Founder Collective

This venture capital firm invests in seed-stage startups with an IT component, focusing on East Coast and global markets, backed by a network of successful e...

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Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

About

Founder Collective is a seed-stage venture capital fund, built by a collection of successful entrepreneurs. The firm is headquartered in New York City and Cambridge, but makes investments all over the world. With $50M under management, the fund is focused on East coast investments. Founder Collective is industry agnostic, but the firm prefers companies that have an information technology component.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Nov 1, 2025	AirOps	$40.0M Series B	—	Greylock, Wing Venture Capital, David Rogier, JD Ross
Oct 1, 2025	SirenOpt	$7.0M Venture Round	—	LocalGlobe, Shorea Ventures, Visionaries Club, Fredrik Hjelm, Jan Dzulko, Martin Olczyk
Sep 1, 2025	Cardless	$60.0M Series C	—	Curie.Bio, Flexcap, Operator Stack, Red Swan Ventures, Spark Capital, Team Ignite Ventures, Khaled Helioui, Nicky Goulimis
Sep 1, 2025	RockSolid Network	$3.0M Seed	—	Acario, Airtree Ventures, Cadenza Capital Management, Castle Island Ventures, Initialized Capital, ShareBear Capital
Sep 1, 2025	Fluidize	$500K Seed	—	CRV, Neu Venture Capital, SV Angel, The Finger Group, Y Combinator, Roger Ehrenberg
Sep 1, 2025	Brale	$30.0M Seed	—	Accel, Acrew Capital, BITKRAFT Ventures, DST Global, Foundation Capital, Greylock, Illuminate Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ludlow Ventures, Jeff Immelt, Scott Sandell, New Enterprise Associates, Tenacity Venture Capital, The Fintech Fund, Union Square Ventures, Steve Krausz, Greg Kidd, Kunal Shah, Naveen Jain, Shlomo Kramer
Sep 1, 2025	Filevine	$260.0M Series E	—	2048 Ventures, Accel, Album VC, Brainchild, DealerSocket, Entrée Capital Ventures, FJ Labs, Insight Partners, Marketplace Capital, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Signal Peak Ventures, Sound Ventures, TCV, Teamworthy Ventures, The Finger Group, Wellington Management, Arie Abecassis, Eli Manning, Rob Glaser, Shane Battier
Aug 1, 2025	Tahoe Therapeutics	$30.0M Series A	—	Amplify Partners, Cisco Investments, Eclipse Ventures, Felicis Ventures, First Round Capital, General Catalyst, Harmonix Fund, M12, Meritech Capital Partners, Montage Ventures, Msd Capital, Next47, Yousuf Khan, Wing Venture Capital, Ayman AlAbdallah, Mike Vernal
Jul 1, 2025	xLight	$41.0M Series B	—	Andreessen Horowitz, Matt Ocko, Insight Partners, Morpheus Ventures, Playground Global, SineWave Ventures, Trucks Venture Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Stephen Cole
Jul 1, 2025	Savvy Wealth	$72.0M Series B	—	Alumni Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Chemistry VC, Collab+Currency, Foundation Capital, Industry Ventures, North Island Ventures, Rock Ventures, The House Fund, Third Prime, Thrive Capital, Upfront Ventures, Vera Equity, David de Picciotto, Mark Casady, William Wolf, Zachary Hargreaves
Jun 1, 2025	Weavy	$4.0M Seed	—	DataPower Ventures, Designer Fund, Sequoia Capital, Christian Reber, Koen Bok, Mario Götze, Niklas Jansen, Scott Belsky
Jun 1, 2025	Antimetal	$20.0M Series A	—	AirAngels, AngelList, C2 Investment, Greylock, Homebrew, Innovation Endeavors, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Otherwise Fund, Preston-Werner Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Spark Capital, Spero Ventures, Aaron Levie, Adrian Aoun, Akshay Kothari, Amjad Masad, Andrew Berman, Arash Ferdowsi, Ben Tossell, Ben Uretsky, Charlie Cheever, Charlie Songhurst, Christina Cacioppo, David Lieb, Ding Zhou, Frederic Kerrest, Howie Liu, Jeremy Stoppelman, Karim Atiyeh, Kyle Vogt, Matteo Franceschetti, Max Mullen, Mike Hudack, Mike Krieger, Neha Narkhede, Sam Blond, Siqi Chen, Tobias Lutke
Jun 1, 2025	Applied Intuition	$600.0M Series F	—	AngelList, Greylock, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital, Aaron Levie, Akshay Kothari, Frederic Kerrest, Howie Liu, Immad Akhund, Jeremy Stoppelman, Max Mullen, Michael Ma, Neha Narkhede, Oliver Cameron, Sam Blond
Jun 1, 2025	LuminX	$6.0M Seed	—	EQT Ventures, Outrun Ventures
Jun 1, 2025	zeroRISC	$10.0M Seed	—	Accomplice VC, Alabaster, Amadeus Capital Partners, Fontinalis Partners, Foundry Group, Fusion Fund, Playfair Capital, Primetime Partners, Scale Asia Ventures, SOSV, Stata Venture Partners, Tiger Global Management, Jason Haider, Joi Ito, Paul Veugen, Pete Hutton, Rajeev Surati, Scott Belsky
May 1, 2025	Finwave Semiconductor	$8.0M Venture Round	—	Alumni Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Construct Capital, Pillar VC, Safar Partners, The Engine, Frederic Kerrest
May 1, 2025	Ravio	$12.0M Series A	—	Andreessen Horowitz, Bora&Sons, Founders Fund, Gaingels, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Jett Fein, Hitachi Ventures, Softbank Group, Spark Capital, Streamlined Ventures, SV Angel, Tenaya Capital, Trajectory Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Walden Catalyst Ventures, Y Combinator, Paul Graham, Richard Branson, Sam Altman
May 1, 2025	Superblocks	$23.0M Series A	—	Andreessen Horowitz, AngelList, C2 Investment, Greylock, Kapor Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Saga, Spark Capital, Peter Chernin, Triatomic Capital, XYZ Venture Capital, Aaron Levie, Adam D'Angelo, Akshay Kothari, Frederic Kerrest, Howard Schultz, Howie Liu, Jeremy Stoppelman, Max Mullen, Neha Narkhede, Nick Caldwell, Sam Blond
May 1, 2025	Realta Fusion	$36.0M Series A	—	Andreessen Horowitz, AngelList, Bascom Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Ali Tamaseb, Divergence Ventures, Future Ventures, Greylock, Helium-3 Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, Quiet Capital, Rivet Ventures, Scale Asia Ventures, Solana Ventures, The Venture Reality Fund, TitletownTech, Unruly Capital, UpHonest Capital, Y Combinator, YLEM, Arash Ferdowsi, Aston Motes, Augusto Marietti, Dylan Field, Eden Chen, Howie Liu, Immad Akhund, Jack Smith, James Gwertzman, Matt Bellamy, Nate Mitchell, Paul McKellar, Sumon Sadhu
May 1, 2025	Theo Ai	$4.0M Seed	—	186 Ventures, Accomplice VC, Arrive, Baseline Ventures, Beat Ventures, Boston Seed Capital, Collide Capital, Impellent Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, NextView Ventures, Operator Collective, Predictive VC, The Hit Forge, Village Global, VitalStage Ventures, Y Combinator, Akash Garg, David Chang, Jeff Seibert, Jennifer Lum, Sahin Boydas, Scott Belsky, Wayne Chang
May 1, 2025	Parloa	$120.0M Series C	—	Andreessen Horowitz, C2 Investment, Cambrian Ventures, Coatue, Electric Capital, EQT Ventures, Founders Fund, Franklin Templeton Investments, General Catalyst, Gradient Ventures, Green Bay Ventures, Incisive Ventures, LGF, Outrun Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Roosh Ventures, Seven Seven Six, Spark Capital, Y Combinator, Alexandre Scialom, Ben Lang, Elad Gil, Jeffrey Wilke, Justin Mateen, Ron Pragides, Vinay Hiremath, William Hockey
May 1, 2025	Ontik	$4.0M Seed	—	BlackWood Ventures, Firstminute Capital, Giant Ventures, Biz Stone, Jeremy Cai, Miki Kuusi, Tom Blomfield
Apr 1, 2025	Steadily	$30.0M Series C	—	FirstMark Capital, Matrix, RET Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Touchdown Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, Zigg Capital, Mike Bestvina, Shane Neman
Apr 1, 2025	Authorium	$8.0M Series A	—	Brewer Lane Ventures, Curie.Bio, Govtech Fund, Operator Partners, Portage Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures
Apr 1, 2025	Sourgum Waste	$13.0M Series A	—	Jett Fein, Headline (formerly e.ventures), Pillar VC, Spark Capital, Tenaya Capital, Threshold Ventures

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Founder Collective.

Leadership Team

Key people at Founder Collective.

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Founder Collective is a seed-stage venture capital firm with a mission to be the most aligned partner for founders building transformative companies from the earliest stages. The firm is known for its founder-first philosophy, intentionally keeping fund sizes small to maintain focus and flexibility, and prioritizing deep, long-term relationships with entrepreneurs. Founder Collective invests across sectors but has a strong track record in startups with information technology components, supporting both East Coast and global ventures. Its impact on the startup ecosystem is marked by backing high-growth companies that have gone on to become unicorns and decacorns, shaping the next generation of innovation.

Origin Story

Founded in 2009 by a group of successful entrepreneurs—including David Frankel, Eric Paley, and Micah Rosenbloom—Founder Collective was born out of a desire to create a venture fund that truly understood the founder experience. The partners themselves were founders first, bringing firsthand operational insight to their investing approach. Over the years, the firm has evolved to remain at the forefront of seed investing, maintaining its commitment to early-stage support while adapting to a rapidly changing market. Its East Coast roots have expanded into a global network, but the core ethos—backing founders with empathy, expertise, and a hands-on approach—has remained constant.

Core Differentiators

Founder-First Philosophy: All full-time investors are former founders, bringing real-world experience and empathy to their partnerships.
Seed-Stage Focus: The firm specializes in pre-seed and seed rounds, often providing the first professional capital to startups.
Network Strength: Backed by a powerful collective of successful entrepreneurs, Founder Collective offers founders access to a robust network for mentorship, hiring, and growth.
Sector Agnostic, IT-Leaning: While open to all sectors, the firm has a strong presence in IT, communications, consumer products, and life sciences.
Long-Term Alignment: The firm is not a lifecycle investor and does not rigidly pursue pro rata rights, prioritizing founder flexibility and alignment over ownership targets.
Operating Support: Beyond capital, Founder Collective provides hands-on guidance, strategic introductions, and operational support to help founders scale.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Founder Collective is riding the wave of democratized innovation, where early-stage startups—especially those with IT and digital components—are increasingly able to disrupt traditional industries. The firm’s timing is critical: as the seed market has become more competitive, Founder Collective’s founder-centric model stands out in a landscape crowded with larger, more rigid funds. By focusing on the East Coast and global markets, the firm helps bridge regional gaps in access to capital and expertise. Its influence is evident in the success of its portfolio companies, many of which have gone public or achieved significant scale, reinforcing the importance of early-stage support in the broader tech ecosystem.

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Founder Collective is poised to continue shaping the future of seed investing by staying true to its mission while thoughtfully evolving its strategy. As the venture landscape becomes more competitive and founders demand more flexible, empathetic partners, the firm’s founder-first approach will remain a key differentiator. The ongoing debate around pro rata rights and opportunity funds suggests that Founder Collective may further refine its model to balance alignment with growth opportunities. In the years ahead, its influence will likely expand as it continues to back visionary founders building the next wave of transformative technology companies—proving that the most powerful investments are those made with both capital and conviction.

Sources

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Founder-First Philosophy: All full-time investors are former founders, bringing real-world experience and empathy to their partnerships.
Seed-Stage Focus: The firm specializes in pre-seed and seed rounds, often providing the first professional capital to startups.
Network Strength: Backed by a powerful collective of successful entrepreneurs, Founder Collective offers founders access to a robust network for mentorship, hiring, and growth.
Sector Agnostic, IT-Leaning: While open to all sectors, the firm has a strong presence in IT, communications, consumer products, and life sciences.
Long-Term Alignment: The firm is not a lifecycle investor and does not rigidly pursue pro rata rights, prioritizing founder flexibility and alignment over ownership targets.
Operating Support: Beyond capital, Founder Collective provides hands-on guidance, strategic introductions, and operational support to help founders scale.