StratMinds VC

StratMinds VC is a San Francisco-based venture capital and advisory firm founded in 2018 and built from inception for Applied AI. It is led by Founder, General Partner and CEO Richard Jhang, with a team of around four partners whose members have shaped billion-user products at WhatsApp, Google, Roblox, IBM and Shopify. The firm offers founders peer-level, hands-on support across strategy, product and UX, technology stacks and go-to-market, and is willing to lead rounds. StratMinds invests in the future of Applied AI, partnering with founders building AI-powered solutions, with thematic focus areas spanning next-generation computing, next-generation web, UX innovation and new commerce; sector interests include B2B, IT, AI, big data, cloud, crypto, e-commerce and SaaS. It primarily writes Seed checks into US-based startups, having made roughly eight Seed investments at an average round size of about $4.42M plus one Series B at an average round size of about $15.3M, and is described as a $100M-plus fund. As of mid-2024 the portfolio held around nine companies, concentrated in the US, about six, and Spain, about two. Notable investments include Portal, where StratMinds led a $5M Seed round alongside BBQ Capital, and Fuelfinance, a Kyiv-founded startup financial-planning software company. By combining an operator-heavy partnership with a focused Applied AI thesis, StratMinds backs technical founders building the next generation of intelligent products.