K9 Ventures

K9 Ventures is a technology-focused micro VC fund based in Palo Alto, California.

ActiveVenture Capital

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Updated: Feb 17, 2026 ·

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Sep 1, 2025	Time Atlas Labs	$2.0M Seed	—	Jett Fein, Operator Collective, Pioneer Fund, Cristina Cordova
Aug 1, 2025	Agenda Hero	$6.0M Seed	—	Jett Fein, Operator Collective, Pioneer Fund, Cristina Cordova, Tuomas Artman
May 1, 2025	Forethought	$25.0M Series D	—	8VC, AIX Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Axiom Partners, Balderton Capital, C2 Investment, Footprint Coalition, Greylock, Helion Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Inspired Capital, Kepler Operator’s Fund, Madrona Ventures, Recursive Ventures, Scheinman Angel Fund, Sound Ventures, South Park Commons, Spark Capital, Stellar Capital, Stellation Capital, Tribe Capital, Twelve Below, Village Global, WorkLife Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Andy Coravos, Baron Davis, Kelvin Beachum Jr., Krishna Mehra, Mathilde Collin, Peter Sonsini, Sahil Lavingia, Sam Altman, Trevor McFedries, Yan-David Erlich
Jan 1, 2025	Gumloop	$17.0M Series A	—	Vijaya Gadde, Floodgate, Jett Fein, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Logos Labs, NextView Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Operator Collective, Pioneer Fund, Shaan's All Access Fund, SRB Ventures, Cristina Cordova, Evan Williams, Scott Belsky, Tuomas Artman
Dec 1, 2024	Gentrace	$8.0M Series A	—	Kevin Hartz, Alpaca VC, Alven, Banana Capital, Blackbird Ventures Australia, Calibrate Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Craft Ventures, Essence VC, Jett Fein, Headline (formerly e.ventures), Operator Collective, Pioneer Fund, QED Investors, Square Peg Capital, SV Angel, Top Tier Capital Partners, Y Combinator, Alexis Bonillo, Antoine Martin, Cecilia Stallsmith, Claire Hughes Johnson, Guillaume Luccisano, Julius Genachowski, Khaled Helioui, Marco Palladino, Pierre-Yves Ricau, Surahbi Gupta, Ty Smith, Wayne Chang
Jan 1, 2024	Clerk	$30.0M Series B	—	8VC, AIX Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Axiom Partners, Balderton Capital, CRV, Ali Tamaseb, Footprint Coalition, Inspired Capital, Madrona Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Rain Capital, SignalFire, Sound Ventures, South Park Commons, Tribe Capital, Twelve Below, Two Sigma Ventures, Village Global, WorkLife Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Ameet Patel, Andy Coravos, Baron Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kelvin Beachum Jr., Mathilde Collin, Peter Sonsini, Ron Pragides, Trevor McFedries, Yan-David Erlich
Oct 1, 2023	Quintessent	$12.0M Seed	—	8VC, Afore Capital, Osage University Partners, Sierra Ventures, Howard Charney, Mike Gordon
Aug 1, 2023	Trellis Research	$15.0M Series B	—	Kevin Hartz, Adverb Ventures, Alt Capital, Calibrate Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, Craft Ventures, Foundry Group, Jett Fein, Headline (formerly e.ventures), March Capital, NextView Ventures, RRE Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners, Toyota Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, Adrian Aoun, Christina Cacioppo, Julius Genachowski, Khaled Helioui, Mathilde Collin, Tellef Thorleifsson, Tom Blomfield, Wayne Chang
Jul 1, 2023	Isometric	$25.0M Seed	—	Ada Ventures, Anthemis Group, Atomico, BITKRAFT Ventures, Dig Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, foobar.vc, Freigeist, Jett Fein, Ribbit Capital, Social Capital, Sony Innovation Fund, Bhavin Turakhia, Christian Reber, David Wallerstein, Kevin Lin, Malcolm Ferguson, Roy Meirom, Will Brooks, Will Martin
Jul 1, 2023	Anduin	$16.0M Series B	—	8VC, Afore Capital, Sierra Ventures, Howard Charney, Mike Gordon
Jun 1, 2023	Furiosa AI	$80.0M Series C	—	9Yards Capital, Adverb Ventures, Amity Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Chloe Sladden, Craft Ventures, Elefund, Ensemble VC, FirstMark Capital, Founders Fund, FPV Fund, Innovent Capital Group, Jigsaw VC, Long Journey Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Moonshots Capital, Sinai Ventures, Spero Ventures, Susa Ventures, Tribe Capital, TSVC Capital, Union Square Ventures, Vine Ventures LP, Louis Beryl, Russell Cook, Scott Banister, Scott Belsky, Stewart Butterfield, Todd Corenson, Vivek Garipalli
Mar 1, 2023	Clerk	$15.0M Series A	—	8VC, AIX Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Axiom Partners, Balderton Capital, C2 Investment, Ali Tamaseb, Footprint Coalition, Inspired Capital, Madrona Ventures, Point72 Ventures, S28 Capital, Sound Ventures, South Park Commons, Tribe Capital, Twelve Below, Two Sigma Ventures, Village Global, WorkLife Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Andy Coravos, Balaji Srinivasan, Baron Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kelvin Beachum Jr., Mathilde Collin, Peter Sonsini, Ron Pragides, Trevor McFedries, Yan-David Erlich, Guillermo Rauch
Feb 1, 2023	Aera Therapeutics	$190.0M Series B	—	Accel, ARCH Venture Partners, Arrive, F-Prime Capital Partners, GV, Lux Capital, Soffinova Partners, SR One, Upfront Ventures
Feb 1, 2023	evonetix	$24.0M Series B	—	Matt Ocko, Dimension Capital, First Round Capital, Foresite Capital, Krishna Yeshwant, IA Ventures, Lux Capital, Northpond Ventures, Recode Ventures, Uncork Capital, UpHonest Capital, Y Combinator, Nat Goldhaber
Sep 1, 2022	Ownera	$20.0M Series A	—	9Yards Capital, Adverb Ventures, Amity Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Chloe Sladden, Craft Ventures, Draper Goren Blockchain (DGB), Elefund, Ensemble VC, FirstMark Capital, Founders Fund, FPV Fund, Innovent Capital Group, Jigsaw VC, Long Journey Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Moonshots Capital, Sinai Ventures, Spero Ventures, Susa Ventures, Tribe Capital, TSVC Capital, Union Square Ventures, Vine Ventures LP, Jeffrey Lee, Louis Beryl, Russell Cook, Scott Banister, Scott Belsky, Stewart Butterfield, Todd Corenson, Vivek Garipalli
Sep 1, 2022	Invisible AI	$15.0M Series A	—	8VC, Airbus Ventures, AIX Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Axiom Partners, Baidu Ventures, Balderton Capital, Congruent Ventures, James Hardiman, Footprint Coalition, Andrew Wheeler, Inspired Capital, Jungle Ventures, LaunchPad, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Madrona Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Microsoft, Morpheus Ventures, Openspace Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Sierra Ventures, Sound Ventures, South Park Commons, Tribe Capital, Twelve Below, Village Global, Wellington Management, WorkLife Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Andy Coravos, Baron Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kelvin Beachum Jr., Mathilde Collin, Peter Sonsini, Trevor McFedries, Yan-David Erlich
Jul 1, 2022	Arkive	$10.0M Seed	—	9Yards Capital, Adverb Ventures, AirAngels, Alchemy Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Ambush Capital, 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, 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	Vanta	$110.0M Series B	—	8VC, AIX Ventures, Axiom Partners, Balderton Capital, Footprint Coalition, Index Ventures, Inspired Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Madrona Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Sound Ventures, South Park Commons, Tribe Capital, Twelve Below, Village Global, WorkLife Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Baron Davis, Charlie Cheever, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jared Leto, Kelvin Beachum Jr., Mathilde Collin, Peter Sonsini, Trevor McFedries, Yan-David Erlich
Jun 1, 2022	Jackpot	$42.0M Series A	—	Accomplice VC, Alt Capital, BITKRAFT Ventures, CMFG Ventures, Counterview Capital, Courtside Ventures, First Round Capital, Foresite Capital, Krishna Yeshwant, Moderne Ventures, Nex Cubed, Northpond Ventures, Plaid, QB1 Ventures, Rosecliff Ventures, Sacramento Angels, Saga, Sharp Alpha Advisors, Tribe Capital, Uncork Capital, What If Ventures, Colin Carrier, Jason Robins, Jon Goldman, Nat Goldhaber, Ollen Douglass, Rohit Gupta, Ryan Melohn
May 1, 2022	Mirvie	$45.0M Series B	—	First Round Capital, Foresite Capital, GV, Northpond Ventures, Uncork Capital, Nat Goldhaber
May 1, 2022	Pyramid Analytics	$120.0M Series E	—	9Yards Capital, Adams Street Partners, AllegisCyber Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, Citi Ventures, Cyberstarts VC, Grove Ventures, H.I.G. Capital, Index Ventures, Erel Margalit, Yoav Tzruya, Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), M12, Menlo Ventures, Race Capital, S Capital VC, Softbank Group, Spark Capital, Thylacine Capital, Ulu Ventures, Viola Ventures, Aryeh Mergi, Moshe Gaon, Steven Sinofsky, Tony Jamous
Apr 1, 2022	Celeri	$2.0M Seed	—	8VC, AIX Ventures, Alt Capital, Asylum Ventures, Axiom Partners, Balderton Capital, Footprint Coalition, Gradient Ventures, Inspired Capital, LAUNCH, Madrona Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Sound Ventures, South Park Commons, Tribe Capital, Twelve Below, Unpopular Ventures, Village Global, WorkLife Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Andy Coravos, Baron Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Johannes Schildt, Kelvin Beachum Jr., Mads Fosselius, Mathilde Collin, Peter Sonsini, Trevor McFedries, Yan-David Erlich
Mar 1, 2022	Pixxel	$27.0M Series A	—	43, 8VC, Afore Capital, AngelList, ATX Venture Partners, B Capital Group, Blume Ventures, Draper Associates, Embedded Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Fractal Growth Partners, Gaingels, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Inventus Capital Partners, KRM Interests LLC, Lightspeed India Partners, Mango Capital, Merak Ventures, Novum Capital Partners, O'Shaughnessy Ventures, Revolution, Seraphim Space, Sierra Ventures, Space Capital, SparkLabs Global Ventures, Techstars, TMV, UTEC - The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners, Ashish Taneja, Bart Swanson, Dylan Taylor, Howard Charney, Jon Gelsey, Keith Masback, Mike Gordon, Nick Sinai, Pratyus Patnaik
Mar 1, 2022	Guide	$8.0M Seed	—	9Yards Capital, Adverb Ventures, AirAngels, Alt Capital, Amity Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Chloe Sladden, Craft Ventures, Elefund, Ensemble VC, FirstMark Capital, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, FPV Fund, Innovent Capital Group, Jigsaw VC, Long Journey Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Moonshots Capital, Not Boring Capital, Outcast Ventures, Sinai Ventures, Spero Ventures, Susa Ventures, Tribe Capital, TSVC Capital, Union Square Ventures, Vine Ventures LP, Abhinav Asthana, Adam Blitzer, Akshay Kothari, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Barr Moses, Christina Cacioppo, Jeffrey Lee, Louis Beryl, Max Mullen, Ron Pragides, Russell Cook, Scott Banister, Scott Belsky, Stewart Butterfield, Todd Corenson, Vivek Garipalli
Feb 1, 2022	Siteline	$15.0M Series A	—	Adams Street Partners, CapitalG, H.I.G. Capital, Menlo Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Steven Sinofsky

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at K9 Ventures.

Manu Kumar

Investor

Leadership Team

Key people at K9 Ventures.

Manu Kumar

Investor

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

K9 Ventures is a technology-focused micro venture capital fund based in Palo Alto, California, specializing in early-stage, pre-seed investments. Its mission centers on partnering with exceptional founding teams to build transformative technology companies by providing the first institutional capital, typically ranging from $250K to $750K. The firm invests primarily in sectors such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, biotechnology, healthcare, and computer vision. K9 Ventures aims to have a meaningful impact on the startup ecosystem by being an active lead investor, taking board seats, and offering hands-on mentorship to help founders navigate product development, fundraising, recruiting, and growth challenges[2][3][5].

Origin Story

Founded in 2009, K9 Ventures was established with the goal of supporting startups at the earliest stages, often before they have raised any institutional capital. The firm’s founding partners brought a vision of investing in companies when teams are just forming and ideas are nascent, emphasizing a close, founder-focused approach. Over time, K9 has evolved to maintain a highly selective investment pace, typically backing only 4-6 companies per year to ensure deep engagement. This focus on pre-seed and seed rounds, combined with a preference for priced equity rounds over convertible notes or SAFEs, reflects their commitment to clear, founder-friendly deal structures and active partnership[2][3][5].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: K9 prefers to be the first institutional investor, often engaging with startups at the idea or very early product stage, and leads rounds with priced equity rather than convertible instruments.
Network Strength: Based in Palo Alto, K9 leverages deep connections in Silicon Valley’s technology ecosystem to support portfolio companies.
Track Record: With around 75 investments and 17 exits, K9 has demonstrated success in identifying and nurturing promising early-stage tech startups.
Operating Support: The firm provides hands-on mentorship across product, design, business models, recruiting, fundraising, M&A, and marketing, acting as a proactive sounding board while respecting founders’ time[1][3][5].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

K9 Ventures rides the wave of increasing innovation in frontier technologies such as AI, robotics, and biotech, sectors that are rapidly evolving and attracting significant attention. The timing is critical as many startups in these areas require early, patient capital and strategic guidance to navigate complex technical and market challenges. By focusing on pre-seed investments, K9 helps fill a crucial funding gap, enabling breakthrough ideas to develop into scalable businesses. Their active involvement and selective investment approach contribute to strengthening the early-stage startup ecosystem in Silicon Valley and beyond, fostering innovation where it matters most[2][3].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, K9 Ventures is likely to continue its focused strategy of backing early-stage technology startups, especially in cutting-edge sectors like AI and biotech, where transformative opportunities abound. As market dynamics evolve with new technological breakthroughs and shifting capital flows, K9’s hands-on, founder-centric model positions it well to identify and nurture the next generation of impactful companies. Their influence may grow as they deepen their portfolio and leverage their Silicon Valley network to help startups scale globally, maintaining their role as a vital catalyst in the micro VC space[3][5].

Sources

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: K9 prefers to be the first institutional investor, often engaging with startups at the idea or very early product stage, and leads rounds with priced equity rather than convertible instruments.
Network Strength: Based in Palo Alto, K9 leverages deep connections in Silicon Valley’s technology ecosystem to support portfolio companies.
Track Record: With around 75 investments and 17 exits, K9 has demonstrated success in identifying and nurturing promising early-stage tech startups.
Operating Support: The firm provides hands-on mentorship across product, design, business models, recruiting, fundraising, M&A, and marketing, acting as a proactive sounding board while respecting founders’ time[1][3][5].