New York · Pre-Seed–Seed · 6 people tracked
Investment thesis
Betaworks operates as a startup platform combining incubation, acceleration, and pre-seed/seed investing. It has been a foundational part of the NYC tech ecosystem for around 15 years, first as an incubator of brands like Giphy, Tweetdeck, Bit.ly, and Dots, and more recently as an early-stage investor in AI companies such as Hugging Face and Stability AI. The firm emphasizes thesis-based investing, having spent nearly a decade honing its thesis around artificial intelligence. Its Camp program brings cohorts of 8-12 companies together over 12 weeks to define emerging technology categories, drawing on Betaworks' network of founders and investors.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 17, 2026.
Team · 6 people
from the firm's website & public directoriesWhat they invest in
from 89 of 130 portfolio companiesAI & Machine Learning ×57SaaS ×29Developer Tools ×26Consumer ×21Enterprise Software ×13Creator Economy ×10Future of Work ×10Data & Infrastructure ×9
HQs:United States×21United Kingdom×2Canada×1France×1
Investments · 130 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2026 · 22025 · 12024 · 12022 · 12021 · 12019 · 12015 · 22014 · 110 dated
Airbnb is an online marketplace that enables people to book and list accommodations for short-term rentals, experiences, and services around the world.
ConsumerMarketplacesTravel & HospitalitySan Francisco, US
Brian Chesky(Founder/CEO)inNathan Blecharczyk(Founder/CTO)inJoe Gebbia(Founder/CPO)inNate Blecharczyk(Cofounder)Belinda Johnson(Executive Officer)Laurence Tosi(Executive Officer)
Dessn offers a design-to-code tool that connects to a product's repository and uses AI to extract design components and generate a cloud-hosted design environment built around the codebase.
AdTechAI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsMarketing TechSaaSSector AgnosticLondon, GB
Marcus Persson(Co-founder)inNils Nygren Liljenstrand(Co-founder & CPO)inGabriella Hachem(Co-founder)Nim(Co-founder)
All Hands develops OpenHands, an open-source, model-agnostic platform for building and running AI coding agents, providing the interface, automation, and control layer to scale from a single local agent to an organization-wide system.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingDeveloper ToolsEnterprise Software
Robert Brennan(CEO)Graham Neubig(Chief Scientist)Xingyao Wang(Chief AI Officer)Ben Solari(CRO)
Podcasting platform among Betaworks' investments.
Armilla AI is a managing general agent offering liability coverage, performance warranties, and risk assessments for AI systems.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareFintechInsurTechToronto, CA
Dan Adamson(Founder)inKarthik Ramakrishnan(Founder)inBaiju Hasmukhrai Devani(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardRaif Barbaros(Director)in
Autobiographer is a consumer app that turns a person's conversations into written life stories, individual memories, and letters to loved ones, producing a shareable digital autobiography of up to 250 pages.
AI & Machine LearningConsumer
BaseStation offers an AI assistant that fills out, checks, and formats PDF forms, including scanned non-fillable forms, by analyzing required fields and completing them from user data.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
Bitly is a technology company that provides link management products, including URL shortening and related connection tools for its customers.
AdTechData & InfrastructureMarketing TechSaaS
Peter(CEO)inKelsey(Chief Product and Technology Officer)inMatt(Chief Technology Officer)inKelly(Chief Legal & Administrative Officer)
Bracket is building professional-grade hardware aimed at developers, priced at consumer levels.
Developer ToolsHardware
Maker of Caira, an intelligent interchangeable-lens camera that captures, edits, and shares content with integrated on-camera AI processing and MagSafe iPhone connectivity.
AI & Machine LearningConsumerHardware
Capsule AI builds life-sciences-native AI models and agentic workflows that convert unstructured scientific content—congress coverage, publications, primary research, and figures—into competitive and strategic intelligence for life science teams.
AI & Machine LearningBiotechHealthtech
Billy Wang(Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer)in
Chartbeat provides real-time content intelligence and analytics tools for digital publishers, newsrooms, and media organizations to optimize editorial decisions and monetize content.
Marketing TechMedia & EntertainmentSaaSNew York, US
Tony Haile(Executive Officer, Director)John Saroff(Executive Officer)John Borthwick(Executive Officer, Director)Antonia Abraham(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardSaul Klein(Director)Andrew McLaughlin(Director)
Culture Genesis is a media and creator company that uses agentic AI to package creator-led video into brand-safe ad inventory, route deals to agencies, verify campaigns, and pay creators automatically.
AdTechAI & Machine LearningCreator Economy
Decode is a multiplayer canvas where product teams create diagrams, markdown plans, wireframes, and live previews of their app, then connect AI coding agents via a Desktop MCP Server to build and fix the UI based on what users mark directly on the board.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsFuture of Work
Dessn is a design and prototyping tool that connects to a team's production codebase (read-only) and turns it into a collaborative design environment, letting designers and non-developers create high-fidelity prototypes as live branches without opening an IDE.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsSaaS
Mobile game studio built by Betaworks, acquired by Take-Two.
Everlane designs and sells apparel and accessories positioned on transparency and sustainability, offering quality basics and fashion items through direct-to-consumer channels.
ConsumerDirect to ConsumerE-commerce
Every builds and operates a suite of AI-native software products—including tools for writing, email assistance, file organization, voice dictation, and personal AI agents—alongside a media arm with columns and a podcast about AI.
AI & Machine LearningMedia & EntertainmentSaaS
Dan Shipper(CEO & Cofounder)
Flower develops collaborative AI infrastructure and tools, including federated learning platforms, AI agents, and language models that enable organizations to build and deploy AI networks while maintaining data privacy and control.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise Software
Daniel J. Beutel(Founder)inNic Lane(Founder)inTaner Topal(Founder)in
Geometric automatically discovers and verifies optimized CUDA kernels to improve GPU utilization, delivering performance improvements as GitHub pull requests.
AI & Machine LearningDeep TechDeveloper Tools
Podcast media company among Betaworks' investments.
GIPHY is a platform for discovering, creating, and sharing animated GIFs and stickers.
ConsumerCreator EconomyMedia & EntertainmentNew York, US
Alex Chung(Executive Officer, Director)Brad Zeff(Executive Officer)Joshua Auerbach(Executive Officer)Jonathan Chin(Executive Officer)
BoardJeremy Liew(Director)inJohn Borthwick(Director)in
PartnerJohn Borthwick· quoted
Graze builds tools on Bluesky and the AT Protocol that let developers, curators, and brands create, manage, and control their own social media algorithms and feeds.
Creator EconomyDeveloper ToolsSocialPortland, US
Devin Gaffney(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Andrew Lisowski(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Peat Bakke(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)
Hidden Door builds an online roleplaying game that lets players explore and remix fictional worlds to create custom narratives.
AI & Machine LearningCreator EconomyGamingMedia & Entertainment
Hopscotch Labs creates software designed to make cities more accessible and engaging while infusing playfulness into digital experiences and real-world interactions.
ConsumerMobility & TransportationWilmington, US
DensMaxAJAdrianinDennis Crowley(Executive Officer, Director)
Hugging Face is a collaboration platform that hosts and provides access to machine learning models, datasets, and applications.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingDeveloper ToolsBrooklyn, US
Julien Chaumond(Executive Officer, Director)Clement Delange(Executive Officer, Director)
Infinite Objects manufactures and sells framed digital displays that play video art and collectible moving prints for consumers.
ConsumerHardwareBrooklyn, US
Joe Saavedra(Founder)inRoxana Fata(Executive Officer)Alex Chung(Director)Sona Banker(Executive Officer)Nicholas Dangerfield(Executive Officer)Joseph Saavedra(Executive Officer, Director)
JigsawML is an architectural intelligence platform that ingests codebases and cloud accounts to generate interactive architecture diagrams, mapping dependencies, overlaying cloud costs, and tracking how code commits change a system.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingDeveloper Tools
Journey provides a proactive workplace mental health program designed to identify and address employee mental health risks earlier than traditional employee assistance programs, reducing costs and preventing escalation.
HR TechMental HealthNew York, US
Stephen Sokoler(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardBrendan Dickinson(Director)inJoshua Siegel(Director)
Crowdfunding platform among Betaworks' investments.
Exits · 2
IPOs and acquisitions across the tracked portfolioAirbnbNASDAQ: ABNBDotsacq. by Take-Two
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companiesGranola · computerworld.com · Aug 6, 2026
Airbnb · barchart.com · Jul 17, 2026
Hugging Face · fintech.global · Jul 17, 2026
Marker · pulse2.com · Jul 10, 2026
Mbodi AI · automate.org · Jul 6, 2026
Sandbar · prnewswire.com · Jun 30, 2026
Charm · trysignalbase.com · Jun 12, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Betaworks invest at?
- Betaworks invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.
- What is Betaworks's typical check size?
- Betaworks typically writes checks of $250K – $750K.
- What sectors does Betaworks focus on?
- Betaworks focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Consumer, Deep Tech.
- Where is Betaworks located?
- Betaworks is headquartered in New York, US.
- Does Betaworks lead rounds?
- Betaworks typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
featuring the teamHow AI Is Changing The Startup Ecosystem | With John Borthwick From Betaworks
Tech Brew Ride Home Podcast · John Borthwick
Internet History Podcast | John Borthwick Of Betaworks
Internet History Podcast · John Borthwick
How Venture Studios Build Businesses | John Borthwick, Betaworks EP 108
Oh Ship! Show · John Borthwick
Betaworks CEO John Borthwick talks Big Tech regulation and the state of America
Yahoo Finance · John Borthwick
The Webbys & Betaworks Present: A Discussion with John Borthwick
The Webby Awards · John Borthwick
Keen On... John Borthwick: On betaworks as a New Medium Comp
TechCrunch · John Borthwick
Images
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