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Fund III · 2024 · Thesis

The next decade of outsized returns belongs to founders solving creative, climate, and equity problems with the seriousness of category-definers.

We are a thesis-led venture firm investing $2M–$15M in companies turning creative breakthroughs into category-defining businesses — and we pair every check with a 40-person operating network that helps mission-driven founders scale without selling out their mission.

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19 Median business days from intro call to term sheet — roughly 3× the Series A benchmark.

A Note on the Frame

Creative capitalism is no longer a niche — it is the operating principle behind every check we write.

The label has been around for two decades, but until recently it described a small cluster of mission-aligned funds writing smaller checks into adjacent markets. That era is over. Between 2021 and 2024, the companies in our portfolio compounded revenue at an average of 4.2× within 24 months of investment — not because we picked winners, but because the underlying convergence became unmistakable.

Three currents have collapsed into a single investment surface. First, creative breakthroughs — generative tooling, spatial computing, and the re-platforming of media — have made it cheaper than ever to build a category-defining company from a laptop. Second, climate urgency has moved from a moral question into a capital-allocation one: energy transition, supply-chain decarbonization, and climate adaptation now sit inside the same diligence memos as growth and retention. Third, the demand for equitable ownership — among employees, among communities, among LPs — has stopped being a brand preference and started being a return driver.

We do not treat those three as separate theses. We treat them as one market. A founder building a creative-tools company that onboards underrepresented creators at wage parity, or a logistics platform that electrifies the last mile while distributing equity to its drivers, is not a "impact" outlier — they are exactly the company our Fund III was raised to back. Founded in 2011, with $480M AUM across three funds and 87 portfolio companies across 11 countries, we have spent fourteen years building the conviction, the operating bench, and the LP base to write those checks at the size and pace serious founders deserve.

Where We Play

Three concentric circles, drawn deliberately — so founders can self-select against fit before they submit.

We do not invest at every stage and we do not lead every round. Fund III writes $2M–$15M into Series A–C companies that sit inside one of the three circles below. If you do not recognize your company in at least one, we are probably not the right partner — and we would rather tell you that on the intro call than waste your term-sheet window.

Circle 01 · Creative Industries

Backing the operators rebuilding the creative supply chain from the studio up.

Generative tooling, spatial computing, music and media infrastructure, design-led commerce, and the platforms turning independent creators into durable businesses. This is the oldest circle in our portfolio — the conviction that started the firm in 2011 — and it remains the largest by check count.

  • Generative media, design tooling, and creator-owned distribution
  • Music, audio, and live-experience infrastructure
  • Commerce brands built on a definable creative point-of-view

Representative checks: Helio Logistics, Mosaic Health, and 54 additional portfolio companies.

Circle 02 · Climate & Energy Transition

Capital for the founders decarbonizing the things we actually use.

Hardtech, energy transition, supply-chain decarbonization, climate adaptation, and the software layer that makes physical assets financeable. We prefer companies selling revenue today, with a credible path to category leadership — not science projects awaiting policy.

  • Grid software, storage, and electrified logistics
  • Industrial decarbonization and materials innovation
  • Climate-adaptation infrastructure for cities and supply chains

Reserve pool: $28M committed to follow-on rounds inside this circle.

Circle 03 · Equitable Systems

Ownership, access, and dignity — built into the cap table, not bolted on after the round.

Workforce ownership platforms, healthcare access, financial infrastructure for underbanked users, and the operating tools that let mission-driven companies scale without diluting their mission. 68% of our portfolio companies have a female or underrepresented founder — against a 23% industry average.

  • Ownership platforms for workers, creators, and communities
  • Healthcare access and outcomes infrastructure
  • Financial services for underbanked and frontier users

In-house Talent Partners: 240+ executive placements across the portfolio.

Chapter 01 · Why Now

Three forces are reshaping the cap table — and only thesis-led capital is built to read them.

The 2024 vintage is not the 2021 vintage. LPs have consolidated around managers who can articulate a specific worldview, defend it in writing, and show how that worldview shapes underwriting. The result: a flight to quality that punishes generalist capital and rewards firms with a documented point of view.

01

Cost curves have bent — again.

Compute, energy storage, and bio-manufacturing have each crossed a 3× cost reduction in 36 months. The companies that turn that bend into a category are founded now, not in 2027. We back the operators building on top of these curves before the capital floods in.

  • $2M–$15M initial check, sized to the curve
  • $28M reserve pool for follow-on conviction
02

Regulation is finally an ally.

The SEC's 2024 climate disclosure rule, the EU CSRD, and California's SB-253 have converted sustainability reporting from a PR exercise into a balance-sheet line item. Founders who treated mission as a marketing layer are being repriced; founders who architected for it are being rewarded.

  • B Lab score 128.4 — only top-decile VC recognized in 2023
  • Charter signatory, Net Zero VC commitment
03

LP diligence has gotten serious.

In 2024 our LPs reviewed 11,400+ founder intro calls at the firm level. The 3.1% conversion to investment is not a vanity number — it is the denominator that makes our conviction legible. When a generalist fund says yes to one in thirty, the question is no longer whether we lead, but whether we can explain why.

  • $210M Fund III, closed March 2024
  • 19 business days median, intro call to term sheet
$1.9B Follow-on capital raised by our portfolio from tier-one funds
4.2× Average revenue growth within 24 months (2021–2024 cohort)
68% Portfolio founders who are women or from underrepresented backgrounds

The Founder Compact

We write a check, then we send a bench — operators, talent partners, and a CFO network — and we never ask you to choose between growth and the reason you started.

Maya Okonkwo & Daniel Reyes Founding Partners · Brooklyn, 2011

Chapter 02 · How We Work

From intro to term sheet in nineteen business days — here is the calendar.

We do not run founders through a gauntlet. We run a four-stage process that respects the founder's calendar, surfaces disagreement early, and produces a yes, a no, or a structured pass with a reason. The median across our last fund was nineteen business days; the longest was forty-one.

  1. 01

    Founder intro call · 45 minutes

    Partner & associate, no deck required. We listen for the shape of the thesis, the texture of the team, and the specific question capital can answer. You leave knowing who is on the call and what they would need to see to say yes.

  2. 02

    Working session · one focused week

    A partner pairs with an associate to pressure-test the unit economics, the regulatory perimeter, and the talent map. We send a short written brief — what we believe, what we do not, and the three questions we still need answered.

  3. 03

    Partner presentation · 90 minutes

    A formal vote at our Monday investment meeting. The founder is not in the room; the team is. The decision is binary — advance to term sheet, decline with a written reason, or request a single follow-up data point.

  4. 04

    Term sheet · within 5 business days

    A one-page term sheet, drafted by our in-house counsel, with check size, board composition, and pro-rata rights stated plainly. We move at the speed of the founder's counsel, not ours — the median signature window is eleven days.

If the calendar above fits the way you want to raise, the next step is short.

Pitch Your Company Read the full thesis →