Encoded Ventures
Venture capitalActively deployingLincoln · Pre-Seed–Seed · 1 people tracked
Investment thesis
Encoded Ventures invests at the earliest stages—inception, pre-seed, and seed—in ambitious technical founders building modern infrastructure software. Founded by Alex Benik after two decades investing in infrastructure and security at Battery Ventures, the fund leans on his deep technical understanding and extensive network of technologists, practitioners, and leaders (many of whom are investors in Encoded). The firm emphasizes hands-on, honest partnership with founders, offering thoughtful feedback and connections drawn from Alex's founder network. It focuses on areas like networking, computing, security, and AI/LLM infrastructure, aiming to help founders go from idea to IPO.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.
Team · 1 people
from the firm's website
What they invest in
from 12 of 21 portfolio companiesAI & Machine Learning ×11Cloud Computing ×6Data & Infrastructure ×6Cybersecurity ×3Developer Tools ×3Enterprise Software ×3SaaS ×3Consumer ×1
HQs:United States×3Israel×1
Investments · 21 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathSIXTA is an autonomous database reliability engineer (DBRE) for PostgreSQL and MySQL that investigates database incidents, identifies root causes, and recommends or applies fixes within a team's incident and change workflows.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper Tools
Ewen FortuneAndrew MorganLori Gagnon
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Co-investorsHeavybit
Atero develops a unified memory architecture platform that optimizes GPU fleet efficiency and performance for AI workloads, covering inference, training, and session management.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingEnterprise Software
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Co-investors91 VenturesLool VenturesMVP VenturesPrimary Venture Partners
bitdrift provides real-time observability and data collection controls for distributed systems spanning mobile and server infrastructure.
Cloud ComputingData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsSan Francisco, US
Peter Morelli(Co-founder & CEO)Martin Conte Mac Donell(Founder)Matt Klein(Founder)
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Co-investorsAmplify PartnersMango Capital
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
DataFlint provides production-aware AI agents for Apache Spark that ingest and enrich Spark logs and serve them through a Spark MCP server to help data engineers debug, optimize, and cost-reduce Spark jobs.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper Tools
Meni ShmueliDaniel A.
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Co-investorsAngular Ventures
Datum provides infrastructure and networking services for cloud platforms, offering edge computing capabilities, private networks, and direct interconnection technology typically available only to large cloud providers.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingData & InfrastructureSanta Monica, US
Sean Fulp(Chief Executive Officer)William T Crump(Manager)
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Co-investorsCRV (Charles River Ventures)Ex/AnteVine VenturesQuansight Initiate
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Duckbill provides an execution layer that connects AI agents to human labor pools, triaging, routing, executing, and quality-checking real-world tasks such as phone calls, form submissions, and in-person errands that require a human in the loop.
AI & Machine LearningConsumerEnterprise SoftwareFuture of WorkSaaS
Meghan Verena Joyce(Founder)in
Co-investorsForerunner VenturesHeavybitInspired CapitalG9 VenturesGeneral CatalystGreycroft+3 more
Duckbill provides a financial control layer that AI-native companies use to negotiate, manage, and forecast their spend across cloud, model, neocloud, and inference providers.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingFintechSaaS
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Co-investorsHeavybitForerunner VenturesG9 VenturesGeneral CatalystGreycroftInspired Capital+2 more
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Jazz is an AI-native data loss prevention (DLP) platform that monitors data activity across apps and actions, investigates security signals in context, and surfaces meaningful incidents while applying precise blocking to prevent data leaks.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecuritySaaS
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Co-investorsGlilot Capital PartnersMassMutual VenturesTeam8 Capital
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Niv-AI deploys high-resolution power sensors and software orchestration to capture millisecond-level electrical transients from AI GPU workloads, giving data center operators visibility into their power usage.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingEnergy
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Co-investorsGlilot Capital Partners
Atom offers a platform that reallocates GPU resources in real time based on actual demand, integrating without code changes to increase utilization and capacity while lowering cost per token.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingData & Infrastructure
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Stealthium provides a runtime observability and security platform for GPUs and AI workloads, correlating low-level GPU metrics, kernel traces, and logs into unified insights across single or multiple nodes and clusters.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityData & Infrastructure
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Tenzai builds AI agents that perform end-to-end penetration testing, discovering and chaining application vulnerabilities and producing reproducible exploits with fix evidence.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareTel Aviv, IL
Pavel Gurvich(Co-Founder & CEO)inAriel Zeitlin(Co-Founder & CTO)inOfri Ziv(Co-Founder, Research (VP Research))inItamar Tal(Co-Founder, Platform (VP R&D))inAner Mazur(Co-Founder, Product (CPO))inNathan Perdue(Chief Revenue Officer)in
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Co-investorsBattery VenturesGreylock PartnersJibe VenturesLux CapitalSwish Ventures
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
PartnerAlex Benik· solo GP
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companiesStealthium · securityweek.com · Aug 12, 2026
Tenzai · Tenzai (press release) · Jul 30, 2026
Duckbill · theaiinsider.tech · Feb 23, 2026
Duckbill · theaiinsider.tech · Feb 23, 2026
Datum · alleywatch.com · Dec 2, 2025
Atero · techstartups.com · Oct 24, 2025
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has Encoded Ventures made?
- Encoded Ventures has 20 tracked investments.
- What stage does Encoded Ventures invest at?
- Encoded Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.
- What is Encoded Ventures's typical check size?
- Encoded Ventures typically writes checks of $500K.
- What sectors does Encoded Ventures focus on?
- Encoded Ventures focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Data & Infrastructure, Deep Tech, Developer Tools, Enterprise Software, SaaS.
- Where is Encoded Ventures located?
- Encoded Ventures is headquartered in Lincoln, US.
- Who does Encoded Ventures co-invest with?
- Encoded Ventures most often shares deals with Glilot Capital Partners, Battery Ventures, CRV (Charles River Ventures), among 18 tracked co-investors.
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