Watermark Venture Capital

Watermark Venture Capital is a Newport Beach, California-based early-stage venture firm founded in 2016 by Mangesh Mahajan, Founder and Partner, with Dilip Patel as Partner. The fund is SEC-registered and writes Seed to Series A checks into California-based technology companies, targeting cities including Los Angeles, San Diego, the Bay Area, Newport Beach, Irvine and Cupertino. Investment sizes range from $500K minimum to $2M maximum with a stated sweet spot of $1.3M, generally as a co-investor. The thesis covers artificial intelligence, SaaS, cloud-based encryption and security, patentable innovations and products, and process-engineering optimization software, with a broader sector mandate that has historically included robotics, agriculture technology, logistics, esports and gaming, and engineering-heavy categories such as structural and chemical engineering and offshore marine structures. The firm successfully deployed Fund I from 2018 through 2022, primarily into SaaS and AI startups, and was assembling Fund II with a target close in 2023. The disclosed portfolio is small but concentrated at approximately 8 companies, with notable holdings including Funraise, a Costa Mesa-based nonprofit fundraising SaaS spanning donation forms, donor CRM, donor management, events and ticketing, and Monet Analytics in Irvine, both initially backed in 2015 before Watermark Venture Capital's 2016 formalization, suggesting the founders' angel-investor history seeded the institutional fund. Exits and follow-on activity beyond Fund I are not publicly disclosed. By writing focused Seed to Series A checks into California technology companies, Watermark Venture Capital backs founders across AI, SaaS, security and engineering-heavy categories.