NIV
Venture capitalActively deployingNew York Β· Pre-SeedβSeries A Β· 10 people tracked
Investment thesis
North Island Ventures invests at the intersection of abundance and scarcity, focusing on enabling technologies and their transformative potential. The firm believes that as intelligence and labor costs collapse toward zero, enduring value lies in sovereignty (money, data, mind), distribution and trust, financial infrastructure for autonomous agents, and human-centric institutions that cannot be replicated by code. The firm backs four primary categories: open and sovereign AI models and permissionless compute; new markets and applied intelligence platforms; stablecoin rails and on-chain capital markets infrastructure; and frontier institutions advancing human coordination and governance. The investment thesis emphasizes backing mission-driven founders with exceptional intelligence, sustained intensity, and integrity who hold genuine non-consensus convictions.
Source: firm website, verified Jul 21, 2026.
Team Β· 10 people
from the firm's websiteCo-founder and Chairman of NIV, formerly co-founder of the private equity firm Silver Lake. He holds several significant board positions and has founded multiple research centers, including institutions at Harvard and Brookings.
Co-founder and General Partner who leads the firm's research efforts and focuses on leveraging data to identify trends and support portfolio companies. A full-time crypto investor since 2018, he previously held the role of Head of Research at Coatue Management.
Co-founder and Managing Partner at NIV with prior investment experience at Digital Currency Group where he led investments in over 100 crypto startups and protocols. He began his career as an M&A attorney at Skadden Arps.
Venture investor at NIV with prior experience on the venture investing team at Galaxy Digital and early employee tenure at Hitco Entertainment, a PE-backed music and entertainment company.
Chief Operating Officer who serves as liaison between the investment team and administrative partners. Previously spent six years at Merrill Lynch managing operations for a team overseeing $4 billion in assets.
Chief Technology Officer leading engineering and infrastructure development for crypto data and investing platforms, and performing technical diligence. Previously spent three years at Oso, a Sequoia-backed authorization platform startup, and at Flatiron Health.
Senior analyst researching public fintech and technology companies at NIV. Previously led fundamental research at Artemis and spent six years on the buyside, including roles at BlackRock and Roundhill Investments focused on TMT equities.
Research analyst focused on crypto investment research at NIV. Previously worked as an investment analyst at Outerlands Capital and began his career at Horizen Labs, a blockchain development company.
Director of Research who leads the firm's public crypto initiatives and brings over a decade of institutional investing experience. Previously served as senior investment analyst at BlueMountain Capital Management and began his career in investment banking at Credit Suisse.
General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at NIV with prior experience as Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel at PineBridge Investments. Previously worked in investment management legal roles at Lowenstein Sandler and advised startups and venture firms on corporate matters.
What they invest in
from 13 of 92 portfolio companiesCrypto & Web3 Γ9Fintech Γ7AI & Machine Learning Γ4Cybersecurity Γ2Data & Infrastructure Γ2Developer Tools Γ2Enterprise Software Γ2Consumer Γ1
HQs:United KingdomΓ2United StatesΓ2ArgentinaΓ1
Investments Β· showing 60 of 92
founders shown can be your intro pathBCB Group provides enterprise-grade payment infrastructure for financial institutions operating across global fiat and cryptocurrency markets. The platform offers unified access to payment accounts, instant settlement via the BLINC network, and trading services across fiat, stablecoins, and cryptocurrencies.
Crypto & Web3Enterprise SoftwareFintech
Big Time is a free-to-play multiplayer RPG where players explore a narrative-driven world involving time travel and fight against threats to humanity. The game features a player-driven economy with NFTs and digital assets that players can buy, sell, and trade through an integrated marketplace.
Crypto & Web3Gaming
Cedar Money facilitates cross-border payments and collections across Africa and global markets for businesses in agriculture, manufacturing, digital commerce, and financial institutions. The platform enables fast fund transfers with clear pricing, next-day settlement, and compliance support across multiple currencies.
Fintech
Dapper Labs is a venture studio building products and communities at the intersection of culture and emerging technology, focused on digital ownership, data control, and decentralized platforms for creators and collectors. The company operates as a studio where individuals serve as founders or founder-in-training, developing solutions that leverage blockchain and open-state technologies.
ConsumerCreator EconomyCrypto & Web3Sector Agnostic
Roham Gharegozlou(Founder)Dieter Shirley(Founder)
Depay operates an API that connects real-time payment rails across Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, enabling banks, wallets, and exchanges to offer cross-border instant payments with local currency settlement. The platform handles currency conversion, regulatory compliance, and interoperability between regional payment systems like PIX, Transferencias 3.0, Bre-B, and QR codes for merchants and financial institutions.
Enterprise SoftwareFintechBuenos Aires, AR
Figure is a lending platform that offers residential and commercial loan products including home equity lines of credit, cash-out refinances, DSCR loans, and crypto-backed loans for borrowers.
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3FintechCharlotte, US
Mike Cagney(Co-Founder, Executive Chairman)inJune Ou(Co-Founder, Advisor, Board Member)in
Forta provides onchain security and compliance monitoring through a firewall platform that detects and prevents malicious transactions, smart contract exploits, and compliance risks for teams building blockchain applications. The platform uses AI and simulations to identify threats in real-time with high accuracy.
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3Cybersecurity
Hexagate is a blockchain security platform that delivers real-time on-chain threat detection and automated prevention for Web3 protocols, exchanges, chains, and asset managers. It detects and stops exploits, phishing attacks, wallet compromise, governance attacks, and suspicious transactions before they occur using machine learning models trained on Chainalysis blockchain intelligence.
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3Cybersecurity
Nous Research develops and trains open source language models and builds infrastructure for distributed AI training. The company advances open source AI capabilities through research in model architecture, data synthesis, fine-tuning, and reasoning.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper Tools
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does NIV invest at?
- NIV invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
- What is NIV's typical check size?
- NIV typically writes checks of $500K β $5M.
- What sectors does NIV focus on?
- NIV focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Crypto & Web3, Data & Infrastructure, Fintech, GovTech.
- Where is NIV located?
- NIV is headquartered in New York, US.
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