Ambush Capital

ActiveVenture Capital

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Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

About

Ambush Capital is an angel fund in New York that helps entrepreneurs through the early stages of building a company.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Jul 1, 2025	XMTP	$20.0M Series B	—	Alchemy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Bailhe, Batalion Capital, Broadstone, Capital Factory, Form Capital, FTX Ventures, Haun Ventures, HawksHead Capital, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Multicoin Capital, Not Boring Capital, Ben Huh, Pantera Capital, Pharos Capital Group, Redpoint Ventures, Robot Ventures, Scalar Capital, Sequoia Capital, Seven Seven Six, Sound Ventures, The Hit Forge, Timespan Ventures, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Union Square Ventures, Wave Financial, White Loop Capital, Anthony Pompliano, Balaji Srinivasan, Bobby Goodlatte, Chris Kurdziel, Courtney Guertin, Ethan Beard, Fernando Martinelli, Itamar Lesuisse, Jess Sloss, Joe Stump, Michael Dunworth, Narendra Rocherolle, Paul Stamatiou, Reggie James, Ricky Engelberg, Scott Belsky, Shishir Mehrotra, Stani Kulechov, Tegan Kline, William Boebel
Oct 1, 2024	E2B	$12.0M Seed	—	Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Canary Ventures, CoinFund, Decibel Partners, Divergence Ventures, FounderPartners, Northzone, Seed Club Ventures, SID Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, Mason Nystrom, Alexander Salnikov, Stefan George, Tegan Kline
Sep 1, 2024	Sandgarden	$5.0M Seed	—	1776, AirAngels, Andreessen Horowitz, Buckley Ventures, City Light Capital, Coughdrop Capital, Gutter Capital, Lampros Capital Partners, Logos Labs, Neu Venture Capital, Sequoia Capital, SRB Ventures, Emily Kramer, Greg Isenberg, Loic Le Meur, Manik Gupta, Marc McCabe, Mike Hudack, Russell Smith, Sam Corcos, Sam Parr, Steve Schlafman, Zachary Sims
Aug 1, 2024	Corn	$7.0M Seed	—	Polygon
Jul 1, 2024	Stairpay	$960K Seed	—	Alchemy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Batalion Capital, Broadstone, Capital Factory, Form Capital, Haun Ventures, HawksHead Capital, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Not Boring Capital, Ben Huh, Pantera Capital, Pharos Capital Group, Redpoint Ventures, Robot Ventures, Scalar Capital, Seven Seven Six, Sound Ventures, The Hit Forge, Timespan Ventures, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Union Square Ventures, Anthony Pompliano, Balaji Srinivasan, Bobby Goodlatte, Chris Kurdziel, Courtney Guertin, Ethan Beard, Fernando Martinelli, Itamar Lesuisse, Jess Sloss, Joe Stump, Michael Dunworth, Narendra Rocherolle, Paul Stamatiou, Reggie James, Ricky Engelberg, Scott Belsky, Shishir Mehrotra, Stani Kulechov, Tegan Kline, William Boebel
Apr 1, 2024	Perplexity	$63.0M Series C	—	20VC, 2.12 Angels, 355 Capital, Kevin Hartz, Accomplice VC, AME Cloud Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Angel investor, Asylum Ventures, C2 Investment, Catalio Capital, Cedar Capital Group, Costanoa Ventures, DTCP, E1 Ventures, EQT Ventures, Family Office, Felicis Ventures, Fifty Years, Floodgate, Founders Fund, GSV Acceleration, Hanabi Capital, Hardware Club, Haun Ventures, Heroic Ventures, HOF Capital, Infinite Niches, Inflection, Insight Partners, Jefferies, Kindred Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lux Capital, Matchstick Ventures, Maven Ventures, Mustard Seed, NFX, Northzone, Race Capital, Rakuten Ventures, Refactor Capital, Sherpalo Ventures, Spark Capital, Susa Ventures, The Hit Forge, Thrive Capital, Uncork Capital, Union Square Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Wayra UK, Y Combinator, Aaron Harris, Amjad Masad, Andy Coravos, Anne Wojcicki, Arash Ferdowsi, Balaji Srinivasan, Charlie Songhurst, Chintan Patel, Fidji Simo, Jared Sleeper, Jonathan Lenson, Justin Kitch, Jutta Steiner, Mike Vernal, Mike Volpe, Miras Mami, Peter Sonsini, Sahin Boydas, Scott Belsky, Varsha Rao
Mar 1, 2024	Dolomite.io	$900K Seed	—	Polygon, Solana Ventures, Surojit Chatterjee
Feb 1, 2024	Code	$7.0M Seed	—	8090 Industries, AIX Ventures, C2 Investment, Sophie Bakalar, DTCP, Flex Capital, Innovation Endeavors, IVP, Looking Glass Capital, M13, Maven Ventures, Polygon, Solana Ventures, The Hit Forge, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, Amjad Masad, Bob Muglia, Dylan Field, Jeff Bezos, Mattia Astori, Peter Sonsini, Shane Neman, Stanley Druckenmiller, Surojit Chatterjee, Tobias Lutke, Yann LeCun
Sep 1, 2023	Proof of Play	$33.0M Seed	—	040 Capital, Accel, Adverb Ventures, Alchemy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, AngelList, Awesome People Ventures, Batalion Capital, BEENEXT, Blockchain.com Ventures, BlockTower Capital, Bow Capital, Broadstone, C2 Investment, Capital Factory, Craft Ventures, DBL Partners, Dragonfly Capital Partners, Dreamers VC, Matthew Brimer, Form Capital, Founder Collective, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Global Founders Capital, Goat Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Greylock, Haun Ventures, HawksHead Capital, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Index Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Kleiner Perkins, La Famiglia, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Luv Ventures, M34 Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, Morado Venture Partners, Northzone, Hans Tung, Not Boring Capital, Ben Huh, Pantera Capital, Pareto Holdings, Pear VC, Pharos Capital Group, Picus Capital, Pioneer Fund, Polychain Capital, Polygon, Redpoint Ventures, REMUS Capital, Robot Ventures, Scalar Capital, Seven Seven Six, SID Venture Partners, Slow Ventures, Sound Ventures, Spark Capital, The Hit Forge, Tiger Global Management, Timespan Ventures, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Trammell Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, Spencer Noon, Visionaire Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, Y Combinator, Aaron Levie, Akshay Kothari, Aleksander Leonard Larsen, Anselm Bauer, Anthony Pompliano, Balaji Srinivasan, Benjamin Guenther, Bobby Goodlatte, Chris Kurdziel, Cory Levy, Courtney Guertin, Dylan Field, Ethan Beard, Fernando Martinelli, Frederic Kerrest, Griffin Johnson, Howie Liu, Itamar Lesuisse, Jeremy Stoppelman, Jess Sloss, Joe Stump, John Collison, Julian Koh, Justin Mateen, Kevin Lin, Kevin O'Leary, Mark Cuban, Max-Josef Meier, Max Mullen, Michael Dunworth, Narendra Rocherolle, Neha Narkhede, Nick van Eck, Paul Stamatiou, Reggie James, Ricky Engelberg, Sam Blond, Scott Belsky, Sebastian Schuon, Sebastien Borget, Shishir Mehrotra, Stani Kulechov, Tegan Kline, William Boebel, William Hockey
Jun 1, 2023	Argus Labs	$10.0M Seed	—	2050 Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Canary Ventures, CoinFund, Decibel Partners, Divergence Ventures, Foundation Capital, FounderPartners, Gaingels, Jude Gomila Rolling Fund, Northzone, Seed Club Ventures, SID Venture Partners, SNR, Social Capital, The Hit Forge, Union Square Ventures, Mason Nystrom, Alexander Salnikov, Charlie Songhurst, Jeff Hammerbacher, Ken Howery, Nader Al-Naji, Stefan George, Tegan Kline
Apr 1, 2023	Rise	$4.0M Seed	—	1776, ACME Capital, AirAngels, Andreessen Horowitz, Buckley Ventures, Catapult Capital, City Light Capital, Connect Ventures, Coughdrop Capital, CRV, Double Prime LLP, Earlybird Venture Capital, Generative Ventures, Gutter Capital, Lampros Capital Partners, Logos Labs, Neu Venture Capital, Passion Capital, Sequoia Capital, SRB Ventures, Techstars, The Fintech Fund, Turing Capital, Vayner RSE, Balaji Srinivasan, Dileep Thazhmon, Eddie Lou, Emily Kramer, Eric Demuth, Francesco Simoneschi, Greg Isenberg, James Beshara, Loic Le Meur, Manik Gupta, Marc McCabe, Mike Hudack, Sam Corcos, Sam Parr, Shervin Pishevar, Steve Schlafman, Trevor McFedries, William Mougayar, Zachary Sims
Apr 1, 2023	Huddle01	$3.0M Seed	—	North Island Ventures, Polychain Capital
Mar 1, 2023	ClimateChoice	$2.0M Seed	—	1776, AirAngels, Andreessen Horowitz, Buckley Ventures, City Light Capital, Coughdrop Capital, Gutter Capital, Lampros Capital Partners, Logos Labs, Neu Venture Capital, Sequoia Capital, SRB Ventures, Emily Kramer, Greg Isenberg, Loic Le Meur, Manik Gupta, Marc McCabe, Mike Hudack, Russell Smith, Sam Corcos, Sam Parr, Steve Schlafman, Zachary Sims
Feb 1, 2023	Blip	$2.0M Seed	—	Accomplice VC, Asylum Ventures, Fifty Years, Haun Ventures, Inflection, Jefferies, Susa Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, Aaron Harris, Charlie Songhurst, Justin Kitch, Jutta Steiner, Mike Volpe
Jan 1, 2023	Sovereign Labs	$7.0M Seed	—	Accomplice VC, Asylum Ventures, Fifty Years, Haun Ventures, Inflection, Jefferies, Susa Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, Aaron Harris, Charlie Songhurst, Justin Kitch, Jutta Steiner, Mike Volpe
Oct 1, 2022	Zerion	$12.0M Series B	—	Accomplice VC, Anthemis Group, Asylum Ventures, Fifty Years, Haun Ventures, Inflection, Jefferies, Mosaic Ventures, Notion Capital, SCOR Ventures, #SecretFund, Susa Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, Aaron Harris, Charlie Songhurst, Justin Kitch, Jutta Steiner, Mike Volpe, Richard Laxer, Thijn Lamers
Oct 1, 2022	Celestia	$55.0M Series A	—	Accomplice VC, Andreessen Horowitz, Asylum Ventures, Avalanche VC, Bain Capital Crypto, Bling Capital, BR Capital, Dunce Capital, Equal Ventures, Fifty Years, Haun Ventures, High Alpha, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Inflection, Jefferies, KR1, Lazerow Ventures, Maven 11 Capital, Not Boring Capital, Placeholder, Ravelin Capital, Runa Capital, Susa Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, Village Global, Y Combinator, Aaron Harris, Balaji Srinivasan, Bradley Horowitz, Charlie Songhurst, Justin Kitch, Jutta Steiner, Kyle Vogt, Mike Volpe, Trent McConaghy
Sep 1, 2022	Integral Treasury	$9.0M Venture Round	—	Accomplice VC, Alumni Ventures, Asylum Ventures, Electric Capital, Fifty Years, Greylock, Haun Ventures, Inflection, iNovia Capital, Jefferies, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Susa Ventures, Tribe Capital, Union Square Ventures, Valar Ventures, Y Combinator, Aaron Harris, Charlie Songhurst, Justin Kitch, Jutta Steiner, Mike Volpe, Scott Belsky, Stewart Butterfield, Tobias Lutke
Aug 1, 2022	Mural	$6.0M Seed	—	Alchemy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Batalion Capital, Broadstone, Capital Factory, Connect Ventures, Form Capital, Haun Ventures, HawksHead Capital, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Not Boring Capital, Ben Huh, Pantera Capital, Pareto Holdings, Pharos Capital Group, Redpoint Ventures, Robot Ventures, Scalar Capital, Seven Seven Six, Sound Ventures, Stride VC, The Hit Forge, Timespan Ventures, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, Anthony Pompliano, Balaji Srinivasan, Bobby Goodlatte, Chris Kurdziel, Courtney Guertin, Ethan Beard, Fernando Martinelli, Itamar Lesuisse, Jeff Seibert, Jess Sloss, Joe Stump, Michael Dunworth, Narendra Rocherolle, Paul Stamatiou, Reggie James, Ricky Engelberg, Scott Belsky, Shishir Mehrotra, Stani Kulechov, Tegan Kline, Wayne Chang, William Boebel
Jul 1, 2022	Arkive	$10.0M Seed	—	9Yards Capital, Adverb Ventures, AirAngels, Alchemy Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Amity Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Chloe Sladden, Asymmetric, Awesome People Ventures, Batalion Capital, Bling Capital, Broadstone, Capital Factory, Color Capital, Craft Ventures, Darling Ventures, Elefund, Ensemble VC, FirstMark Capital, Form Capital, Founders Fund, FPV Fund, Freestyle Capital, Haun Ventures, HawksHead Capital, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Innovent Capital Group, Interlace Ventures, Jigsaw VC, K9 Ventures, Kepler Operator’s Fund, Lam Research Capital, LGF, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Long Journey Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Moonshots Capital, Multicoin Capital, Ann Bordetsky, Not Boring Capital, Ben Huh, Otherwise Fund, Pantera Capital, Paradigm, Patron, Pharos Capital Group, Redpoint Ventures, Robot Ventures, Scalar Capital, Seed Club Ventures, Sentiero Ventures, Seven Seven Six, Sinai Ventures, Skyriver Ventures, Sound Ventures, Spero Ventures, SRB Ventures, Susa Ventures, The Hit Forge, Timespan Ventures, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Tribe Capital, TSVC Capital, Union Square Ventures, Vine Ventures LP, Y Combinator, Anthony Pompliano, Balaji Srinivasan, Bobby Goodlatte, Brad Holden, Chris Kurdziel, Courtney Guertin, Ethan Beard, Fernando Martinelli, Furqan Rydhan, Itamar Lesuisse, James Beshara, JD Ross, Jeffrey Lee, Jess Sloss, Joe Stump, Julian Shapiro, Leore Avidar, Louis Beryl, Matteo Franceschetti, Michael Dunworth, Narendra Rocherolle, Paul Stamatiou, Reggie James, Ricky Engelberg, Russell Cook, Scott Banister, Scott Belsky, Shishir Mehrotra, Stani Kulechov, Stewart Butterfield, Tegan Kline, Todd Corenson, Vivek Garipalli, William Boebel
Jun 1, 2022	Comp	$4.0M Seed	—	Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Canary Ventures, CoinFund, Decibel Partners, Divergence Ventures, FounderPartners, Northzone, Seed Club Ventures, SID Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, Mason Nystrom, Alexander Salnikov, Stefan George, Tegan Kline
Jun 1, 2022	Party.Space	$500K Seed	—	Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Canary Ventures, CoinFund, Decibel Partners, Divergence Ventures, FounderPartners, Northzone, Seed Club Ventures, SID Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, Mason Nystrom, Alexander Salnikov, Stefan George, Tegan Kline
Jun 1, 2022	Kairos	$3.0M Seed	—	Accel, AirAngels, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Canary Ventures, CoinFund, Decibel Partners, Divergence Ventures, FounderPartners, Freestyle Capital, Intuit Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Moonfire Ventures, Motier Ventures, Northzone, Not Boring Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Sarona Ventures, Seed Club Ventures, Seven Seven Six, SID Venture Partners, Speedinvest, SRB Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Mason Nystrom, Y Combinator, Aaron Harris, Alexander Salnikov, Baris Gultekin, Charles Gorintin, Claire Hughes Johnson, Gokul Rajaram, Jean Charles Samuelian, Lionel Richie, Mark Pincus, Mathilde Collin, Odell Beckham Jr., Paul George, Riccardo Zacconi, Roxanne Varza, Ryan Shea, Sebastian Knutsson, Stefan George, Tegan Kline, Varsha Rao
May 1, 2022	Encode Club	$5.0M Seed	—	Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Canary Ventures, CoinFund, Decibel Partners, Divergence Ventures, FounderPartners, Northzone, Seed Club Ventures, SID Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, Mason Nystrom, Alexander Salnikov, Tegan Kline
May 1, 2022	Outverse	$1.0M Seed	—	1776, AirAngels, Andreessen Horowitz, Atomico, Banana Capital, Buckley Ventures, Cherry Ventures, City Light Capital, Coughdrop Capital, Double Down, Encomenda Smart Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Gutter Capital, Lampros Capital Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Logos Labs, Makers Fund, Neu Venture Capital, Northzone, Passion Capital, Point Nine Capital, Seedcamp, Sequoia Capital, Seven Seven Six, SRB Ventures, Sweet Capital, YLEM, Aleksander Leonard Larsen, Emily Kramer, Greg Isenberg, Loic Le Meur, Manik Gupta, Michael Pennington, Mike Hudack, Peter Sellis, Russell Smith, Sam Corcos, Sam Parr, Steve Schlafman, Zachary Sims

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Ambush Capital.

Joe Lallouz

Partner

Leadership Team

Key people at Ambush Capital.

Joe Lallouz

Partner

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Ambush Capital is a New York-based venture capital and private equity firm founded in 2015 that focuses on investing in early-stage founders and startups. It operates primarily as an angel fund, providing financial support and advisory services to entrepreneurs during the critical early phases of company building. The firm’s investment philosophy centers on partnering with visionary founders across diverse sectors such as technology, healthcare, financial services, and consumer markets. Ambush Capital’s team includes entrepreneurs, designers, developers, and artists, which enables them to offer hands-on support from ideation through launch, fostering innovation and growth within the startup ecosystem[1][2][5].

Origin Story

Ambush Capital was founded in 2015 in Brooklyn, New York, by Aaron Henshaw, Joe Lallouz, and Carly Strife. The founders brought together a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds in entrepreneurship, design, and technology, aiming to create a venture firm that not only invests capital but also actively supports founders through the early stages of company development. This approach reflects their commitment to helping startups navigate the challenges of launching and scaling, leveraging their combined expertise to provide more than just funding[1].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Ambush Capital operates as an angel fund with a strong emphasis on early-stage investments, focusing on seed and pre-seed rounds.
Network Strength: The firm’s team composition of entrepreneurs, designers, developers, and artists provides a broad network and diverse skill set to support portfolio companies.
Operating Support: Beyond capital, Ambush Capital offers hands-on advisory and mentorship, helping startups from ideation through launch.
Sector Diversity: Investments span multiple sectors including technology, healthcare, financial services, and consumer products, allowing for a diversified portfolio and cross-sector insights[1][5].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Ambush Capital rides the ongoing trend of early-stage venture investing where hands-on support and founder-centric approaches are increasingly valued. The timing is favorable due to a growing number of innovative startups requiring not just capital but strategic guidance to scale effectively. Market forces such as the rise of technology-driven solutions across industries and the increasing importance of design and user experience align well with Ambush Capital’s multidisciplinary team. Their influence helps shape the startup ecosystem by nurturing companies that might otherwise struggle to find comprehensive early-stage support, thereby contributing to a more vibrant and diverse innovation landscape[1][3][5].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Ambush Capital is well-positioned to continue expanding its portfolio and influence by leveraging its unique blend of investment and operational expertise. Trends such as digital transformation, healthcare innovation, and fintech growth will likely shape their investment focus. As the startup ecosystem evolves, Ambush Capital’s founder-centric and multidisciplinary approach may become even more critical, potentially increasing their role as a key early-stage partner for emerging companies. Their continued success will depend on maintaining close founder relationships and adapting to new market dynamics while scaling their impact in the venture capital space[1][5].

Sources

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Ambush Capital operates as an angel fund with a strong emphasis on early-stage investments, focusing on seed and pre-seed rounds.
Network Strength: The firm’s team composition of entrepreneurs, designers, developers, and artists provides a broad network and diverse skill set to support portfolio companies.
Operating Support: Beyond capital, Ambush Capital offers hands-on advisory and mentorship, helping startups from ideation through launch.
Sector Diversity: Investments span multiple sectors including technology, healthcare, financial services, and consumer products, allowing for a diversified portfolio and cross-sector insights[1][5].