Fundraising Fox

Stage 1 Ventures

Venture capital

Coconut Grove · Seed–Growth · 19 people tracked

Also known as STAGE 1 MANAGERS LLC

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Investment thesis

Stage 1 Ventures backs innovative entrepreneurs regardless of location or prior venture backing, prioritizing vision, persistence and strong execution. Its strategy follows a staged 'SSVSS' framework: scanning opportunities, seeding small option bets through a seed fund and SPVs, validating by developing business and IP, then leading or co-leading growth equity investments to double down on breakout winners. The firm supports companies through a milestone-based approach aimed at long-term value creation and liquidity. It emphasizes deep venture and operating experience, hands-on partner involvement, and access to the team's broad network, contacts and resources across a company's full development lifecycle.

Source: firm website, verified Aug 25, 2026.

Stage
Seed–Growth
HQ
Coconut Grove, Florida, US
Leads rounds
Leads
Instruments
Equity
Founded
2006
Last 12 months
1 investment
Private fund assets
$181.2M
VC funds
11
Tracked investments
50

Team · 19 people

from the firm's website & public directories
Alfonso Carrillo· Operating Partnerin
Larry Paulson· Advisorin
Lawrence King· Advisorin
Mark Leidy· Advisorin
Scott Carmel· Operating Partnerin

Founder mafia

2 people who came through Stage 1 Ventures went on to found or lead other companies.

What they invest in

from 40 of 50 portfolio companies

SaaS ×19AI & Machine Learning ×11Enterprise Software ×8Hardware ×8Defense Tech ×5Marketing Tech ×5AdTech ×4AgTech ×4

HQs:United States×22United Kingdom×1Israel×1

Who they back

founder profiles across 16 portfolio companies
75%
solo founders
12 of 16 mapped founding teams

Founding team size:solo founder×122 founders×34+ founders×1

Investments · 50 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

By year:2026 · 12019 · 12015 · 24 dated

Ondas Holdingsondas.comin𝕏NASDAQ: ONDS

Ondas Inc.

AI & Machine LearningDefense TechRoboticsBoston, US

Stewart Kantor(Executive Officer, Director)Meir Kliner(President of Ondas Autonomous Systems; CEO and Founder of Airobotics)inNeil Laird(Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary)Eric Brock(Chairman and CEO, Founder of Ondas Inc.)Patrick Huston(Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel and Secretary)Derek Reisfield(Director)

Co-investorsKluz Ventures

3D Cloud3dcloud.comin𝕏

3D Cloud is an enterprise 3D product visualization platform offering product configurators, room planners, and WebAR/augmented reality tools for furniture, kitchen, bath, office, and outdoor retailers and manufacturers.

E-commerceRetail TechSaaS

Co-investorsFlorida Funders

AAI Solutionsilearningengines.com
Actasysactasysinc.comin

Actasys develops ActaJet air-jet cooling technology that provides spot-on thermal management for high-density data center server racks and components such as Network Interface Cards, Data Processing Units, and Switches.

CleantechDeep TechHardware

Co-investorsIneffable VenturesNext Gear VenturesVolvo Cars Tech Fund

Aiai.ioin𝕏Acquired

ai.io builds AI, machine learning, and deep learning tools for analysing and enhancing human performance, including 3D markerless athlete tracking and mobile-phone-based talent analysis.

AI & Machine LearningSports Tech

Co-investorsCartan CapitalRaptor Group

Aimiaimi.fm

Aimi offers a browser-based music studio where an AI producer builds editable multi-track sessions from text prompts.

Co-investorsEthos VC

Akuminaakumina.comin𝕏

Akumina builds a digital workplace and intranet platform that connects employees to company information, the business, and each other, integrating with hundreds of other platforms.

Enterprise SoftwareFuture of WorkSaaSNashua

Edward Rogers(Executive Officer, Director)Ali Diaz(Director)Steven Sherkanowski(Executive Officer, Director)Ruben Melendez(Director)

AliasWirealiaswire.comin

Aliaswire provides an integrated payments and accounts-receivable platform, offering everything from standard payment processing to PayFac-as-a-Service with underwriting, onboarding, reconciliation, reporting and compliance.

Enterprise SoftwareFintechSaaS

Co-investorsPartners for GrowthPartners for Growth (PFG)Bigfoot Capital

ArtLiftingartlifting.comin

ArtLifting represents and sells artwork by artists with disabilities, partnering with businesses to design inclusive corporate environments and provide licensing and gifting solutions.

E-commerceImpact & Social GoodMarketplaces

Liz Powers(CEO & Co-founder)

Chaos Searchchaossearch.ioin𝕏

ChaosSearch is a data platform that indexes and analyzes large-scale data using a novel compression-optimized format designed for cloud object storage.

AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingData & InfrastructureEnterprise Software

Co-investors.406 VenturesStripesGlasswing Ventures

Cibo Technologiescibotechnologies.comin𝕏

CIBO provides a software platform for designing, deploying, and measuring regenerative agriculture and conservation programs, including workflow automation, scientific modeling, impact reporting, and a network of advisors managing grower engagement.

AgTechAI & Machine LearningClimate TechSaaSCambridge, US

Bruno Basso(Co-Founder and Special Advisor)David Worn(Executive Officer, Director)Barry Martin(Executive Officer)Ryan Richt(Executive Officer)Dale Sorensen(Executive Officer)Sunand Menon(Executive Chairman & CEO)

Co-investorsFlagship PioneeringGeneration Investment Management

CLIPRclipr.aiin𝕏

CLIPr uses AI to review, transcribe, and index body-worn camera video and audio to automatically generate draft police reports.

AI & Machine LearningGovTechSaaS

Co-investorsTBD Angels

Cloudtruthcloudtruth.comin𝕏

CloudTruth (Sigma Config) is a configuration and secrets data automation platform that centralizes management of config parameters and secrets across DevOps toolchains like Terraform, Helm, and Kubernetes.

Cloud ComputingCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

Co-investorsGlasswing Ventures

Coherent PathinJun 2019

Movable Ink offers AI-driven personalization software, including its Studio and Da Vinci products, that automatically generates and curates content, send times, and frequency to personalize customer messages such as email at the moment of engagement.

AI & Machine LearningMarketing TechSaaSWaltham, US

Gregory Leibon(Executive Officer, Director)Ken MacAskill(Executive Officer)James Glover(Executive Officer, Director)

Co-investorsCeltic House Venture PartnersContour Venture PartnersEscalate Capital Partnersm]x[v CapitalMI VenturesRunway Venture Partners+4 more

EcoSmart Solutionecosmartsolution.comin𝕏

EcoSmart Solution is a green energy services provider that designs and delivers geothermal infrastructure and distributed energy resources for large-scale new residential and mixed-use construction communities.

CleantechEnergyPropTech

Evolve Wirelessevolvebroadband.com

Evolve Broadband is an internet service provider offering LTE wireless internet with monthly data plans for customers in hard-to-reach and rural markets.

Consumer

FarmTracefarmtrace.comin

FarmTrace offers a data platform for the animal farming industry that connects to on-farm systems and provides operational insights.

AgTechData & InfrastructureSaaS

Co-investorsCNBB Equity PartnersFulcrum Global CapitalSecha Capital

Four Growersfourgrowers.comin

Four Growers develops automated solutions for greenhouse crop management to support the agricultural technology sector.

Advanced ManufacturingAgTechHardwareRoboticsPittsburgh, US

Brandon Contino(Founder/CEO)inDan Chi(Founder/CTO)inJohn P. Quayle(Chief of Staff)

BoardChris Papouras(Director)Aldo Zini(Director)John Overbeck(Director)

Co-investorsAmritam HoldingsTaver CapitalXplorer CapitalY CombinatorOspraie Ag Science

Invaioinvaio.com

Co-investorsFlagship PioneeringKickstart Innovation

JumpCloudjumpcloud.comin𝕏

JumpCloud is an AI-powered unified IT management platform that provides identity, access, and device management for organizations managing both human users and non-human AI identities.

Cloud ComputingCybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareSaaSBoulder, US

Greg Keller(Chief Technology Officer, Co-founder)inRajat Bhargava(CEO)inLarry Middle(Executive Officer)

BoardWill Herman(Director)inBrad Feld(Director)in

Co-investorsGeneral AtlanticAtlassian VenturesBY Venture PartnersFoundryH.I.G. CapitalH.I.G. Growth Partners+12 more

Klearklearbusiness.com

Klear provides embedded working capital financing to businesses waiting on payments from corporate or government customers, underwriting financing against outstanding invoices.

FintechSaaS

Klikenkliken.comin

Kliken provides AI- and GPT-powered online advertising and marketing tools for small business owners, supporting channels like Google Product Listings, Google Performance Max, Google Ads, Facebook Marketplace, and Google My Business.

AdTechAI & Machine LearningMarketing Tech

Co-investorsFlorida Funders

LandTrustlandtrust.com

LandTrust is an online marketplace that connects people seeking outdoor recreation, primarily hunting, with private landowners offering paid access to their land.

ConsumerMarketplacesSports TechBozeman, US

Nicolas De Castro(Executive Officer, Director)Eric Olden(Director)

BoardGregg Williams(Director)Robert Schultz(Director)inPat LaPointe(Director)Colin Gardiner(Director)

Co-investorsReno Seed FundSerra Ventures

MagLev Aeromaglevaero.comin

Boston, US

Ian Randall(Executive Officer, Director)inIan M. Randall(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)

BoardRoderick Randall(Director)Carmichael Roberts(Director)inRod Randall(Director)inChristian Garcia(Director)in

Co-investorsBreakthrough Energy VenturesGrit Capital PartnersMaterial ImpactMoai Capital

Magnetic Mobilemagneticmobile.comin𝕏

Magnetic is a digital innovation agency that builds custom software, 3D asset pipelines, digital twins, product design, and AI solutions for enterprise clients.

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaS

Marxent Labs

Saint Petersburg, US

BRET BESECKER(Executive Officer, Director)BARRY BESECKER(Executive Officer, Director)BARRY J. BESECKER(Executive Officer, Director)

BoardEDWARD WOITESHEK(Director)JARED STASIK(Director)inJONATHAN GORDON(Director)

Co-investorsDetroit Venture Partners

More Templatesgola.io𝕏

Sells premium website templates for Framer and Webflow that let agencies, startups, and creators launch sites without coding by customizing text, images, and colors in the editor.

Creator EconomyDeveloper ToolsSaaS

Newmetrixnewmetrix.com

Co-investorsBantam GroupBuilding Ventures

OnePINonepin.com

OnePIN provides a digital experience platform for mobile network operators and consumer brands, combining customer engagement tools with a digital advertising platform.

AdTechMarketing TechSaaSWestborough, US

Kenneth Mabbs(Director)Feyzi Celik(Executive Officer, Director)Joseph L. Winn(Director)

BoardDavid Baum(Director)

Performance Drone Workspdw.aiin𝕏

PDW develops air power and drone systems for front-line military forces, focused on defense applications at the tactical edge.

Defense TechHardwareRoboticsHuntsville, US

Ryan Gury(Founder)in

Co-investorsBooz Allen VenturesCRESCENT COVE CAPITALLux CapitalRSE VenturesSQUADRA VENTURES

Psionicpsionic.ai

Hampton, US

Sean Kish(Executive Officer, Director)Robert Fleishauer(Executive Officer)Michael Gilbert(Executive Officer)Diego Pierrottet(Executive Officer)Sean McCormack(Executive Officer)Mark Christman(Executive Officer)

Co-investorsNew North VenturesNEW VISTA CAPITAL

PureCarspurecars.comin𝕏

PureCars provides a data platform and omnichannel advertising technology for automotive dealers, manufacturers, and agencies.

AdTechMarketing TechRetail Tech

Jeremy Anspach(Founder)in

Co-investorsDiversisFraser McCombs Capital

Qwickqwick.comin

Qwick operates a platform for hospitality businesses to post shifts, find and vet workers, and manage payroll and compliance.

B2B MarketplacesHR TechSaaS

Co-investorsFoundryKickstartAlbum VC

Resolute Gridresolutegrid.comJun 2026

Resolute Grid manufactures hardware and software for electricity transmission and distribution, aiming to address aging U.S. grid infrastructure and long transformer lead times.

CleantechEnergyHardwareRockwall, US

Clifford Marcus Owenby(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)John Erford(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)

BoardMegan Moreland(Director)Philip Carson(Director)

Reticarereticare.comMar 2015

Reticare develops patented optical filters (RetiNaut) that selectively reduce blue light (380–500 nm) and high-energy green light (500–590 nm) emitted by phone, tablet and computer screens to lessen eye strain.

Advanced ManufacturingConsumerHardwareHealthtechCambridge, US

Celia Sánchez-Ramos(Scientific Director)Roque Garcia(Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer of Issuer)Nilo Garcia(Chief Executive Officer and President of Issuer)

Senda Biosciencessendabiosciences.com
Six Minute Milesixminutemile.com

Six Minute Mile publishes reviews of running shoes and related running gear, such as daily trainers.

Media & EntertainmentSports Tech

Skyhookskyhook.ioin

Skyhook provides a developer-focused DevOps platform built on Kubernetes that simplifies infrastructure management without vendor lock-in.

Cloud ComputingDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSaaSTel Aviv-Yafo, IL

Nadav Erell(Founder)in

Co-investors91 VenturesY Combinator

Sworkitsworkit.comin

Sworkit is a digital wellbeing platform offering guided movement, musculoskeletal health programs, mindfulness, and lifestyle resources for individuals and organizations.

HealthtechHR TechSaaSWellness & FitnessBethesda, US

Co-investorsMaryland TEDCOTechstarsTEDCO

Syndicate Veteran-Led Tiberiustiberius.com

Tiberius develops defense weapon systems and munitions that improve through operational feedback and AI-driven analysis of live field data.

AI & Machine LearningDeep TechDefense TechLondon, GB

Andy Baynes(Founder)

Co-investorsIceNineMoonshots Capital

Talkmaptalkmap.comin𝕏

Talkmap provides conversation intelligence software that automatically analyzes customer conversations in real time to surface insights, monitor quality and team performance, and support compliance and strategic decisions.

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaS

Co-investorsBootstrapLabs

Thrive Agrifoodthriveagrifood.comin𝕏

THRIVE is a venture and innovation platform for the food and agriculture industries, running startup accelerator programs (from ideation to Series A and scale-up), industry challenges, and corporate innovation partnerships.

AgTechFoodTechImpact & Social Good

Co-investorsSaxovent

TriLuminain𝕏

Lumentum designs and manufactures optical and photonic technologies for AI, data centers, telecommunications, industrial manufacturing, and sensing applications.

Deep TechHardwareSemiconductorsSan Jose, US

DAVID J ABELL(SECRETARY/TREASURER)KIRK OTIS(CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER/PRESIDENT)

Co-investorsCottonwood Technology FundSun Mountain Capital

Trive Fantasythrivefantasy.com

Adam Weinstein(Founder)in

Co-investorsalphabet angelsAlpine MeridianBackwards CapitalBullpen CapitalNew York Venture Partners

True Anomalytrueanomaly.spacein𝕏

True Anomaly designs and builds hardware and software systems for space security and defense.

Defense TechHardwareSpace TechCentennial, US

Even Rogers(CEO and Co-Founder)inKyle Zakrzewski(Chief Engineer and Co-Founder)inThomas Nichols(Executive Officer, Director)Daniel Brunski(Director)

BoardJesse Michaels(Director)Austin Bishop(Director)

Co-investors645 VenturesAccelACME CapitalBlack FlagChampion Hill VenturesCortado Ventures+14 more

ViralGainsviralgains.comin𝕏Dec 2015

ViralGains is an advertising platform that collects zero-party consumer data by gathering real-time feedback within ads, using it to build more personalized ad experiences.

AdTechData & InfrastructureMarketing TechSaaSBoston, US

Dan Levin(President, COO, and Co-Founder)inKate Willett(Executive Officer, Director)Tod Loofbourrow(Chairman and CEO)Cindy Brown(CRO)Safaa Lafnoune(VP of Product)Brian Mulderrig(Chief Commercial Officer)

Co-investors500 GlobalBantam GroupLaunchCapitalMontage CapitalOrigin VenturesPallasite Ventures+4 more

Wealththrampwealthramp.com

Wealthramp is a referral service that matches consumers with vetted fee-only fiduciary financial advisors.

Co-investorsCityPark Investments

Wyebotwyebot.comin𝕏

Wyebot offers the Wireless Intelligence Platform, an AI-based, vendor-agnostic sensor and software that monitors, analyzes, and automatically identifies problems and solutions for Wi-Fi networks.

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareIoTSaaSMarlboro, US

Roger Sands(Executive Officer, Director)

BoardMatthew Rhodes-Kropf(Director)inDavid Baum(Director)inAnil Gupta(Director)Deepak Verma(Director)Satish Tadikonda(Director)

Co-investorsLaunchCapitalTamiami AngelTectonic VenturesWalnut Venture AssociatesInnospark VenturesLaunch Capital

XY Retailxyretail.comin𝕏

XY is a unified commerce platform for luxury retail brands, covering in-store operations, omnichannel fulfillment, clienteling, and a unified customer profile, built as a real-time execution layer on iOS.

E-commerceRetail TechSaaS

Co-investorsMonta Vista Capital

Zeno Powerzenopower.comin𝕏

Zeno develops nuclear batteries that convert heat from decaying radioisotopes into electricity for extended-duration applications in space and deep-sea environments where conventional power sources are inadequate.

Deep TechDefense TechEnergyHardwareSpace Tech

Tyler Bernstein(Founder & CEO)in

Co-investors7percent VenturesAIN VenturesBalerion Space VenturesBeyond Earth VenturesDCVC (Data Collective)Evolution VC Partners+9 more

Exits · 1

IPOs and acquisitions across the tracked portfolio

Ondas HoldingsNASDAQ: ONDS

Portfolio news

latest coverage across their companies

Frequently asked questions

How many investments has Stage 1 Ventures made?
Stage 1 Ventures has 48 tracked investments, including 1 dated in the last 24 months.
What stage does Stage 1 Ventures invest at?
Stage 1 Ventures invests at the Seed, Series A, Series B, Growth stages.
What sectors does Stage 1 Ventures focus on?
Stage 1 Ventures focuses on Data & Infrastructure, Deep Tech, SaaS, Sector Agnostic.
Where is Stage 1 Ventures located?
Stage 1 Ventures is headquartered in Coconut Grove, US.
Does Stage 1 Ventures lead rounds?
Yes, Stage 1 Ventures leads investment rounds.
Who does Stage 1 Ventures co-invest with?
Stage 1 Ventures most often shares deals with Bantam Group, Florida Funders, Foundry, among 104 tracked co-investors.

From the blog

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Stage 1 Ventures has recently covered government-backed industrial expansion in drone manufacturing, pharmaceutical collaboration in cell therapy, and private sector advances in military space reconnaissance capabilities. AI summary

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