Read more about how we’re thinking and where we’re investing here.
Recent Posts
News
Here we are, a week into the new year, and we hope everyone had a wonderful and warm holiday season. Before we move full steam ahead into 2024, let’s reflect on the past quarter to gather inspiration and momentum from our incredible V1 family. As always, this news reflects just a snapshot of the activity […]
Version One
In our reflection last year, we described how our investment pace had slowed alongside the market. This year brought even more pull back and we invested in only two companies (more on them below). Throughout this time, we continue to keep our focus on investing in outlier talent, with big missions in emerging areas. And, […]
Portfolio
Fall is in the air and we are heading into the last quarter of 2023. But before we look ahead, here’s a quick recap of the key events from the third quarter. There’s a lot of momentum to ride into the new year! Funding Announcements and Accolades We excitedly announced our investment in Dinari, a […]
Data / AI / ML
The most powerful disruptions occur when a technology disruption and a business model disruption go hand in hand. This ‘double disruption’ forces incumbents to get up to speed with a new technology and a new business model at the same time. It’s incredibly hard to invest lots of money in a new technology, while simultaneously […]
Version One
It may not feel like it, but fall is upon us. Professionally, this is always a reflective time of year for me and today, it’s even more so as I entered the world of VC ten years ago. Ten years. Where does time fly? On my first “VC anniversary,” I wrote about how VC aligns […]
Crypto / Blockchain, Portfolio, Version One
We are excited to announce our investment in Dinari’s $7.5m seed round, alongside Third Kind Venture Capital, SPEILLLP, Sancus Ventures, 500 Global, and Balaji Srinivasan. The tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) is one of the most interesting use cases for the blockchain, gaining momentum inside both crypto and traditional finance communities. We have seen start-ups […]
Portfolio
At the end of Q1, we anticipated that a tech sector slowdown is ideal for “heads down” building without all the distractions of a super bull market. And indeed, Q2 2023 was an incredibly busy quarter in terms of product launches across the Version One family. Here are some of the highlights to share before […]
Portfolio
Today, we’re excited to share that we led the $2M seed round of Antimatter, whose mission is to build the world’s most valuable peer-to-peer learning network, centered around memes. Spacecadet and Ordinary Holdings joined us as new investors in this round, alongside existing investors Haystack and Compound. Memes have been used as an educational tool […]
Entrepreneurship, News
I just returned from a weeklong trip to India, having spent a few days each in Delhi and Bangalore to meet with local entrepreneurs and investors. Noah Smith recently wrote about why everyone should get excited about India’s prospects. I shared his optimism going into this trip and came back even more bullish about the […]
Portfolio
We’re a quarter into 2023 and when it comes to funding, the pullback from tech continues. However, just like winter provides the time and space to reflect and renew, a market downturn is the best time for heads down building without all the distractions of a super bull market. With that said, here’s a selection […]
Portfolio, Version One
Over the last few years, the start-up market has focused almost exclusively on hyper-growth, quick valuation increases, raising large amounts of capital, and trying to take companies public in a premature way (SPACs). Building a generational company systematically for the long-term has almost completely gone out of fashion. In this context, it’s remarkable to see […]
News
This marks my tenth January as an investor. A new year always comes with lots of enthusiasm, but there’s a different tone this year. Never before have I been asked by so many founders and fellow VCs alike, “Are you investing right now?” My answer is always “Why not?” Sure, tech pulled back in 2022 […]
Data / AI / ML, News
Since its launch a few weeks ago, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has captured the imagination of users, entrepreneurs and investors alike. The quality of the chatbot’s content and conversational speaking style have convinced many that AI is finally ready for primetime. Some are even comparing ChatGPT’s launch to the iPhone App Store – a pivotal moment in […]
Version One
After the incredible pace of 2021, tech has definitely pulled back in 2022. But through it all, we remain focused on investing in outlier talent with big missions and developing theses in emerging areas. In other words, we haven’t changed our philosophy or how we invest. With every investment (no matter where we are in […]
Entrepreneurship
Call it intuition or ‘following your gut.’ It’s the ability to understand something without needing to use conscious reasoning. Most founders start off with a strong sense of intuition. They have a good gut feeling for markets and technologies, for how a product can solve a specific problem, and for who’d be the right co-founder […]
Crypto / Blockchain, Portfolio, Version One
Web3 is the future of the Internet, but when it comes to mainstream usability, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Despite all the technical progress made over the years, crypto remains niche relative to the five billion+ monthly active users on the Internet. A key problem is that onboarding new users is […]
Energy/Climate
Since sharing an update on our areas of interest in climate and energy, we received a lot of feedback and met some great startups. Many of these discussions have centered around the circular economy. Upon reflection, it’s clear that there is synergy between the circular economy and our longstanding focus on marketplaces with their network […]
Portfolio
We’re now heading into the homestretch of 2022. But before we charge full steam ahead, it’s time to reflect on what’s been going on across the V1 family. As we’ve mentioned before, this is just a sampling of the activity – and only includes what’s been publicly announced. Fundraises & Accolades Patch is taking climate […]
Energy/Climate
Eighteen months have passed since I wrote about Version One’s areas of interest in climate and energy… it’s hard to believe how quickly time flies. Since then, the space has only heated up (bad pun, I know) with more startups building and even more venture capital available to scale them. Now the newly passed Inflation […]
Portfolio
When we first met Abhinav Kapur, we were immediately drawn to his mission to empower restaurants with data-based insights. Years earlier, he had founded Bikky after being inspired by his mother-in-law and the New York City restaurant she’s owned and operated for over 20 years. The secret to her success? She builds and nurtures relationships […]