/Investor DB

Vela Partners

Venture capital

San Francisco · Pre-Seed–Growth · 2 people tracked

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Investment thesis

Vela Partners is an AI-native, quant-driven venture firm focused on backing seed-stage AI founders with speed and precision. It sizes checks ($100K-$500K) based on the estimated probability of outlier success, aiming to soft commit within 2-7 days and make initial decisions in minutes. Beyond capital, the firm provides direct introductions to tier-1 VCs, banks, tech giants, and manufacturing and energy firms to help portfolio companies find customers and follow-on funding. It also offers access to frontier AI research expertise through Vela Research and the University of Oxford network, supporting founders in publishing research and hiring top talent.

Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.

Stage
Pre-Seed–Growth
Check
$100K – $500K
HQ
San Francisco, California, US
Leads rounds
Follows
Instruments
Equity
Founded
2017
Last 12 months
2 investments
Tracked investments
178
Unicorns
2
Acquisitions
4

Team · 2 people

from curated & public directories

What they invest in

from 172 of 178 portfolio companies

AI & Machine Learning ×157Enterprise Software ×128SaaS ×70Data & Infrastructure ×48Developer Tools ×46Fintech ×22Cybersecurity ×18Deep Tech ×16

HQs:United States×125United Kingdom×4Sweden×2Türkiye×2Germany×1France×1

Who they back

founder profiles across 144 portfolio companies
30%
solo founders
43 of 144 mapped founding teams
41%
repeat founders
of 246 founders with career history
~1 yr
old at investment
median across 9 dated deals

Founding team size:solo founder×432 founders×723 founders×234+ founders×6

Where their founders studiedfrom 242 founders with education data

Stanford University ×14University of California, Berkeley ×12Massachusetts Institute of Technology ×8Georgia Institute of Technology ×7University of Michigan ×7University of Maryland ×6University of Waterloo ×6University of Cambridge ×5

What their founders studiedfrom 214 founders with field-of-study data

Computer Science ×124Engineering ×60Business & Management ×17Mathematics & Statistics ×17Economics ×15Physics ×7Finance & Accounting ×6Design & Architecture ×4

Where their founders worked beforefrom 246 founders with career history

Google ×29Amazon ×22Microsoft ×14Apple ×10Meta ×8IBM ×4McKinsey & Company ×4NVIDIA ×4

Accelerator rootsportfolio companies that came through a program

Y Combinator ×111Entrepreneur First ×2Techstars ×2

23 founders hold a PhD · 14 hold an MBA (of 240 with degree data)

Investments · 178 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

By year:2026 · 22025 · 12024 · 22022 · 12021 · 42019 · 12017 · 112 dated

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Executorexecutor.sh𝕏

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AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSan Francisco, US

Rhys Sullivan(Founder)in

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AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareSan Francisco, US

Kion Fallah(Founder / CEO)inSilen Naihin(Founder)in

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Exits · 4

4 acquisitions · showing 1

Promoted.aiacq. by Dropbox

Portfolio news

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Frequently asked questions

How many investments has Vela Partners made?
Vela Partners has 178 tracked investments, 4 of which have exited, including 4 dated in the last 24 months.
What stage does Vela Partners invest at?
Vela Partners invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth stages.
What is Vela Partners's typical check size?
Vela Partners typically writes checks of $100K – $500K.
What sectors does Vela Partners focus on?
Vela Partners focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Sector Agnostic.
Where is Vela Partners located?
Vela Partners is headquartered in San Francisco, US.
Does Vela Partners lead rounds?
Vela Partners typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.
Who does Vela Partners co-invest with?
Vela Partners most often shares deals with Y Combinator, Incubate US, Transpose Platform Management, among 188 tracked co-investors.

From the blog

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Recent posts introduce Vela Coach, the firm's AI coaching tool for founders, covering pitch prep, sales, hiring, and leadership use cases, plus a quant-VC framework arguing contrarian-versus-consensus investing should be decided by expected-value math. AI summary

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Co-investors · 5

Ulu Ventures

Ulu Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on finding and funding early-stage founder teams, emphasizing diversity and data-driven investment decisions.

$2M
Lightspeed Venture Partners

Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm that backs founders from Seed through Series F and beyond, emphasizing deep, immersive partnerships with the companies it invests in.

Both backed · 2
$1.7M – $87M
Momenta Ventures

Momenta is an industrial-focused venture capital firm that invests in and advises companies advancing industrial technology, including industrial AI, OT cybersecurity, and supply chain visibility.

Powerhouse

Powerhouse Ventures is a seed-stage venture firm backing startups building software across energy, mobility, and industry, part of a broader Powerhouse platform that began in 2013 as a clean energy incubator.

Both backed · 1
$150K – $2M
Operator Collective

Operator Collective is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage B2B software and enterprise founders, backed by a community of operators and executives who advise and support portfolio companies.

$500K – $1.5M

Firms observed investing alongside Vela Partners, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Vela Partners's recorded portfolio.

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