Topology

Topology (Topology Ventures) is an early-stage venture capital firm founded by Casey Caruso, a former Google engineer who also worked as a part-time investor at Bessemer Venture Partners and spent time at crypto investment firm Paradigm. The firm invests in what it describes as frontier technology — startups aiming to "make science fiction reality" — with stated focus areas spanning artificial intelligence, decentralized networks and blockchain systems, neurotechnology, aerospace and robotics.

The firm's name references topological dimension reduction, a mathematical and machine-learning technique for simplifying high-dimensional data while preserving its essential features; Topology describes its investment approach analogously, as distilling large amounts of information into a small number of insights that support concentrated, high-conviction positions. Its stated principles emphasize combining ambitious vision with execution, self-direction, and curiosity. Caruso operates as solo general partner, supported by a small team that has included a platform lead and an engineer in residence.

Founding story

Casey Caruso developed an investment thesis while simultaneously working as an engineer at Google — specializing in research systems covering UX and machine learning within cloud — and as a part-time investor at Bessemer Venture Partners: that technology is changing quickly enough that investors who do not fully understand it lose the plot. She began by making angel investments in companies including Databricks and later did a stint at Paradigm, before raising an institutional fund on the conviction that investors with deeper technical understanding are better positioned, and that investing allowed her to scale her impact beyond what she could build as an individual engineer.

Business model

Topology operates as a venture capital fund, deploying limited partner capital into early-stage frontier technology startups and taking equity positions alongside other investors.

As a venture fund, Topology's economics derive from management of committed limited partner capital and returns on its portfolio investments.

Traction

As of December 2024, Topology had made six investments from its first fund. It later participated in a $7.6 million seed round for Australian decentralized AI startup Pluralis Research.

Latest developments

Topology participated in Pluralis Research's $7.6 million seed round, which was led by CoinFund and Union Square Ventures and also included Bodhi Ventures, Variant, Eden Block, Balaji Srinivasan and Hugging Face co-founder Clem Delangue.