Vela Partners
Venture capitalSan Francisco · Pre-Seed–Growth · 1 people tracked
Also known as Vela Partners AI
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.
Team · 1 people
from public directories
What they invest in
from 44 of 50 portfolio companiesAI & Machine Learning ×33SaaS ×19Enterprise Software ×13Marketing Tech ×7Developer Tools ×6Cybersecurity ×5Data & Infrastructure ×5E-commerce ×4
HQs:United States×20Türkiye×2Germany×1United Kingdom×1Japan×1South Korea×1
Who they back
founder profiles across 26 portfolio companiesFounding team size:solo founder×132 founders×73 founders×44+ founders×2
Where their founders studiedfrom 12 founders with education data
Boğaziçi University ×3Carnegie Mellon University ×2Stanford University Graduate School of Business ×2
Where their founders worked beforefrom 13 founders with career history
DeepMind ×3
Accelerator rootsportfolio companies that came through a program
Investments · 50 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2026 · 12025 · 12024 · 22021 · 12019 · 12017 · 17 dated
Bito offers AI Architect, a tool that builds a knowledge graph from a company's code, commits, issues, and docs to provide system context for coding agents across technical design, code generation, and pull request reviews.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsEnterprise Software
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsNextView VenturesNGP Capital2.12 AngelsEniac VenturesParade VenturesWestern Technology Investment
Brox builds 1:1 behavioral "digital twins" of real people from recruited panels or a client's own customers, and lets businesses query these twins to predict human decisions and test ideas without traditional market research.
AI & Machine LearningMarketing TechSaaS
Durgé Seerden(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsFlorida FundersScribble VenturesWonder VenturesFirestreak VenturesIncubate US
Lightup provides enterprise data observability software that monitors and validates production data pipelines using AI-powered anomaly detection.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise Software
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAndreessen HorowitzIncubate FundS28 CapitalShasta VenturesIncubate USGTMfund
Akool is a generative AI platform for creating and editing video and image content, offering tools such as AI avatars, face swap, video translation, image generation, and background replacement.
AI & Machine LearningMarketing TechSaaSPalo Alto, US
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsCitta CapitalIncubate US
A platform that converts text into mobile apps, websites, tools, and products using code generation and integrations including GPT-5 and 40+ third-party services.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsSaaS
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsBessemer Venture PartnersFootworkUncork CapitalM13
Arena is a real-time engagement platform that enables organizations to create immersive interactive experiences, engage audiences through live updates, and personalize customer interactions across news, gaming, and ecommerce industries.
Marketing TechMedia & EntertainmentRetail TechSaaSSan Francisco, US
Paulo Martins(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsCRV (Charles River Ventures)Incubate USLightspeed Venture PartnersMu VenturesTechstarsAndreessen Horowitz+2 more
Auxia builds AI marketing agents and a real-time decisioning platform that automate campaign workflows and personalize customer journeys, integrating with tools like Braze and Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
AI & Machine LearningMarketing TechSaaSPalo Alto, US
Sandeep Menon(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Ravi Desu(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Asim Krishna Prasad(Founder)Cole Stuart(Founder)Luv Misra(Founder)
BoardIndranil Guha(Director)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsIncubate USMUFG Innovation PartnersStage 2 Capital
Axiom Cloud develops software solutions for cooling systems to improve their economic, environmental, and operational sustainability.
AI & Machine LearningCleantechClimate TechEnterprise SoftwareIoTSaaSSan Jose, US
AMRIT ROBBINS(Executive Officer, Director)inNIKHIL SARALKAR(Director)in
BoardERNST SACK(Director)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsBlue Bear Capital PartnersBrighter CapitalFrontier Venture CapitalLeadout CapitalLorimer VenturesMomenta Ventures+2 more
Base Operations provides standardized, location-level threat intelligence and risk analytics for corporate security teams, offering 0-100 risk scores, mapped incident data, and forecasting across thousands of cities worldwide.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise Software
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsGlasswing VenturesGood Growth CapitalGrotech VenturesInner Loop CapitalMagma PartnersMindset Venture+2 more
Bear Robotics builds autonomous mobile robots for hospitality and logistics, including restaurant service robots (Servi) that deliver food and bus tables and warehouse AMRs (CARTI) for point-to-point transport and line-side replenishment.
AI & Machine LearningHardwareLogistics & Supply ChainRoboticsRedwood City, US
Jungwoo Ha(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)John Ha(CEO)Fangwei Li(Executive Officer, Promoter)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsCleveland AvenueKT investment Inc.Lotte VenturesSoftBank Group
BlueQubit provides a cloud platform and SDK for running large-scale quantum circuit simulations on managed GPU-based simulators, along with quantum machine learning algorithms.
Cloud ComputingDeep TechQuantum ComputingLos Angeles, US
Hayk Tepanyan(Director)Hrant Gharibyan(Executive Officer, Director)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsChaac VenturesCreative Destruction Lab (CDL)Financial Venture StudioFormula VCGranatus VenturesNyca+4 more
Cartken builds autonomous mobile robots that automate the movement of goods across manufacturing sites, warehouses, distribution centers, pharma/medical/R&D centers, and corporate campuses, navigating both indoors and outdoors.
AI & Machine LearningLogistics & Supply ChainRoboticsOakland, US
Jake Stelman(Founder)Jonas Witt(Founder)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsIncubate US468 Capital
Cerby provides an identity security platform that extends password management, SSO, MFA, user provisioning/deprovisioning, and privileged access management to disconnected applications that lack SAML, OIDC, or SCIM support.
CybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
Belsasar Lepe(Founder & CEO)inVidal(Co-Founder & CTO)inErnie Tkac(Chief Revenue Officer)inMatt McCawley(VP of Customer Experience, Business Development & Partnerships)inMiles Lavin(Chief Financial and Operating Officer)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAV8 VenturesBowery CapitalCarnrite VenturesCategory VenturesCOREangelsIncubate US+7 more
CloudNatix provides AI infrastructure as a service, offering GPU compute across multiple cloud providers bundled with a software platform for training, fine-tuning, and running inference on open LLMs on cloud, edge, or on-prem.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingDeveloper Tools
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsCota CapitalDnx VenturesIncubate US468 Capital
Copper is a CRM platform designed to prioritize relationship management and collaboration, integrating natively with Google Workspace for seamless workflow.
Enterprise SoftwareSaaS
Steve Holm(CEO)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsNorwest Venture PartnersStorm VenturesBloomberg Beta
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Thunk.ai builds AI systems focused on reliability for enterprise workflows, including document processing and IT service management.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSeattle, US
Meena Nagarajan(Founder)Tony Fader(Founder)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsInnovation Global Capital
Firefly operates a network of digital advertising screens on vehicles including car top displays and branded wraps on taxis and rideshare vehicles, delivering geo-targeted and contextually relevant messages to urban audiences across 60,000+ screens in the U.S. and 7 countries globally.
AdTechMarketing TechMarketplacesMedia & EntertainmentMobility & Transportation
Kaan Gunay(Founder)inOnur KardeşlerSteve Cymerman
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsNFX500 Emerging Europe500 GlobalCaruso VenturesChesterfield FundMaC Venture Capital+8 more
Golden builds a self-constructing knowledge graph that combines artificial and human intelligence to automatically map and reconcile human knowledge from millions of disparate sources.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareSan Francisco, US
Jude Gomila(Founder)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsFounders FundGigafundSV Angela16z cryptoAndreessen HorowitzDCVC (Data Collective)+3 more
Goooods is a B2B wholesale marketplace connecting retailers and buyers with over 3,000 domestic and international brands across categories like food, beauty, household goods, fashion, and interior products.
B2B MarketplacesE-commerceRetail TechTokyo, JP
Louis Nonouchi(Founder)inKeisuke Kanno(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAngel Bridge Co.,Ltd.Incubate USZ Venture Capital
Hiverge builds an AI discovery engine that uses multiple parallel agents to automatically write and optimise algorithms for critical optimisation problems, from speeding up AI model training to solving combinatorial optimisation tasks.
AI & Machine LearningDeep TechDeveloper ToolsCambridge, GB
Alhussein Fawzi(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAlpha Intelligence CapitalFlying Fish VenturesAhren Innovation Capital
Huckleberry offers a baby tracker app and sleep support that combines pediatric sleep experts with AI to build custom sleep plans for families.
AI & Machine LearningConsumerDigital Health
Seng Oon Toh(Founder)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsCity LightSpero VenturesTamarisc VenturesThe Fund
Jobox provides a marketplace platform that connects skilled home service professionals with customer demand through retailers, franchises, and small businesses across the US.
B2B MarketplacesFintechFuture of WorkSaaSSan Francisco, US
Moshe Levi(Director)Shay Bloch(Executive Officer, Director)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAcequia Capital (AceCap)Coelius CapitalResolute Ventures
Kuika is an AI-native platform for building business applications and automating internal operations such as leave management, onboarding, approvals, and purchasing workflows.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSBellevue, US
Sureyya Ciliv(Founder)inSureyya M. Ciliv(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardMurat Ihlamur(Director)Ceyhun Araz(Director)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Kunduz provides personalized tutoring to students through a combination of vetted tutors and AI, available 24/7.
AI & Machine LearningEdTechMarketplacesIstanbul, TR
Basar Basaran(Founder)inBaris Bilgic(Founder)inMelih Sener(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsDorm RoomStartupFonY CombinatorZeno Ventures
LeakSignal provides data governance and protection solutions for securing sensitive data in motion, including classification, policy enforcement, and compliance monitoring across AI applications, APIs, and endpoints.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityData & Infrastructure
BoardKunal Anand(Chief Innovation Officer (at F5); formerly co-founder of Prevoty)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsCyber Mentor FundTFX CapitalShasta Ventures
LevelPlane builds an AI system (EIM) that reads 2D engineering drawings to extract dimensions, features, and design intent, then produces should-cost estimates, supplier matches, and RFQ workflows for manufacturing sourcing teams.
Advanced ManufacturingAI & Machine LearningSales Tech
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsIncubate US
Limitless creates AI tools designed to augment human intelligence and overcome cognitive limitations by improving memory and focus.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareFuture of WorkHardware
Dan Siroker(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAndreessen HorowitzFirst Round CapitalDaft CapitalDash VCEvolution VC PartnersIncubate US+7 more
Lovie provides AI agents that automate company launch operations — incorporation, EIN registration, registered agent setup, and compliance — accessible through a conversation or a tool call from the founder's IDE.
AI & Machine LearningLegalTechSaaS
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsIncubate USStreamlined Ventures
Meditopia is a mental health and meditation platform offering guided content to support users' emotional wellbeing, and partners with organizations such as insurers to provide the service to their members.
Digital HealthMental HealthWellness & Fitness
Berk Yilmaz(Founder)inFatih Mustafa Çelebi(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsHighland EuropeScaleX VenturesStartersHub
Mirelo develops generative AI models for audio processing in video production, serving both individual creators and large-scale production studios.
AI & Machine LearningMedia & EntertainmentBerlin, DE
Florian Wenzel(Founder)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAndreessen HorowitzIndex Ventures
Nominal provides AI agents that connect to a company's existing ERP and accounting systems to run accounting workflows such as month-end close, multi-entity financial consolidation, and intercompany processes.
AI & Machine LearningFintechSaaS
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsBling CapitalHyperwise VenturesIncubate USNext47Founders FundSequoia Capital
OwnID offers a fraud prevention and identity trust platform combining face liveness detection, a biometric fraud bureau of 170M+ identities, and passwordless multi-factor authentication.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecuritySaaS
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsCervinIncubate USGTMfund
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Phaidra develops an AI control platform that uses reinforcement learning to optimize energy efficiency and operational performance in data centers and AI factories.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingDeep TechEnergySeattle, US
Jim Gao(Chief Executive Officer)inVeda Panneershelvam(Chief Technology Officer)inKatie Hoffman(President and Chief Operating Officer)inVedavyas Panneershelvam(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsCollaborative FundCool Climate CollectiveEast Valley VenturesFlying Fish VenturesIncubate USIndex Ventures+8 more
Polymer is a no-code business intelligence and reporting platform that connects to e-commerce data sources like Shopify and Amazon to generate automated sales reports, dashboards, and AI-driven insights.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureE-commerceMarketing TechSaaSNew York City, US
Ashish Gupta(Founder)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsEntrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA)Flucas VenturesIncubate USSierra VenturesSommet ABOceans Ventures
Prism AI builds an AI platform for biomarker discovery and drug development from multi-omics clinical trial data.
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsEvolution VC PartnersUtah Innovation Fund
Promise is an entertainment studio that uses generative AI to help filmmakers and artists create films, series, and storytelling content.
AI & Machine LearningCreator EconomyMedia & Entertainment
George Strompolos(Co-Founder & CEO)inJamie Byrne(Co-Founder, President & COO)Dave Clark(Co-Founder & CCO)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAndreessen HorowitzFirst Round CapitalKapor CapitalY Combinator
Promoted.ai provides ranking and search infrastructure for online marketplaces and e-commerce platforms, using machine learning to optimize relevance across search results, ads, and feed content.
AI & Machine LearningE-commerceEnterprise SoftwareMarketplacesSeattle, US
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsImmeasurableInterlace VenturesY CombinatorMAGIC Fund
ProtoPie is a code-free interaction prototyping tool for design teams, offering collaboration features, developer handoff with automated interaction specs, and integrations with hardware, APIs, and multiple devices.
AI & Machine LearningCreator EconomyDeveloper ToolsMobility & TransportationSaaSSeoul, KR
Tony S. Kim(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAtinum Investment Co. Ltd.LB InvestmentBSK InvestmentIndustrial Bank of Korea
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsVermilion Cliffs VenturesEssence Venture Capital
ReFiBuy provides a platform for optimizing product data and visibility across AI-driven shopping environments and agents.
AI & Machine LearningE-commerceEnterprise SoftwareMarketing TechRaleigh, US
M. Scot Wingo(Executive Officer, Director)Derek Lee Conlin(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardStefan Sterns(Director)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsG20 VenturesIncubate USKnoll VenturesCommerce VenturesIncubate FundNewRoad Capital Partners, LLC+2 more
Rigor offers a security product used to detect findings that customers, including banks, fintech companies, and critical infrastructure operators, describe as difficult or impossible to identify with other tools.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityFintechSanta Clara, US
Navneet Y(Founder)Raghavan Kollivakkam(Founder)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsPrana Tech VenturesPruVen Capital PartnersUbiquity Ventures
Simular builds AI agents that automate repetitive computer work for knowledge workers using a neuro-symbolic approach combining large language models with symbolic code.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSan Carlos, US
AlanLi Ang(Executive Officer)Ang Li(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAngel Collective Opportunity FundFelicis VenturesFlying Fish VenturesSamsung NextStartXBasis Set Ventures+2 more
Vartana offers a B2B financing and checkout platform for sales teams selling technology and equipment, with automated credit approvals, flexible payment terms, e-signatures, and payment collection.
FintechSaaSSales Tech
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsActivant CapitalAudaciousRecall Capital
Seattle, US
Simon Skaria(Founder)
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsIncubate USTrilogy Equity Partners
VOLT AI is a video security platform that uses AI to analyze feeds from an organization's existing cameras to detect weapons such as guns and knives and identify other threats, alerting security teams and first responders within seconds.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityEdTechGovTechSaaSWashington, US
Egor O(Co-founder)Dmitry Sokolowski(Co-founder)inEgor Olteanu(Co-founder)Shannon(Marketing Leader)inJulia(Finance Leader)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsAbstract VenturesIncubate USFuel CapitalFuel Ventures
Interviewing.io provides technical interview preparation services, helping candidates practice coding, system design, machine learning, and behavioral interviews with real interviewers from top tech companies.
EdTechSaaS
Aline Lerner(Founder)in
PartnerYigit Ihlamur· solo GP
Co-investorsChapter OneUlu VenturesWestbound Equity PartnersM13TenOneTen Ventures
Exits · 1
IPOs and acquisitions across the tracked portfolioPromoted.aiacq. by Dropbox
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companiesVolt · www2.fundsforngos.org · Aug 19, 2026
BlueQubit · interestingengineering.com · Jul 26, 2026
Arena · blazersedge.com · Jul 17, 2026
Copper · funderintel.com · Jul 16, 2026
Anything · startupfortune.com · Jul 16, 2026
Cerby · infotechlead.com · Jul 2, 2026
Bito · kingscrowd.com · Jul 2, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has Vela Partners made?
- Vela Partners has 50 tracked investments, 2 of which have exited via acquisition or IPO, including 3 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 Incubate US, Andreessen Horowitz, Flying Fish Ventures, among 139 tracked co-investors.
From the blog
visit blog ↗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
Images
Co-investors · 5
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.
Lightspeed is a global venture capital firm that has spent over two decades backing innovative companies as an early and first investor.
Momenta Ventures is an industrial technology investor and advisory firm backing companies at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds, focused on Physical AI, IIoT, and edge intelligence across energy, manufacturing, supply chain, and smart spaces.
Operator Collective is a venture firm built around a Collective Venture Model, backed by 200+ operator limited partners who are current tech executives and provide portfolio companies with access to enterprise decision-makers, expertise, and networks.
Powerhouse Ventures is a venture firm that backs seed-stage founders building companies across energy, infrastructure, and AI, focused on scaling market-ready technologies to advance energy abundance.
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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