Backstage Capital

ActiveVenture Capital

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Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Jun 1, 2025	Lounn	$1.0M Seed	—	Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, High Line Venture Partners, Fatih Isbecer, Gokul Rajaram
Oct 1, 2024	Tripsby.AI	$150K Seed	—	Forum Ventures, Hyperplane, MaC Venture Capital, Pareto Holdings, Ribbit Capital, Social Capital, Harry Hurst, Rob Solomon
Oct 1, 2024	RubyWell	$1.0M Seed	—	Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Everywhere Ventures (The Fund), High Line Venture Partners, Fatih Isbecer, Gokul Rajaram
Mar 1, 2024	EdLight	$4.0M Seed	—	Hello Angels
Feb 1, 2024	Meso	$10.0M Seed	—	Forum Ventures, Hyperplane, MaC Venture Capital, Pareto Holdings, Ribbit Capital, Social Capital, Harry Hurst, Rob Solomon
Feb 1, 2024	Jam	$9.0M Series A	—	Active Capital, Addition, Afore Capital, AIX Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Banana Capital, B Capital Group, Bedrock Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, BoxGroup, C2 Investment, CapitalX, Color Capital, Craft Ventures, Cyphr VC, DTCP, Electric Capital, First Round Capital, Flex Capital, Innovation Endeavors, IVP, LGF, Lightspeed Venture Partners, LOI Venture, Long Journey Ventures, Maven Ventures, Dan Cahana, Robin Li, Notable Capital, Paradox Capital, Preston-Werner Ventures, Primary Venture Partners, Prototype Capital, Rising Tide Partners, SaaSholic Fund, Shaan's All Access Fund, Sommet AB, The Club, The Hit Forge, Tiger Global Management, Two Sigma Ventures, Vibe Capital, Weekend Fund, Y Combinator, Alex Lieberman, Amjad Masad, Anthony Pompliano, Balaji Srinivasan, Ben Tossell, Bob Muglia, Chris Herd, Dharmesh Shah, Dylan Field, Greg Isenberg, Guillermo Rauch, Ilya Golubovich, Immad Akhund, Jaime Schmidt, Jeff Bezos, Julian Shapiro, Justin Welsh, Kyle York, Louis Beryl, Mark Goines, Mattia Astori, Moshe Lifschitz, Musaab Hakami, Peter Sonsini, Sahil Lavingia, Sahin Boydas, Sam Parr, Shane Neman, Stanley Druckenmiller, Tim Griffin, Tobias Lutke, Yann LeCun, Zack Kanter
Sep 1, 2023	Mariana Oncology	$180.0M Series B	—	10X Capital, Access Biotechnology, AirAngels, Atlas Venture, Awesome People Ventures, Max Klement, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Darling Ventures, Forbion, Menlo Ventures, QEY Capital, Silicon Valley Connect, Vitalize Venture Group, Baron Davis, Bobby Goodlatte, Cecilia Stallsmith, Niklas Jansen, Nik Sharma, Scott Belsky, Shane Neman, Siqi Chen
Jul 1, 2023	ReflexAI	$3.0M Seed	—	BBG Ventures, Footwork, Jetstream, Khosla Ventures, Tet Ventures, Vista Venture Partners, Claire Diaz-Ortiz
Jul 1, 2023	Mindway	$98K Venture Round	—	Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, High Line Venture Partners, Gokul Rajaram
Jun 1, 2023	Cloudnine Augmented Intelligence (AI)	$100K Seed	—	Debut Capital, Hello Angels, M13, Precursor Ventures, Sahil Lavingia
Apr 1, 2023	Patientory	$2.0M Seed	—	Active Capital, Bedrock Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, CapitalX, Color Capital, Craft Ventures, Cyphr VC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, LOI Venture, Long Journey Ventures, Paradox Capital, Prototype Capital, Rising Tide Partners, SaaSholic Fund, Shaan's All Access Fund, The Club, The Hit Forge, Vibe Capital, Weekend Fund, Alex Lieberman, Anthony Pompliano, Ben Tossell, Chris Herd, Dharmesh Shah, Greg Isenberg, Immad Akhund, Jaime Schmidt, Julian Shapiro, Justin Welsh, Kyle York, Moshe Lifschitz, Musaab Hakami, Paul Yacoubian, Sahil Lavingia, Sam Parr, Zack Kanter
Apr 1, 2023	Mansa	$8.0M Seed	—	Forum Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Hyperplane, Jlabs, MaC Venture Capital, Pareto Holdings, Ribbit Capital, Seven Seven Six, Social Capital, Spark Capital, Harry Hurst, John Lilic, Kevin O'Leary, Mark Cuban, Mark Pincus, Rob Solomon
Feb 1, 2023	Bitwise Industries	$80.0M Series C	—	Andreessen Horowitz, Evolution VC Partners, Firstminute Capital, Flucas Ventures, Shawn Modarresi, Kapor Capital, Motley Fool Ventures, New Voices Fund, Saga, Supply Change Capital, Peter Chernin, XYZ Venture Capital, Aaron Levie, Howard Schultz, Jay Z, Kevin Hart, Mark Cuban, Nick Caldwell, Seth Goldman
Nov 1, 2022	Diem	$4.0M Seed	—	Ada Ventures, Alumni Ventures, BBG Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Hanaco Ventures, Patron, Tet Ventures, Touch Capital, Vista Venture Partners, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Steph Korey
Oct 1, 2022	NirogStreet	$12.0M Series B	—	Bessemer Venture Partners, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, High Line Venture Partners, Jungle Ventures, Trifecta Growth Equity, Fatih Isbecer, Gokul Rajaram
Oct 1, 2022	Resilia	$35.0M Series B	—	42Phi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, Accel, Advisors Fund LLC, Asylum Ventures, ATX Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Bungalow Capital, Collab Capital, Collaborative Seed & Growth Partners, Cultivation Capital, Digital Currency Group, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Expert Dojo, Fenway Summer, Fika Ventures, First Round Capital, F-Prime Capital Partners, Framework Venture Partners, Gaingels, General Catalyst, GreaterGoodSociety, Haystack, Include Venture Partners, LocalGlobe, M34 Capital, Mucker Capital, NewMe Accelerator, North Island Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Pillar VC, RareBreed Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Share Ventures, TechSquare Labs, Upfront Ventures, Vibe Capital, Aaron Skonnard, Azeem Azhar, Baron Davis, Eric Rea, Esther Dyson, John M. Mueller, Mathilde Collin, Mike Hudack, Oscar Pierre, Sahil Lavingia, Sahin Boydas, Sam Palmisano, Scott Belsky, Zachary Sims
Oct 1, 2022	Tally	$80.0M Series D	—	Andreessen Horowitz, B2 Founders, Cowboy Ventures, Kevin Ding, Greenoaks Capital, Harrison Metal, Hoxton Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Insight Partners, Kleiner Perkins, NextGen Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Susa Ventures, David Rogier
Sep 1, 2022	CarpeDM	$1.0M Seed	—	Elevate Capital
Aug 1, 2022	Roleshare	$1.0M Seed	—	2xN, Ada Ventures, AngelList Syndicator, Atomico, Cherry Ventures, Denham Capital Management, Diversity-X, DST Global, Far Out Ventures, foobar.vc, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Moonfire Ventures, Ann Bordetsky, One Way Ventures, Presight Capital, #SecretFund, Seedcamp, sequel, Speedinvest, Valar Ventures, Y Combinator, Andy Chung, Bradley Horowitz, Chris Murphy, Dave Pell, David Petersen, Desigan Chinniah, Frederic Montagnon, Henry de Zoete, Immad Akhund, Jeppe Rindom, Johan Lorenzen, Jonathan Lenson, Julien Romanetto, Klaus Nyengaard, Martin Olczyk, Matteo Franceschetti, Nicolas Steegmann, Oleg Tscheltzoff, Oliver Jung, Pedro Franceschi, Philippe Teixeira da Mota, Phillip Chambers, Richard Fearn, Sarah Drinkwater, Tanooj Luthra, Thibaud Elziere, Victor Jacobsson
Aug 1, 2022	Arena	$32.0M Series A	—	8VC, Alumni Ventures, CRV, Founders Fund, Friends & Family Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Romero Rodrigues, Insight Partners, Luv Ventures, Northgate Capital, Time BioVentures, Y Combinator, Anthony Pompliano, Bill Ackman, David Petraeus, Immad Akhund
Jul 1, 2022	ImIn	$1.0M Seed	—	42Phi Ventures, Accel, Collab Capital, Haystack, Include Venture Partners, M34 Capital, NewMe Accelerator, RareBreed Ventures, Share Ventures, TechSquare Labs, Upfront Ventures, Aaron Skonnard, Baron Davis, Eric Rea
May 1, 2022	Mindway	$200K Seed	—	Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, High Line Venture Partners, Gokul Rajaram
Apr 1, 2022	Bubble Goods	$1.0M Seed	—	Active Capital, Banana Capital, Bedrock Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, CapitalX, Color Capital, Craft Ventures, Cross Culture Ventures, Cyphr VC, Founders Fund, Shawn Modarresi, Klossy, Lightspeed Venture Partners, LOI Venture, Long Journey Ventures, Marcy Venture Partners, Paradox Capital, Prototype Capital, Rising Tide Partners, RX3 Growth Partners, SaaSholic Fund, Shaan's All Access Fund, The Club, The Hit Forge, Thirty Five Ventures, Vibe Capital, Weekend Fund, Y Combinator, Alex Lieberman, Anthony Pompliano, Ben Tossell, Chris Herd, Dharmesh Shah, Eric Ries, Greg Isenberg, Immad Akhund, Jaime Schmidt, Jay Z, Julian Shapiro, Justin Timberlake, Justin Welsh, Kat Cole, Kyle York, Moshe Lifschitz, Musaab Hakami, Pau Gasol, Paul Yacoubian, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, Sahil Lavingia, Sam Parr, Tim Ferriss, Troy Carter, Zack Kanter
Apr 1, 2022	Levels	$38.0M Series A	—	01 Advisors, AAF Management Ltd., Kevin Hartz, Active Capital, Adapt Ventures, Afore Capital, AirAngels, Andreessen Horowitz, AngelList, at.inc/, Backed VC, Bain Capital, Basecamp Fund, Bedrock Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Brainchild, Buckley Ventures, C2 Investment, Caffeinated Capital, CapitalX, Color Capital, Costanoa Ventures, Craft Ventures, CrunchFund, Cyphr VC, Ali Tamaseb, Divergence Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Exponent Founders Capital, Forum Ventures, Founder Collective, Future Ventures, General Catalyst, Global Founders Capital, Greylock, Helium-3 Ventures, Hustle Fund, Incisive Ventures, Kearny Jackson, KW Angel Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Liquid 2 Ventures, LOI Venture, Long Journey Ventures, NextView Ventures, Not Boring Capital, Paradox Capital, Pioneer Square Labs, Precursor Ventures, Prototype Capital, Quiet Capital, Rising Tide Partners, Rivet Ventures, SaaSholic Fund, Scale Asia Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Shaan's All Access Fund, Shrug Capital, Solana Ventures, Soma Capital, Supernode Ventures, The Club, The Community Fund, The Hit Forge, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Underscore VC, Unruly Capital, Unusual Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Vibe Capital, VZVC, Wave Capital, Weekend Fund, What If Ventures, Y Combinator, YLEM, Alex Lieberman, Anthony Pompliano, Arash Ferdowsi, Aston Motes, Augusto Marietti, Ben Tossell, Bradley Horowitz, Brendan O'Driscoll, Chris Herd, Dharmesh Shah, Dylan Field, Greg Isenberg, Howie Liu, Immad Akhund, Jack Smith, Jaime Schmidt, Jeremy Cai, Julian Shapiro, Justin Welsh, Karim Atiyeh, Kyle York, Louis Beryl, Maia Bittner, Manik Gupta, Mario Gabriele, Matt Bellamy, Matteo Franceschetti, Matthew Dellavedova, Moshe Lifschitz, Musaab Hakami, Paul McKellar, Paul Yacoubian, Sahil Lavingia, Sam Parr, Scott Banister, Scott Belsky, Siqi Chen, Sumon Sadhu, William Hockey, Zack Kanter
Apr 1, 2022	Hairtelligence	$5.0M Seed	—	42Phi Ventures, Accel, Collab Capital, Convoz, Haystack, Include Venture Partners, M34 Capital, NewMe Accelerator, RareBreed Ventures, Serena Ventures, Share Ventures, TechSquare Labs, Upfront Ventures, Aaron Skonnard, Baron Davis, Eric Rea

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Backstage Capital.

Investor (via Republic)

Director, Deal Flow Team

Leadership Team

Key people at Backstage Capital.

Investor (via Republic)

Director, Deal Flow Team

Deep Dive

Backstage Capital is a venture capital firm dedicated to investing in startups led by underrepresented founders in the U.S., specifically women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. Its mission is to minimize funding disparities in tech by providing capital, mentorship, and access to the venture ecosystem for these founders, who historically receive less than 10% of venture capital funding. The firm focuses on early-stage investments, typically pre-seed to seed rounds, across diverse sectors including consumer products, social impact, business services, healthcare, and technology. Backstage Capital has invested in over 200 companies, helping to catalyze a more inclusive startup ecosystem by opening doors traditionally closed to underestimated founders[1][2][4][6].

Founded in 2015 by Arlan Hamilton, who famously started the fund while homeless, Backstage Capital was born from a recognition of the systemic funding gap faced by underrepresented entrepreneurs. Hamilton’s personal journey and determination shaped the firm’s ethos of empowerment and access. Since inception, the firm has evolved to include accelerator programs in multiple cities and a crowdfunding platform (Backstage Crowd) that allows both accredited and non-accredited investors to participate in funding these startups. This evolution reflects Backstage’s commitment not only to invest capital but also to build community and provide hands-on support to founders[2][3][6].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Focuses exclusively on underrepresented founders, addressing a critical market inefficiency and social equity gap in venture capital[1][2].
Network Strength: Offers accelerator programs and a global network of mentors, investors, and peers to support founders beyond capital[2].
Track Record: Over 200 investments in diverse sectors, demonstrating consistent commitment and impact in early-stage funding for underestimated founders[6][7].
Operating Support: Provides hands-on accelerator programs that include mentorship, investor introductions, and milestone-driven education[2].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Backstage Capital rides the growing trend toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in tech and venture capital. The timing is critical as awareness of systemic funding disparities has increased, and there is a broader market push for social impact investing. By focusing on underestimated founders, Backstage not only addresses a social justice imperative but also taps into a largely underserved market with high growth potential. Its approach influences the broader ecosystem by setting a precedent for inclusive investing and expanding access to venture capital for diverse entrepreneurs, thereby enriching innovation and economic opportunity[1][2][4].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Backstage Capital is poised to deepen its impact by scaling its accelerator programs and expanding its investor base through Backstage Crowd, democratizing access to startup investing. Trends such as increased social impact investing, growing awareness of DEI, and the rise of alternative funding platforms will shape its journey. The firm’s influence is likely to grow as it continues to demonstrate the commercial and social value of investing in underestimated founders, potentially inspiring more funds to adopt similar inclusive models and further transforming the venture capital landscape[2][6].

Backstage Capital’s origin story and mission underscore its role as a catalyst for change, turning a funding gap into an opportunity to reshape the future of entrepreneurship and venture capital.

Sources

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Focuses exclusively on underrepresented founders, addressing a critical market inefficiency and social equity gap in venture capital[1][2].
Network Strength: Offers accelerator programs and a global network of mentors, investors, and peers to support founders beyond capital[2].
Track Record: Over 200 investments in diverse sectors, demonstrating consistent commitment and impact in early-stage funding for underestimated founders[6][7].
Operating Support: Provides hands-on accelerator programs that include mentorship, investor introductions, and milestone-driven education[2].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Backstage Capital’s origin story and mission underscore its role as a catalyst for change, turning a funding gap into an opportunity to reshape the future of entrepreneurship and venture capital.