Fitz Gate Ventures

This VC firm invests primarily in seed and pre-seed startups from the Princeton region with a focus on supporting local talent and innovation.

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Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

About

Fitz Gate Ventures is a seed and pre-seed venture capital fund that invests a majority of its capital in companies from the Princeton ecosystem. A portion of its capital is available to be invested more broadly. Initial checks of $500K, reserving for follow-ons. $25 million under management.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Feb 10, 2026	Trener Robotics	$32.0M Series A	Engine Ventures, IAG Capital Partners	Cadence Design Systems, Emergent Ventures, Geodesic Capital, Radius Capital, Raisewell Ventures, Shanda Group, Techable VC
Sep 1, 2024	Assembly HOA	$2.0M Seed	—	Founder Collective, NextView Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Pioneer Fund, The Hit Forge, Twenty Two Ventures, Y Combinator, Arash Ferdowsi, Kulveer Taggar, Kunal Shah, Phillip Pierini
Sep 1, 2024	Cheers	$840K Seed	—	Founder Collective, NextView Ventures, The Hit Forge, Twenty Two Ventures, Y Combinator, Kulveer Taggar, Nate Matherson
Aug 1, 2024	DEFCON AI	$44.0M Seed	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Andreas Ehn
Oct 1, 2023	Automata	$40.0M Venture Round	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, Octopus Ventures, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Andreas Ehn, Robin Klein
Mar 1, 2023	Bacu	$6.0M Seed	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Canary Ventures, Converge Venture Partners, Corazon Capital, Craft Ventures, CRV, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Flybridge Capital Partners, Kamay Ventures, M13, Maven Ventures, monashees, Montage Ventures, OurCrowd, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Andreas Ehn, Felipe Villamarin, Juan Pablo Ortega, Pablo Viguera, Preetha Parthasarathy, Simon Borrero
Nov 1, 2022	GoPerfect	$14.0M Seed	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Andreas Ehn
Oct 1, 2022	Banyan	$28.0M Series A	—	Adverb Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Chloe Sladden, Jana Messerschmidt, Anthemis Group, Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Fin Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Haun Ventures, M13, Otherwise Fund, Pareto Holdings, QED Investors, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sequoia Capital, Sinai Ventures, Trajectory Ventures, Wellington Management, Akshay Kothari, Andreas Ehn, Andy Coravos
Jun 1, 2022	Homelister	$10.0M Series A	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Costanoa Ventures, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Homebrew, M13, Norwest Venture Partners, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Workday Ventures, Andreas Ehn
Mar 1, 2022	Apploi	$25.0M Series B	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, OurCrowd, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Supernode Ventures, Underscore, Andreas Ehn
Nov 1, 2021	Netlify	$110.0M Series D	—	AllerFund, Alt Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Arrive, Ascend Vietnam Ventures, Atomico, Basis Set Ventures, BCF Ventures, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Bond, Brighter Capital, Coatue, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, CRV, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Felicis Ventures, Female Founders Fund, Flybridge Capital Partners, Greycroft, IVP, Jazz Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Liquid 2 Ventures, M13, Mango Capital, Hans Tung, Outcast Ventures, Owl Ventures, Peterson Partners, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Salesforce Ventures, SciFi VC, Sinai Ventures, Soma Capital, Theory Ventures, Thirty Five Ventures, Adrian Aoun, Andreas Ehn, Andre Iguodala, Arash Ferdowsi, Augusto Marietti, Bernard Arnault, Claire Hughes Johnson, Frederic Kerrest, Gunnar Lovelace, Jenna Hannon, Marc Benioff, Mathilde Collin, Nick Green, Nicolas Berggruen, Sahin Boydas, Sujal Patel, Theresa Johnson, Tony Xu, Yash Sandesara
Nov 1, 2021	CloudTrucks	$120.0M Series B	—	20VC, Activant Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Atomico, Balderton Capital, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, BlueRun Ventures, Buckley Ventures, C2 Investment, Caffeinated Capital, Company Capital, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, CrunchFund, Curated, Daffy, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flex Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Founder Collective, Greylock, GSV Asset Management, Heretic Ventures, Indeed.com, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, M13, Menlo Ventures, Next Play Ventures, Red Swan Ventures, Ride Ventures, RTP Global, SciFi VC, Sequoia Capital, Seven Seven Six, Sinai Ventures, Weekend Fund, WorkLife Ventures, Andreas Ehn, Anthony Pompliano, Baron Davis, Fidji Simo, Jeremy Yap, John Collison, Kevin Lin, Kintan Brahmbhatt, Mike Krieger, Rob Theis, Scott Belsky, Steve Chen, Vipul Ved Prakash, William Hockey
Sep 1, 2021	Visor	$5.0M Seed	—	Atomico, Baird Capital, Baseline Ventures, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, BoxGroup, Bullpen Capital, byFounders, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Matt Ocko, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Flybridge Capital Partners, Founder Collective, G20 Ventures, Kain Capital, Khosla Ventures, LAUNCH, M13, Promus Ventures, Propeller VC, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sequoia Capital, Sinai Ventures, Trajectory Ventures, WGI Group, World Fund, Y Combinator, Andreas Ehn, David Chang, Dharmesh Shah, Eric Ries, Jennifer Lum, Mike Volpe, Othman Laraki, Pete Moore, Scott Belsky
Mar 1, 2021	Apploi	$8.0M Series A	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, OurCrowd, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Supernode Ventures, Underscore, Andreas Ehn
Dec 1, 2020	CloudTrucks	$21.0M Series A	—	20VC, Andreessen Horowitz, Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, C2 Investment, Caffeinated Capital, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Heretic Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, M13, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, SciFi VC, Seven Seven Six, Sinai Ventures, Weekend Fund, WorkLife Ventures, Andreas Ehn, Anthony Pompliano, Baron Davis, Fidji Simo, Jeremy Yap, John Collison, Kevin Lin, Mike Krieger, Scott Belsky, Steve Chen
Jan 1, 2020	Apploi	$6.0M Series A	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Andreas Ehn
Jan 1, 2020	CloudTrucks	$6.0M Seed	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, Osbon Capital Management, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Andreas Ehn
Apr 1, 2019	Alcove	$3.0M Seed	—	Founder Collective, Luv Ventures, NextView Ventures, Raine Ventures, The Hit Forge, Translink Capital, Twenty Two Ventures, Y Combinator, Kulveer Taggar
Jul 1, 2018	Cheers	$2.0M Seed	—	10100, Addition, BoxGroup, ENIAC Ventures, Founder Collective, M.G. Siegler, Javelin Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, NextView Ventures, Staircase Ventures, Y Combinator, Ade Olonoh, Louis Beryl, MG Siegler
Jun 1, 2018	Farmdrop	$13.0M Series B	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Andreas Ehn
Apr 1, 2018	Antler	$3.0M Seed	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures
Oct 1, 2017	Level	$9.0M Seed	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, ENIAC Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, Founder Collective, KRM Interests LLC, Lightbank, M13, One Way Ventures, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Surface Ventures, Techstars, Trinity Ventures, Andreas Ehn, Louis Beryl, Rob May
Jul 1, 2017	DigitalOutposts	$100K Seed	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Andreas Ehn
Apr 1, 2017	Farmdrop	$9.0M Series A	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, M13, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Sinai Ventures, Andreas Ehn
Sep 1, 2016	Level	$3.0M Seed	—	Atomico, Benchstrength, Bessemer Venture Partners, Converge Venture Partners, Craft Ventures, Defy Partners, Dimension Capital, ENIAC Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, Founder Collective, Freestyle Capital, General Catalyst, M.G. Siegler, KRM Interests LLC, Lightbank, M13, Nyca Partners, One Way Ventures, Red Swan Ventures, RTP Global, Seven Seven Six, Sinai Ventures, Surface Ventures, Techstars, Trinity Ventures, Y Combinator, Aaron Harris, Andreas Ehn, Eoghan McCabe, Eric Ries, Louis Beryl, MG Siegler, Rick Berry, Rob May, Balaji Srinivasan, Dragonfly Capital Partners, Founders' Co-op, Jana Messerschmidt, Julian Koh, Khosla Ventures, Renegade Partners

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Fitz Gate Ventures.

Leadership Team

Key people at Fitz Gate Ventures.

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Fitz Gate Ventures is an early-stage, network-driven venture capital firm with a mission to identify and empower exceptional startups, particularly those rooted in the Princeton region and broader New York and Texas ecosystems. The firm’s investment philosophy centers on independent sourcing, deep founder engagement, and leveraging a proprietary network of advisors and industry leaders—known as the “Friends of Fitz”—to provide strategic value beyond capital. Fitz Gate primarily invests in seed and pre-seed startups, with a strong emphasis on supporting local talent, university spinouts, and innovation-driven founders. Their portfolio spans deep tech, hard tech, and life sciences, and they have a proven track record of minting unicorns and enabling successful exits. By fostering connections between founders, investors, and experts, Fitz Gate has become a catalyst for regional innovation and a trusted partner in the startup ecosystem.

Origin Story

Founded in 2015, Fitz Gate Ventures was established by Jim Cohen and Mark Poag, both of whom have deep ties to Princeton University and the venture capital community. The firm’s roots are closely aligned with Princeton, where its principals have taught venture capital investing at the Graduate School and have cultivated relationships with faculty, researchers, and entrepreneurs. Over time, Fitz Gate expanded its reach to include Texas, leveraging similar academic and industry networks at Rice University. The firm’s evolution reflects a commitment to nurturing local innovation, with a focus on startups emerging from university research and regional talent pools. Early investments in Princeton-connected companies laid the foundation for a reputation built on hands-on support and strategic guidance.

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Fitz Gate specializes in independent sourcing and early-stage investing, often leading rounds and setting terms for follow-on funding. They reserve capital for follow-on rounds, ensuring sustained support for portfolio companies.
Network Strength: The “Friends of Fitz” community—comprising hundreds of founders, VCs, professors, and executives—provides unparalleled access to mentorship, customer introductions, and co-investment opportunities.
Track Record: Fitz Gate has minted unicorns from both of its first two funds and has attracted blue-chip co-investors, including Sequoia, Canaan, and TTV Capital.
Operating Support: Beyond capital, Fitz Gate offers hands-on guidance, board leadership, and rapid introductions to key stakeholders, helping founders scale efficiently.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Fitz Gate Ventures is riding the wave of university-driven innovation and the decentralization of venture capital beyond Silicon Valley. The firm’s focus on Princeton and Texas aligns with broader trends of regional tech hubs gaining prominence and academic research translating into commercial ventures. By supporting deep tech and hard tech startups, Fitz Gate is helping to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and market-ready solutions. Their model also reflects a growing emphasis on network-driven investing, where access to expertise and relationships is as valuable as capital. In doing so, Fitz Gate is shaping the next generation of founders and technologies, particularly in areas like quantum computing, biotech, and AI.

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Fitz Gate Ventures is poised to continue its influence as a leading early-stage investor in university-connected and regionally rooted startups. As the demand for deep tech and hard tech innovation grows, the firm’s network-driven approach and focus on founder support will remain critical differentiators. Future trends—such as the rise of quantum computing, advances in biotech, and the expansion of regional tech ecosystems—will likely amplify Fitz Gate’s impact. Their ability to identify and nurture local talent, combined with a robust advisor network, positions them to shape the next wave of breakthrough companies. Fitz Gate’s journey reflects a broader shift in venture capital: the power of community, connection, and local innovation is becoming the new frontier for startup success.

Sources

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Fitz Gate specializes in independent sourcing and early-stage investing, often leading rounds and setting terms for follow-on funding. They reserve capital for follow-on rounds, ensuring sustained support for portfolio companies.
Network Strength: The “Friends of Fitz” community—comprising hundreds of founders, VCs, professors, and executives—provides unparalleled access to mentorship, customer introductions, and co-investment opportunities.
Track Record: Fitz Gate has minted unicorns from both of its first two funds and has attracted blue-chip co-investors, including Sequoia, Canaan, and TTV Capital.
Operating Support: Beyond capital, Fitz Gate offers hands-on guidance, board leadership, and rapid introductions to key stakeholders, helping founders scale efficiently.