VC Directory

Check: $1M-$100M+ (from $2B+ crypto funds — 5th fund raising in 2026)

The crypto conviction investor. Founded and leads a16z's crypto practice, which has deployed billions across five funds. Author of 'Read Write Own' (2024), arguing that blockchain enables a new era of internet ownership — the 'own' in 'read, write, own.' Just as the read-only web (Web 1.0) gave way to the read-write web (Web 2.0/social media), the next era is one where users can own their digital assets, identities, and communities through blockchain. Believes crypto goes through 'price-innovation cycles' — price increases attract attention and talent, which drives innovation, which creates real utility, which eventually drives the next price cycle. Has maintained conviction through multiple crypto winters, arguing that the technology's utility compounds regardless of price. Before crypto, Chris was one of the most influential thinkers in tech investing — his blog (cdixon.org) was arguably the most important startup blog of the 2010s, producing frameworks like 'the next big thing will start out looking like a toy' and 'come for the tool, stay for the network.' Believes crypto is entering its 'financial era' — where blockchain-based financial applications (stablecoins, DeFi, tokenized assets) prove real-world utility at scale.

Check: No verified personal check-size range is publicly attributed to Jay. His disclosed work includes a16z crypto leading Kairos's $2.5M seed round; that round size is company financing, not Jay's individual allocation authority.

Jay backs consumer and application-layer crypto products that make onchain systems useful to mainstream users. His recent work centers on financial applications as crypto's adoption wedge: wallets becoming trusted consumer-finance super apps, perpetual futures expanding into a global trading primitive, and prediction markets gaining institutional-grade interfaces. He also sees decentralized proof of personhood as reusable, user-controlled infrastructure for distinguishing humans from agents and bots.

Check: $500K-$3M (seed only)

The seed-stage specialist. Invests earliest and deepest at seed — First Round was one of the firms that pioneered institutional seed investing. Built First Round into a platform that punches well above its check size — extensive founder community (~1000 active founders), expert network (First Round Network), and operational support. First Round Review (their media arm) produces some of the best tactical startup content anywhere — deeply researched guides on hiring, product, management, and go-to-market. Believes the best seed investors win by helping, not just funding. Josh's personal background as a serial entrepreneur (Half.com, Infonautics) gives him deep empathy for founders. He's lived the founding journey and knows what early-stage companies actually need. First Round's community model is a key competitive advantage — founders help each other, creating a network effect that makes the fund more valuable with every new investment. Known for being one of the most founder-friendly VCs — fast to respond, honest about passing, and genuinely helpful when invested.

Check: YC's standard investment terms are program-level, not a Kirsty-specific check size. No current personal allocation or independent angel check range is public. Applicants should use YC's application process rather than pitch Kirsty as a current selecting partner.

Kirsty's public body of work is an operating and financial framework for early-stage companies, not a personal sector thesis. She emphasizes clean formation, founder alignment, simple standard documents, frequent cash monitoring, realistic expense forecasts, cap-table understanding and raising before runway becomes critical. Her role helped YC fund and support thousands of companies consistently at batch scale.

Check: $1M-$100M+ (from a16z's $5.2B AI fund, largest sector allocation in 2026)

Leads a16z's AI investments from the $5.2B AI allocation — the firm's largest sector bet ever. Anjney came to AI from an unusual path: he previously led a16z's crypto gaming investments, giving him deep understanding of platform transitions, virtual economies, and consumer behavior in digital worlds. His AI thesis is built on the belief that AI is a platform shift as significant as mobile or cloud — and that the biggest opportunities are at both the infrastructure layer (foundation models, training, inference) and the application layer (consumer AI, AI agents, vertical applications). Particularly bullish on consumer AI as a social phenomenon — Character.ai embodies this, where AI characters become companions and social interactions, not just tools. Believes open-weight models (Mistral, Meta's Llama) will create an ecosystem similar to open-source software, where the most innovative applications are built on open foundations. Views gaming as a leading indicator for AI adoption — games were the first consumer products to adopt AI-generated content, AI NPCs, and AI-powered user experiences.

Check: $500K-$5M (recently raised a $550M fund in Oct 2025, significantly larger than previous funds)

One of the most active and respected seed investors in NYC. Co-founded TechStars NYC (now Techstars NYC), deeply embedded in the New York startup ecosystem since its earliest days. Known for being highly accessible, fast to decide, and genuinely helpful post-investment. Just raised a $550M fund (Oct 2025) — a massive step up from previous funds, signaling BoxGroup's evolution from small seed fund to significant early-stage player. Not thesis-driven — David reacts to founders and ideas he finds compelling rather than fitting investments into a predefined framework. This flexibility has served him well — his portfolio spans fintech (Plaid), healthcare (Oscar, Ro), consumer (Harry's, Away), and more. The common thread isn't sector but founder quality and early product-market fit signals. David is deeply connected to the NYC startup ecosystem and has helped shape it over the past 15+ years. He's often one of the first calls founders make when starting a company in New York.

Check: $1M-$100M+ (from $2.5B+ American Dynamism fund)

Leads a16z's American Dynamism practice — a $2.5B+ fund (expanded from $600M in 2023) backing companies that support national interests. Believes the most important companies of the next decade will be built at the intersection of technology and national security. Patriotic tech thesis: the best founders don't just build for consumers, they build for the country. Katherine argues that Silicon Valley abandoned hard, important problems for consumer social apps and that the pendulum is swinging back. The name 'American Dynamism' is intentional — it's about restoring the dynamism that built America's infrastructure, defense, and industrial capacity. She sees a generational opportunity as government procurement modernizes and defense budgets prioritize technology over legacy systems. Has written extensively about how the best founders she meets are motivated by mission, not just money.

Check: $1M-$100M+ (leads a16z's $1.25B+ infrastructure fund)

Leads a16z's infrastructure practice and is one of Silicon Valley's most technically credible VCs, having built VMware NSX and pioneered software-defined networking. Invests 'from markets in' rather than 'from companies out' — he maps massive market opportunities first, then finds founders who can serve them. Believes AI is analogous to 1996 of the internet boom with years of growth still ahead. Sees the AI coding market alone as a potential $3 trillion opportunity. Vocal advocate for open source in AI — co-authored a piece in The Economist with Ion Stoica arguing open source is critical to AI's future. Deeply concerned about Chinese dominance in open-source AI models (claims ~80% of his portfolio companies use Chinese open-source models). Thinks AI value will ultimately accrue at the application layer more than the model layer, drawing parallels to how SaaS-era startups captured more value at the application layer than infrastructure. Believes AI is fundamentally changing SaaS pricing from per-seat to outcome-based models. Champions spatial intelligence as AI's next frontier (deeply involved with World Labs / Fei-Fei Li).

Check: $1M-$100M+ (multi-stage, also invests personally and through Thiel Capital)

The original contrarian VC. 'We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.' Seeks companies that can become category-defining monopolies in markets others ignore. First principles thinking is non-negotiable. The key question: 'What important truth do few people agree with you on?' Backs revolutionary technology, not incremental improvements. The Venn diagram of 'right' and 'different' is where he invests. Thiel's intellectual framework is deeply philosophical — draws from René Girard's mimetic theory (competition is imitation, and imitation destroys value), Leo Strauss, and libertarian economics. Founders Fund's motto: 'We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters' — a critique of Silicon Valley's focus on trivial consumer apps instead of transformative technology. Thiel distinguishes between 'definite optimism' (having a concrete plan to build a better future) and 'indefinite optimism' (vaguely hoping things get better). He champions the former. Created the Thiel Fellowship ($100K grants for young people to drop out of college and build companies) — alumni include Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum), Austin Russell (Luminar Technologies), and others.

Check: No Lucas-specific check range is public. A current OpenVC search profile lists Kosmos at $100K–$1M, while Kosmos's own live material confirms Seed/Pre-Seed as its co-building focus but publishes no check size. Treat $100K–$1M as third-party firm guidance only; confirm allocation, instrument, ownership and decision-maker directly with Lucas and the team.

Lucas looks for early, non-consensus crypto opportunities through an active-user and market-structure lens. He believes decentralized markets can democratize finance and that money increasingly follows user attention into consumer applications; the strongest products earn the right to embed financial rails after establishing loyalty or differentiated utility. His research also emphasizes liquidity regimes, onchain evidence, derivatives market structure, security and Kosmos's broader ability to bootstrap durable network effects through product/token design, governance, community and quantified mechanism design.

Focused on DeFi infrastructure and decentralized governance through QDAO DeFi, investing in projects that advance financial decentralization.

Investing in blockchain enterprise solutions through Bloxico, focused on bringing blockchain technology to traditional industries in Ireland and Europe.

Investing in crypto infrastructure and digital assets through Hash CIB, one of Russia/CIS's most established crypto financial firms.

Supporting blockchain innovation in Central Asia through BNB Chain's MVB program. Focused on growing the BNB Chain ecosystem in underserved markets.

Investing in crypto infrastructure and applications at Canonical Crypto. Focused on early-stage projects building foundational crypto technology.

Thesis-driven investing at the intersection of DeFi and trading infrastructure. Mechanism Capital focuses on DeFi protocols, derivatives, and novel financial primitives. Known for deep technical analysis and contrarian bets.

Investing in early-stage tech and blockchain startups in the Baltics through Tera Ventures, leveraging Estonia's leading digital governance expertise.

Investing in regional funds and startups through Al Waha Fund of Funds, supporting the Bahrain fintech and blockchain ecosystem as a gateway to the Gulf.

Investing in blockchain and digital assets across the MENA region at Cypher Capital. Focused on building Dubai as a global crypto hub.

Building the foundation of the digital asset ecosystem through DCG's portfolio of companies. DCG is the parent company of Grayscale, Genesis, CoinDesk (sold), and Foundry, touching nearly every aspect of the crypto industry.

Strategic investments from Crypto.com Capital, the investment arm of one of the world's largest crypto platforms. Focused on ecosystem expansion and strategic portfolio building.

Check: $1M-$100M+ (multi-stage, BVP has $3.6B+ under management)

The cloud computing investor. His annual 'State of the Cloud' report is the definitive industry reference for cloud/SaaS metrics. Bessemer's 'Cloud Atlas' benchmarking tool is used by thousands of SaaS companies. The firm publicly lists its 'Anti-Portfolio' — companies they passed on (including Apple, Google, Facebook, Intel) — as a reminder of humility. Data-driven, metrics-obsessed approach to SaaS investing. Has been investing in cloud for over two decades, since before 'cloud' was even a common term. Believes AI will fundamentally transform labor-intensive enterprise processes and that the next generation of cloud companies will be 'AI-native' rather than AI-augmented. BVP created the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index (EMCLOUD) tracking public cloud companies — a widely referenced industry benchmark. Byron sees vertical SaaS (purpose-built cloud for specific industries) as one of the largest remaining opportunities.

Pioneer in metaverse and spatial computing strategy. Focuses on the intersection of blockchain, virtual worlds, and immersive technology.

Check: No personal check-size range is published. The official profile's aggregate fund-raising figure and public financing announcements describe firm resources and transactions, not Chris's individual authority or a reliable minimum/maximum check.

Chris invests behind blockchains as a new computing and ownership primitive for the internet. His core thesis is that token-enabled networks can align builders, users, and owners; bootstrap network effects; replace extractive corporate platforms with open, composable economies; and eventually support both financial and non-financial applications. He treats the category as a decades-long infrastructure-to-applications transition rather than a short market cycle.

Leading crypto market making and trading operations at GSR Markets, with a strategic investment arm backing infrastructure and DeFi projects.

Crypto researcher and investor with deep expertise in on-chain data analysis. Known for detailed research on DeFi protocols and market microstructure.

Building Swiss-based blockchain infrastructure and investment vehicles at Helvetia Labs, focused on bridging traditional Swiss finance with crypto innovation.

Invests in foundational crypto infrastructure and protocols at the earliest stages. Archetype focuses on technical founders building at the frontier of crypto — L1s, L2s, ZK tech, and novel consensus mechanisms.

Investing in blockchain and Web3 startups in Italy through the Italian Angels for Growth network. Focused on bringing Italian innovation to the global crypto stage.

Investing in early-stage blockchain projects at Eden Block, with a focus on European crypto ecosystem development and infrastructure.

Investing in blockchain and digital finance in Sri Lanka, focused on leveraging blockchain for economic development and financial infrastructure modernization.

Leading digital asset investment and custody services at Bitcoin Suisse Ventures, focused on the Swiss and European crypto ecosystem.

Invests across the full web3 stack with a focus on infrastructure, DeFi, and gaming. Binance Labs serves as the venture capital and incubation arm of Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges globally.

Investing in early-stage crypto infrastructure and applications at Portal Ventures. Focused on backing technical founders building at the frontier of blockchain technology.

Investing in blockchain infrastructure and Web3 startups in East Africa, focused on the Tezos ecosystem and broader blockchain adoption in Kenya and the region.

Investing in blockchain and digital finance in Mongolia through Ard Financial Group, focused on bringing modern financial infrastructure to the Mongolian market.

Check: $500K (standard YC deal: $500K for ~7% equity via SAFE). Also invests via YC Continuity Fund at later stages.

Builder-designer-investor. 'Make something people want' is the entire thesis — inherited from Paul Graham's YC founding philosophy and now amplified by Garry's builder ethos. Believes we're in a golden age where a single person with AI can build what used to take a team of 20 — the '20x company' thesis. Previously co-founded Posterous, was a partner at YC, then founded Initialized Capital (early Coinbase, Instacart, Cruise, Flexport). Returned to lead YC in January 2023 after the Sam Altman / Geoff Ralston era. Strong emphasis on craft, design, and actually shipping. Has repositioned YC to be even more founder-friendly: increased deal size to $500K, expanded batch sizes, launched new programs. Believes YC's most important function is community — connecting founders with each other and with the alumni network. Politically active in San Francisco — ran for mayor-adjacent roles and advocates for pro-building, pro-business policies in SF.

Building crypto exchange and investment infrastructure in the Caucasus and CIS region through Free2ex, focused on regional blockchain adoption.

Pioneer of crypto exchange infrastructure in Latin America through Buda.com. Now investing in blockchain projects across the LATAM region.

Check: $1M-$100M+ (multi-stage, GC manages $25B+)

'Responsible innovation' thesis: technology should solve real problems for real people, not create consumer distractions. Strong health and enterprise focus. Author of 'Unscaled' — argues that technology is unscaling the economy, allowing small, nimble companies to compete with large incumbents by renting scale (cloud, AI, platforms) rather than building it. Recently evolved GC into a 'global transformation company' — not just investing but also building internal ventures, acquiring companies, and providing 'transformation services' to portfolio companies and external partners. This is a controversial evolution — GC is now part VC, part PE, part consulting firm. Hemant believes the traditional VC model is outdated and that the next great investment firm needs to do more than write checks. Backs companies that endure and compound over decades. Deep conviction that AI will transform healthcare, reducing costs 10x while improving outcomes. Views technology as a tool for social good, not just wealth creation.

Building blockchain-based payment and loyalty solutions through ARI10, focused on bridging traditional retail with cryptocurrency.

Investing in privacy and security-focused blockchain projects through the Tresorit Web3 Fund, leveraging deep encryption expertise.

Investing in Web3 and blockchain projects in the Australian and APAC startup ecosystem through AirTree Ventures, one of Australia's top VC firms.

Leading blockchain investments at OKX Ventures, the investment arm of one of the world's largest crypto exchanges. Focuses on projects that expand the OKX ecosystem.

Supporting blockchain and digital innovation in Myanmar through Phandeeyar, focused on using technology for social impact in a challenging environment.

Investing in blockchain infrastructure and tokens at Polychain Capital, one of the most prominent crypto-native funds.

Building the decentralized future on Ethereum. ConsenSys is both a software company and a venture studio, creating foundational Ethereum infrastructure including MetaMask, Infura, and Linea.

Building crypto exchange and investment infrastructure in Malaysia through MX Global, focused on regulated digital asset trading and investment in Southeast Asia.

Investing in early-stage tech and blockchain startups in Chile and Latin America through Platanus Ventures, bringing Silicon Valley VC practices to LATAM.

Building the Hedera ecosystem in the MENA region through HBAR Foundation grants and investments. Focused on enterprise blockchain adoption in the Arab world.

Investing in early-stage tech and blockchain startups across MENA at Shorooq Partners. Focused on digital infrastructure and fintech for the Arab world.

Investing in blockchain and digital payment infrastructure in the Nordics. Brings deep experience from building crypto payment rails in Europe.

Investing in Web3 and blockchain projects in the Nordics and broader European ecosystem. Bridges traditional Nordic tech investing with crypto opportunities.

Investing in blockchain and digital finance for emerging markets development at Mercy Corps Ventures. Focused on crypto solutions for financial inclusion and humanitarian applications.

Investing in the Solana ecosystem at Colosseum, the organization behind Solana hackathons. Focused on discovering and nurturing early-stage Solana builders.

Crypto media veteran turned investor and advisor. Deep understanding of crypto narratives, community building, and go-to-market strategies.

Investing in impact-driven blockchain and Web3 projects at Norrsken Impact Fund, focused on using technology to solve global challenges.

Investing in blockchain projects across the Pacific Islands and Oceania region, focused on financial inclusion and digital infrastructure for island nations.

Investing in DeFi and crypto infrastructure at Framework Ventures. Focuses on protocols that expand the design space of decentralized finance.

Focuses on consumer crypto applications and protocols that drive mass adoption. Believes the next wave of crypto will be driven by consumer-facing products, not infrastructure. Alliance accelerates crypto startups through intensive mentorship programs.