K5 Ventures

K5 Ventures is an early-stage technology venture capital and accelerator platform founded in 2010 and headquartered in Irvine, California, with offices in Newport Beach, Orange, Los Angeles, and Beijing. The firm focuses on AI-driven innovations that unlock human creativity, enhance productivity, improve decision-making, and create measurable value for businesses and society. K5 Ventures also operates K5-Launch, the first accelerator in Southern California — a three-to-six-month personalized go-to-market program that provides equity funding up to $25,000 alongside approximately $17,000 in legal, web, and PR services. The firm has made approximately 69 investments across pre-seed through Series A stages and achieved 14 acquisitions across its portfolio. Two unicorns have emerged: Emburse (expense management) and Chainguard (supply chain security). The most recent investment was Era (seed round, August 2024). The most recent exit was Jetty (insurtech, acquired February 2025). Other portfolio companies include Instrumentl (grant discovery), BIOS, CudaSign (acquired), Sphinx, and Farsight. Investment sectors span AI-native companies and vertical AI applications across enterprise SaaS, fintech, healthtech, digital health, medical devices, biotech, food technology, robotics, and predictive analytics. K5 Ventures draws from the Orange County Tech Coast Angels and Investors Circle networks and invests across Southern California, Silicon Valley, and China. The firm's philosophy centers on backing founders building AI-first products in large, underserved markets — combining the structured support of an accelerator program with the capital and long-term partnership of a venture fund. Check sizes are typically small at early stages, making K5 an accessible first institutional partner for companies in the pre-seed and seed ranges.