Read more about how we’re thinking and where we’re investing here.
Recent Posts
Version One
A year and a half ago, we published the first edition of our Startup Handbook. It has been well received, with over 30K downloads to date. But any guide book is always a work in progress and we have received a lot of great feedback on how to make it more valuable. As such, we […]
Portfolio
It’s hard to believe that we’re already halfway through 2021! And what a busy first half it was. Here are just some of many activities and accomplishments in the V1 portfolio during the past quarter… Public listings Coinbase went live with its direct listing on Nasdaq, becoming one of the most valuable public listings of […]
Version One
We’re thrilled to announce the closing of two new funds: Fund IV ($70M USD) and Opportunities Fund II ($30M USD). While these funds may be new, our values and goals remain the same. We still look for pre-seed and seed stage opportunities, as we believe these are the stages where we can add the most […]
Crypto / Blockchain, Portfolio
We are very happy to announce our seed investment into Defined, a programmable data platform for decentralized finance (DeFi). We led the $2.5m round with participation from Mark Cuban, Balaji Srinivasan, Tiny Capital, Compound, Inflection, Portico Ventures, Capital 6, Rasool Rayani, and Kamunting Street Capital. We have been active investors in DeFi for almost three […]
Version One
Bessemer started the idea of the “anti-portfolio” – the companies that you passed on, but ended up doing very, very well. Here is the Version One anti-portfolio that we have built over the past decade: ApplyBoard We met CEO & co-Founder Martin Basiri in February 2016. Despite his passion for helping international students get into universities […]
Crypto / Blockchain, Marketplaces / Social / Collaboration / Network Effects
Marketplace innovation comes in waves and we can point to a handful of major trends over the past two decades: Right now, the most exciting area in marketplace innovation is blockchain-enabled marketplaces, especially with what is happening in decentralized finance. The Ethereum ecosystem has enabled the emergence of a tremendous number of protocols, platforms and […]
Version One
A little bit more than a year ago, we made our first investment in a COVID world…it was 100% virtual, all via Zoom from start to finish. What seemed highly unusual at the time became the new modus operandi for Version One and the VC industry as a whole. We ended up doing three more […]
Version One
For those you who don’t already know, Max will be leaving at the end of the month. When he joined us at Version One 15 months ago, he brought with him a wealth of knowledge, experience, and ideas, especially in crypto and climate tech. From Day 1, he pushed our thinking around a variety of […]
Crypto / Blockchain, Portfolio, Version One
We’re excited to announce our investment in Filebase, the first S3-compatible object storage platform powered by decentralized storage networks. They just announced their $2M seed round led by our friends at Multicoin Capital with participation by Version One. We are very bullish about decentralized storage, and this investment closely follows our recent investment in Arweave, […]
Portfolio
In case you missed it last week, Pickle Robot Company, a robotics startup based in Cambridge, MA, shared that they raised $5.75M in seed funding. Today, we are excited to announce our investment in this round led by Hyperplane with participation from Third Kind Ventures, Box Group, and others. It’s no secret that the warehousing […]
Crypto / Blockchain, Portfolio
Today our portfolio company Coinbase went public via a direct listing. With an initial market cap of over $100b, it is one of the most valuable public listings of all times in the US. It is also the first IPO in the Version One family and hence, a special milestone for us as a fund. […]
Portfolio
Despite the obvious challenges, we ended 2020 on a strong note and, so far, our portfolio family has been riding a huge momentum wave. 2021 is proving to be an incredible year across our portfolio – from big funding announcements to significant product developments. We’re so proud of what everyone has been able to accomplish […]
Crypto / Blockchain, Portfolio, Version One
We’re excited to announce our investment in SuperRare, the leading marketplace for blockchain-based digital art known as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). You’ve probably heard of NFTs given the amount of media coverage over the past few months. But for those of you not familiar with NFTs, here is a quick primer. NFTs are unique digital art […]
Entrepreneurship
A well-timed funding announcement is your introduction to the world. It’s a way to increase your visibility with prospective investors, talent and customers. It’s also a signal that your company is gaining traction and momentum – you’re putting a stake in the ground for competitors. Over the past eight months, many companies in the Version […]
Energy/Climate
Over the past 18 months, we’ve been increasingly focused on investing in climate and energy startups. Public awareness about sustainability and climate change is at an all-time high. There are strong tailwinds on the renewable energy front as Max discussed this summer: the cost of solar is falling off a cliff; storage and EVs are […]
Crypto / Blockchain, News, Portfolio, Version One
We’re excited to announce our investment in Arweave, a decentralized platform that enables anyone to store documents and applications forever. While there are other decentralized storage platforms out there, Arweave is offering something completely unique…permanent storage. The protocol does this by using a novel consensus mechanism called proof of access where “miners compete to provide […]
Crypto / Blockchain
I’ve been noodling on this post for a few months now, trying to find the best way to explain why a decentralized Internet is important and how we might get from here to there. I had outlined a few reasons why it mattered and might eventually go mainstream: More creative and economic opportunity for developers […]
Portfolio
Today, we are thrilled to announce our investment in Preemadonna, a consumer hardware startup that is powering creative expression in beauty. The company’s first product is the Nailbot – a connected, at-home manicure device that instantly prints on nails any photo, emoji, image or self-created design from the user’s camera roll. We co-invested with Halogen […]
Crypto / Blockchain
Over 10 years since its inception, Bitcoin is now firmly established as the preeminent digital store of value (SoV). I believe this is because Bitcoin dominates among crypto assets on the axes that matter most for fulfilling this digital gold-like function: A clear and reliable monetary policy: only 21 million BTC will ever exist Security: […]
Portfolio
We’re excited to announce our investment in Cap Hill Brands, a Seattle startup with the mission to build a next-generation CPG company by acquiring and operating digitally-native consumer brands. Combining the investment capital of a private equity firm and the deep operational experience of a startup accelerator, Cap Hill can lead brands to new levels […]