Allison Pickens Ventures, formerly The New Normal Fund

ActiveVenture Capital

Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

About

Allison Pickens Ventures, formerly The New Normal Fund, focuses on investing in AI startups, leveraging experience in B2B SaaS to support founders in scaling their businesses.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Sep 1, 2025	Waldo	$10.0M Series A	—	50 Partners, AI4ALL, Alt Capital, Boldstart Ventures, Footwork, Hidden Capital, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pioneer Fund, Tectonic Capital, Ten Eleven Ventures, Y Combinator, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Ben Porterfield, Christian Reber, Justin Mateen, Liu Jiang, Nigel Wray, Scott Belsky, Sean Rad
Apr 1, 2025	Glimpse	$10.0M Series A	—	8VC, Alumni Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Bow Capital, Colle Capital, ff Venture Capital, Madrona Ventures, Menlo Ventures, N49P Ventures, Origin Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Sierra Ventures, Techstars, Bradford Cross
Dec 1, 2024	Fastrak AI	$3.0M Seed	—	Amity Ventures, Bain Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, DST Global, Expa, Lobby Capital, Jeff Immelt, Richard Jhang, Brandon Deer, George Burke, Jake Zeller, Jonathan Swanson, Rob Bernshteyn
Sep 1, 2024	Cercli	$4.0M Seed	—	Afore Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Elevate Ventures, Foundation Capital, High Alpha, Madrona Ventures, Maven Ventures, Vanessa Larco, Picus Capital, Spark Capital, TM3 Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Y Combinator, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Amir Farha, Francesco Simoneschi, Karim Atiyeh, Marc Benioff, Scott Belsky, Tim Seears, Tom Blomfield, Tony Jamous
Mar 1, 2024	Unstructured Technologies	$40.0M Series B	—	Amplify Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Bow Capital, Cedar Capital Group, CRV, FINTOP Capital, Insight Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Lux Capital, Madrona Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Glenn Solomon, Redpoint Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Wing Venture Capital, Workday Ventures, Alberto Cribiore, Barr Moses, Gokul Rajaram, Iqram Magdon-Ismail, Jeff Hammerbacher, Karim Atiyeh, Neha Narkhede, Sahin Boydas
Mar 1, 2024	PipeDreams	$26.0M Seed	—	2xN, AfterWork Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Avalanche VC, Bond, Canvas Ventures, Conviction Partners, Scott Hartley, Flexcap, Flucas Ventures, Founders Fund, IDG Ventures, Incisive Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Modern Venture Partners, Paradigm, Pareto Holdings, Pear VC, Alexander Rosen, Social Capital, Stellar Capital, Unpopular Ventures, bill weathersby, Bradley Horowitz, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Elad Gil, Frederic Kerrest, George Godula, Jeremy Stoppelman, John Collison, Julian Shapiro, Karim Atiyeh, Kevin Stumpf, Mandeep Singh, Michael Stoppelman, Ron Pragides, Ryan Carlson, Tushar Garg
Dec 1, 2023	MaintainX	$50.0M Series C	—	AlleyCorp, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Amity Ventures, Atomico, Bain Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Curiosity VC, Daffy, DST Global, Expa, Exponent Founders Capital, Fin Capital, Jetstream, Lobby Capital, Maki.vc, Ann Bordetsky, Jeff Immelt, New Enterprise Associates, NextView Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Planeteer Capital, Richard Jhang, Sequoia Capital, Tribe Capital, Voyager Ventures, Y Combinator, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Bernhard Niesner, Brandon Deer, George Burke, Henrik Herr, Jake Zeller, Johan Brand, Johann "Hansi" Hansmann, Jonathan Swanson, Manik Gupta, Max Simkoff, Phillip Chambers, Phoebe Wang, Rob Bernshteyn, Steve Schlafman
Oct 1, 2023	Modal Labs	$16.0M Series A	—	AirAngels, Alt Capital, Alumni Ventures, BDC Venture Capital, Big Sky Health, Coinbase Ventures, Connect Ventures, Creative Juice, ENIAC Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Exponent Founders Capital, Firstminute Capital, First Round Capital, Freestyle Capital, FTX Ventures, Future Africa, General Catalyst, iNovia Capital, Invariantes Fund, K2 Global, KRM Interests LLC, Lightbank, Luno Expeditions, Norrsken VC, Not Boring Capital, Outcast Ventures, Penny Jar Capital, Precursor Ventures, QED Investors, Quona Capital, S28 Capital, Stellar Capital, Tekton Ventures, The Community Fund, Trajectory Ventures, Vera Equity, Y Combinator, Abhinav Asthana, Adam Blitzer, Adam D'Angelo, Akshay Kothari, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Andre Mohamed, Brad Garlinghouse, Charles Delingpole, Christina Cacioppo, David de Picciotto, Deborah Liu, Eric Hahn, Gabriel Weinberg, Georges Harik, Greg Brockman, Jason Gardner, Jason Goldberg, Lukas Biewald, Max Mullen, Mike Lee, Peter Kern, Richard Chen, Ron Pragides, Sahin Boydas, Scott Belsky, Thomas Tull, Tom Blomfield, Trevor Noah
Sep 1, 2023	Opna	$7.0M Seed	—	Angel Invest, Atomico, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, DCM, Embedded Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Moonfire Ventures, NFX, SignalFire, Tribe Capital, Alexander Aghassipour, Bradley Horowitz, Chris Murphy, Fredrik Hjelm, Gokul Rajaram, Jeppe Rindom, Phillip Chambers, Scott Belsky
Sep 1, 2023	Gable	$7.0M Seed	—	AngelList Syndicator, byFounders, Crane Venture Partners, Jenny Fielding, HV Capital, Possible Ventures, SemperVirens Venture Capital, Unpopular Ventures, Zetta Venture Partners, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Barr Moses, Julius Göllner, Patrick Andrae, Philipp Kloeckner, Phillip Chambers
Aug 1, 2023	Strise	$11.0M Series A	—	Curiosity VC, Inventure, Karma Ventures, Afore Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Aniq Kassam, Atomico, Bradley Horowitz, Cherry Ventures, Deborah Liu, LocalGlobe, Mosaic Ventures, Next Play Ventures, Paul Forster
Jul 1, 2023	Cello	$6.0M Seed	—	20VC, Angel Invest, Atomico, Costanoa Ventures, Crosslink Capital, DFJ, Felicis Ventures, HV Capital, Moonfire Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Peak, Point72 Ventures, session vc, Stride VC, Alexander Aghassipour, Bradley Horowitz, Chris Murphy, Felix Jahn, Fredrik Hjelm, Jeppe Rindom, Lucas Cranach, Patrick Andrae
Jul 1, 2023	Augmend	$2.0M Seed	—	Index Ventures, KRM Interests LLC, S28 Capital, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures)
Apr 1, 2023	Tennr	$5.0M Seed	—	Foundation Capital, Recursive Ventures, Oleg Rogynskyy
Apr 1, 2023	EvenUp	$51.0M Series B	—	AirAngels, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Boldstart Ventures, Craft Ventures, DCM, eFounders, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Felix Capital, Foundamental, Insight Partners, Kearny Jackson, Lightspeed Venture Partners, NFX, Pareto Holdings, SignalFire, Stripe, Tribe Capital, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Antoine Martin, Bobby Lo, Gokul Rajaram, Guy Podjarny, James Beshara, Jonathan Widawski, Julian Shapiro, Louis Beryl, Max Mullen, Scott Belsky, Steven Kamali, Youcef Es-skouri
Jan 1, 2023	DeepL	$100.0M Venture Round	—	Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, FirstHand Alliance, General Catalyst, Point72 Ventures, Susa Ventures
Dec 1, 2022	Arketa	$8.0M Seed	—	20VC, Addition, Amity Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Boldstart Ventures, Bond, CRV, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, Friends & Family Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Romero Rodrigues, Inspired Capital, Spark Capital, Y Combinator, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Brandon Deer, Charley M, Chris Hulls, David Petraeus, Zander Lurie
Nov 1, 2022	Plain.	$6.0M Seed	—	9Yards Capital, Abstract Ventures, Kevin Hartz, AirAngels, Alt Capital, Alumni Ventures, Amplify Partners, Asymmetric Capital Partners, Banana Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, C2 Investment, Cherry Ventures, Connect Ventures, Craft Ventures, Earl Grey Capital, Electric Capital, Fika Ventures, First Round Capital, foobar.vc, Founders Fund, F-Prime Capital Partners, Innovation Endeavors, Inventure, Jude Gomila Rolling Fund, Kearny Jackson, Khosla Ventures, La Famiglia, Menlo Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Mischief Venture Capital, MKT1 Capital, Mosaic Ventures, Mucker Capital, Offline Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Pioneer Fund, Plaid, Primetime Partners, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, Scribble Ventures, Seedcamp, Sequoia Capital, Seven Seven Six, Solid Bond Capital, Stripe, Susa Ventures, Terra Venture Partners, Village Global, YLEM, Azeem Azhar, Calum Forsyth, Carl Pei, Chase Gilbert, Dan Wright, David Petersen, Derrick Li, Eric Ries, Frederic Kerrest, Gordon Wintrob, Jeremy Cai, Jon Runyan, Mathilde Collin, Matt Macinnis, Max Mullen, Oscar Pierre, Parker Conrad, Paul Rios, Peter Kazanjy, Ryan Carlson, Ryan Chan, Scott Belsky, Siqi Chen, Thibaud Hug de Larauze, Tony Xu
Nov 1, 2022	Meez Culinary Solutions	$9.0M Series A	—	20VC, AirAngels, Alt Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Asymmetric Capital Partners, Background Capital, Buckley Ventures, Coalition Operators, Craft Ventures, Earl Grey Capital, First Round Capital, F-Prime Capital Partners, InReach Ventures, Mantis VC, Not Boring Capital, Outcast Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Slow Ventures, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Trust Fund, Volition Capital, Abhinav Asthana, Adam Blitzer, Akshay Kothari, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Andre Iguodala, Anne Wojcicki, Baron Davis, Barr Moses, Christina Cacioppo, Claire Hughes Johnson, George Ruan, Joe Greenstein, Julian Shapiro, Manik Gupta, Mathilde Collin, Max Mullen, Melissa Tan, Ron Pragides, Ryan Tedder, Scott Belsky, Siqi Chen, Tyler Willis, Vindi Banga
Oct 1, 2022	Adonis	$6.0M Seed	—	AI4ALL, Andreessen Horowitz, Atypical Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Growth, FirstHand Alliance, Future Ventures, Greycroft, Kapor Capital, LGF, Susa Ventures, Thrive Capital, What If Ventures, Adrian Aoun, Akshay Sriprasad, Alice Zhang, Stacy Brown-Philpot
Sep 1, 2022	Airplane	$32.0M Series B	—	Andreessen Horowitz, AngelList, Audrey Capital, Benchmark, Bond, C2 Investment, Coatue, Contrary Capital, Energize Ventures, Entrepreneur First, Episode 1 Ventures, FasterCapital, Founder Collective, Gaingels, General Catalyst, Greylock, Kleiner Perkins, LGF, Metagrove Ventures, Octopus Ventures, Preston-Werner Ventures, S28 Capital, Scale Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, Ubiquity Ventures, Virta Ventures, Voyager Ventures, WestWave Capital, Aaron Levie, Akshay Kothari, Andrew Robb, Balaji Srinivasan, Chris Murphy, David Mytton, Derrick Li, Frederic Kerrest, Greg Brockman, Howie Liu, James Park, Jeremy Stoppelman, John Collison, Jonathan Wegener, Joshua Reeves, Max Mullen, Naveen Selvadurai, Neha Narkhede, Nic Brisbourne, Nick Green, Peter Reinhardt, Philippe Teixeira da Mota, Ron Pragides, Sam Blond, Ted Serbinski, Will Brooks, Guillermo Rauch
Jun 1, 2022	Eppo	$16.0M Series A	—	Amplify Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Greylock, LGF, Menlo Ventures, Mischief Venture Capital, Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, Polygon, Tet Ventures, Tribe Capital, Charles Zedlewski, Furqan Rydhan, Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, Neha Narkhede, Ron Pragides, Stani Kulechov, William Hockey
May 1, 2022	Lumos	$30.0M Series A	—	01 Advisors, AirAngels, Alt Capital, Alumni Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Balderton Capital, Bond, Citi Ventures, Conviction Partners, Earl Grey Capital, Gaingels, Gradient Ventures, Greylock, ICONIQ Capital, Insight Partners, IVP, LGF, Not Boring Capital, Otherwise Fund, Patron, Pi Labs, Plaid, Radical Ventures, Spark Capital, SRB Ventures, Supercharge.vc, Vibe Capital, Y Combinator, Brad Holden, Charles Zedlewski, Christian Reber, Cristina Cordova, DJ Patil, Dylan Field, James Beshara, JD Ross, Julian Shapiro, Leore Avidar, Matteo Franceschetti, Ron Pragides, Scott Belsky
Jan 1, 2022	Metronome	$30.0M Series A	—	AirAngels, Alt Capital, Alumni Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, AV8 Ventures, Will Wang, Cornerstone Venture Partners, Felicis Ventures, General Catalyst, Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, LGF, Madrona Ventures, Mischief Venture Capital, Operator Collective, Otherwise Fund, Predictive VC, Quiet Capital, Rabbit Ventures, Saga, Scale Venture Partners, SciFi VC, Scribble Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Shine Capital, Social Capital, Ten Eleven Ventures, Tet Ventures, Theory Ventures, Thirty Five Ventures, Vibe Capital, XYZ Venture Capital, Y Combinator, Claire Hughes Johnson, Dylan Field, Eoghan McCabe, Eric Wu, James Beshara, Karim Atiyeh, Kevin Lin, Mathilde Collin, Parker Conrad, Peter Fishman, Sam Altman, Scott Belsky, Tony Xu, Venus Williams
Nov 1, 2021	Hightouch	$40.0M Series B	—	20VC, 9Yards Capital, Kevin Hartz, Addition, Afore Capital, Amplify Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Buckley Ventures, Cedar Capital Group, Force Over Mass Capital, Index Ventures, Kaszek Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Kli Capital, Latitud, Mantis VC, Menlo Ventures, monashees, NXTP Ventures, SciFi VC, Section 32, Spark Capital, V3 Ventures, Yext, Biz Stone, Karim Atiyeh, Martin Varsavsky, Michael Ryan Dubin, Philippe Teixeira da Mota, Sean Rad, William Hockey

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Allison Pickens Ventures, formerly The New Normal Fund.

Allison Pickens

General Partner

Leadership Team

Key people at Allison Pickens Ventures, formerly The New Normal Fund.

Allison Pickens

General Partner

Deep Dive

Allison Pickens Ventures, formerly The New Normal Fund, is a solo General Partner-led venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage AI and B2B SaaS startups. Led by Allison Pickens, a recognized expert in scaling recurring revenue businesses and former COO of Gainsight, the firm supports founders primarily in the AI stack and vertical AI applications, providing both capital and operational guidance to accelerate growth and category creation[1][3][5].

The fund’s mission centers on partnering with visionary B2B SaaS and AI founders to help them scale efficiently by leveraging Allison’s deep expertise in go-to-market strategy, customer success, and recurring revenue growth. The investment philosophy emphasizes early-stage investments, typically seed to Series A, with check sizes ranging from $250K to $1M. Key sectors include AI applications, data infrastructure, and enterprise SaaS, reflecting Allison’s background and network in enterprise technology. The firm has influenced the startup ecosystem by advising and investing in over 30 early and mid-stage enterprise tech companies, helping shape the customer success software category and supporting founders through hands-on operational partnership[1][3][7].

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Origin Story

Founded by Allison Pickens, the firm evolved from The New Normal Fund, a rolling fund she ran for four years, into Allison Pickens Ventures to formalize her advisory and investment activities. Allison’s career began in management consulting at BCG, followed by private equity at Bain Capital, before becoming COO at Gainsight, where she scaled the company from $1M to $85M ARR and helped create the customer success software category. Her operational experience and thought leadership in recurring revenue growth naturally led her to venture investing, where she leverages her expertise to support B2B SaaS and AI startups. Allison is also a board director at dbt Labs and Commvault, underscoring her deep involvement in enterprise tech[1][5].

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Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Solo GP fund led by Allison Pickens, combining capital with hands-on operational support as a go-to-market and scaling partner.
Network Strength: Deep connections in enterprise SaaS and AI, including board roles and advisory positions at high-growth companies.
Track Record: Proven success scaling Gainsight and advising 30% of Enterprise Tech 30 early/mid-stage companies; investments in notable startups like Gamma, Tennr, Modal, EvenUp, and dbt Labs.
Operating Support: Extensive thought leadership on customer success and recurring revenue, offering founders strategic guidance beyond capital.

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Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Allison Pickens Ventures rides the wave of AI and enterprise SaaS growth, focusing on startups that leverage AI to transform business processes and customer engagement. The timing is critical as AI adoption accelerates across industries, creating demand for specialized vertical AI applications and data infrastructure solutions. The firm’s influence extends beyond capital deployment to shaping go-to-market strategies and customer success practices, helping startups navigate the complexities of scaling subscription-based business models. This positions the fund as a key player in fostering innovation in the modern enterprise software ecosystem[1][3][5].

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Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Allison Pickens Ventures is poised to deepen its focus on AI-driven B2B startups, capitalizing on Allison’s operational expertise and expanding network. Trends such as AI democratization, vertical AI specialization, and the continued shift to subscription revenue models will shape the firm’s investment thesis. As AI technologies mature and enterprise adoption grows, the fund’s role as a strategic partner to founders will likely increase, potentially expanding its portfolio and influence in the SaaS and AI startup ecosystems. Allison’s unique blend of operator experience and investor insight offers a compelling value proposition for emerging enterprise tech companies[1][3][5].

Sources

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Origin Story

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Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Solo GP fund led by Allison Pickens, combining capital with hands-on operational support as a go-to-market and scaling partner.
Network Strength: Deep connections in enterprise SaaS and AI, including board roles and advisory positions at high-growth companies.
Track Record: Proven success scaling Gainsight and advising 30% of Enterprise Tech 30 early/mid-stage companies; investments in notable startups like Gamma, Tennr, Modal, EvenUp, and dbt Labs.
Operating Support: Extensive thought leadership on customer success and recurring revenue, offering founders strategic guidance beyond capital.

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Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

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