Very Serious Ventures
Venture capitalActively deployingLynnwood · Pre-Seed–Series A · 3 people tracked
Investment thesis
Very Serious Ventures invests in people it admires who are building products the firm wants to see in the world. The approach emphasizes having fun, helping people, and supporting founders as individuals — for example by nominating them for programs like Leaders in Tech and Grove. Operating largely at the early stage, the partners have backed over 250 startups as angels across a wide range of sectors including health, climate, fintech, education, and crypto. A distinctive feature is that its LPs donate all returns to charity, reflecting a mission-driven, founder-friendly philosophy.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.
Team · 3 people
from the firm's websiteWhat they invest in
from 30 of 89 portfolio companiesEnterprise Software ×9AI & Machine Learning ×8SaaS ×7Crypto & Web3 ×6Hardware ×4Healthtech ×4Wellness & Fitness ×4Advanced Manufacturing ×3
HQs:United States×22Canada×1
Investments · 89 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathAlga Biosciences develops feed additives that reduce methane emissions from cattle — cutting cow burps to combat climate change.
Advanced ManufacturingAgTechBiotechClimate TechSan Francisco, US
Alex Brown(Co-founder and CEO)Daria Balatsky(Founder)inCaroline McKeon(Founder)in
Calm is a mental health app offering guided meditations, sleep stories, soundscapes, and stress-relief tools designed to help users manage anxiety, improve sleep, and build healthy habits for overall wellness.
HealthtechMental HealthWellness & Fitness
David Ko(CEO)
ClassDojo is a global community platform connecting over 50 million teachers and families to share learning moments through photos, videos, and messages.
EdTechSaaSSocialSan Francisco, US
Eventbrite operates an online platform for discovering, creating, and selling tickets to events such as music, nightlife, performing and visual arts, food and drink, and business gatherings across major U.S. cities.
ConsumerMarketplacesMedia & Entertainment
Foster is a community platform that facilitates structured writing groups called Writing Circles, combining guided meditation and somatic practices with collaborative writing sessions to help writers achieve flow and authentic self-expression.
ConsumerCreator EconomySocialWellness & FitnessNew York City, US
Dan Hunt(Founder)
Gusto provides payroll processing, employee benefits administration, and HR management tools to businesses, offering integrated software alongside support services for these functions.
Enterprise SoftwareHR TechSan Francisco, US
Josh Reeves(Founder/CEO)inEdward Kim(Founder/Empowering Gusto's Engineering Team)inTomer London(Founder/; Empowering Gusto's Product and Design Teams)in
Keep Company provides a platform and coaching programs for organizations to facilitate meaningful employee connections through mentoring, peer pods, and cohort-based coaching.
Future of WorkHR TechSaaSWellness & FitnessDover, US
Adrienne Prentice(Co-founder & CEO)Claudia Naim-Burt(Co-founder & President)
Launchcaster is a Web3 project discovery and curation platform that aggregates trending and newly launched crypto, NFT, and blockchain-based projects.
ConsumerCrypto & Web3Sector AgnosticAustin, US
Jayme Hoffman(Founder & CEO)in
Notebook Labs provides zero-knowledge identity verification for Web3, allowing users to prove personhood and aggregate credentials across wallets while maintaining anonymity.
Crypto & Web3Enterprise SoftwareSan Francisco, US
Nathaniel Masfen-Yan(Founder)inSolal Afota(Founder)inDhruv Mangtani(Founder)in
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Very Serious Ventures invest at?
- Very Serious Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
- What sectors does Very Serious Ventures focus on?
- Very Serious Ventures focuses on Sector Agnostic.
- Where is Very Serious Ventures located?
- Very Serious Ventures is headquartered in Lynnwood, US.
- Does Very Serious Ventures lead rounds?
- Very Serious Ventures typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.
Similar investors
AirTree Ventures runs the Pioneers community, a program supporting women and gender-diverse operators, founders and aspiring founders working in high-growth startups, offering mentorship, events and access to the AirTree team.
B Capital is a venture and growth investment firm that backs technology companies, including a dedicated Resilience Tech practice focused on energy, industrial and infrastructure systems.
Balderton Capital's portfolio page listing companies it has backed across stages, sectors, and geographies, primarily in Europe.
Clear Ventures is an early-stage venture firm that backs founding teams pursuing new markets, typically investing as the first institutional investor.
DCVC (Data Collective) is a venture capital firm that backs founders building companies which apply technology to major challenges across areas such as energy, biotech, agriculture, and machine learning.







