focused thesis outperform broad-market scatter approaches. The fund's Americas focus spans both established US technology centres and emerging startup markets across Latin America.