MKT1 Capital

Invests in high-growth B2B marketing and sales technology startups, focusing on scalable solutions for enterprise customers.

ActiveVenture Capital

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Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

About

The B2B Marketing Fund

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Sep 1, 2025	Wexler AI	$5.0M Seed	—	Seedcamp, Johannes Schildt
Sep 1, 2025	DaltonTx	$5.0M Seed	—	Seedcamp
Aug 1, 2025	Develop Health	$18.0M Series A	—	Afore Capital, Alt Capital, C2 Investment, Electric Capital, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Plaid, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, Susa Ventures, Wing Venture Capital, Chase Gilbert, Derrick Li, Matt Macinnis, Parker Conrad
Jul 1, 2025	Parspec	$20.0M Series A	—	10100, Building Ventures, S28 Capital, Sweater Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Webb Investment Network, Aaron Rankin (Sprout Social), Emily Kramer, Grant Miller, Ron Pragides
Jun 1, 2025	GhostEye	$500K Seed	—	10100, S28 Capital, Sweater Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Webb Investment Network, Aaron Rankin (Sprout Social), Emily Kramer, Grant Miller, Ron Pragides
Jun 1, 2023	Parabola	$24.0M Series B	—	Abstract Ventures, AirAngels, Alt Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, AngelPad, Ascend Vietnam Ventures, Audacious Ventures, Battery Ventures, B Capital Group, BILL, Connect Ventures, Craft Ventures, Era Ventures, First Round Capital, Founders' Co-op, Greylock, ICONIQ Capital, LGF, Lightspeed India Partners, Madrona Ventures, Matrix, Merus Capital, mParticle, Norwest Venture Partners, Openview Venture Partners, Paradox Capital, Pareto Holdings, Pear VC, Sapphire Ventures, Stripe, The Hit Forge, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Yamaha Motor Ventures, Y Combinator, Akshay Kothari, Alex Payne, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Aston Motes, Austin Walters, Chris Murphy, Chris Schagen, Christian Reber, Cristina Cordova, Derrick Li, Dharmesh Shah, Emily Kramer, Eric Wu, Evan Moore, Gokul Rajaram, Immad Akhund, Jon Brelig, Mathilde Collin, Melissa Tan, Mike Hennessey, Mike Hudack, Ron Pragides, Roxanne Varza, Ryan Chan, Saran Chari, Scott Belsky, Stanley Tang, Thibaud Elziere, Tony Xu, Zack Kanter
May 1, 2023	WireMock	$7.0M Seed	—	11.2 Capital, Battery Ventures, Connect Ventures, First Rays Venture Partners, Oceans, Pareto Holdings, Akriti Dokania, Ridge Ventures, Scribble Ventures, Y Combinator, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Chris Murphy, Chris Schagen, Emily Kramer, Mike Hudack, Ron Pragides, Zack Kanter
May 1, 2023	Develop Health	$2.0M Seed	—	Afore Capital, Alt Capital, C2 Investment, Electric Capital, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Norio Ventures, Plaid, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, Susa Ventures, Chase Gilbert, Matt Macinnis, Parker Conrad
Apr 1, 2023	Granola	$4.0M Seed	—	Vijaya Gadde, Battery Ventures, BigSpring, BoxGroup, Connect Ventures, First Round Capital, Homebrew, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Logos Labs, Not Boring Capital, Otherwise Fund, Pareto Holdings, Quiet Capital, Sequoia Capital, Spero Ventures, Y Combinator, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Arash Ferdowsi, Brendan O'Driscoll, Chris Murphy, Chris Schagen, Emily Kramer, Evan Williams, Gabriel Jarrosson, Kunal Shah, Mark Pincus, Max Mullen, Nate Matherson, Ron Pragides, Samvit Ramadurgam, Scott Belsky, Zack Kanter
Mar 1, 2023	Soul Wallet	$3.0M Seed	—	AlleyCorp, Alt Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bankless Ventures, C2 Investment, Electric Capital, FMFW.io, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, LAUNCHub Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Meta Change Capital, Microtraction, Outlier Ventures, Patron, Pioneer Fund, Plaid, Plug & Play Ventures, rali_cap, Resonado, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, Susa Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, Chase Gilbert, Derrick Li, Jeff Clarke, Matt Macinnis, Parker Conrad, Stani Kulechov, Tyler Scott Ward
Feb 1, 2023	Svix	$8.0M Venture Round	—	10100, 20VC, Acadian Ventures, Accel, Alumni Ventures, Alven, Andreessen Horowitz, Arrive, Ascend Vietnam Ventures, Bedrock Capital, Bling Capital, BoxGroup, Broadhaven Capital Partners, Cambrian Ventures, CFV Ventures, Chemistry VC, Coatue, Connect Ventures, Contrary Capital, Conversion Capital, Cubit Investments Ltd, Emergence Capital, Aniq Kassam, HDC Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Indeed.com, Kearny Jackson, KRM Interests LLC, Lionheart Ventures, Mercato Partners, monashees, Next Play Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Pioneer Fund, Redpoint Ventures, RTP Global, S28 Capital, Salesforce Ventures, SeaX Ventures, #SecretFund, sequel, Sequoia Capital, Slack Fund, SNR, Spark Capital, Stellar Capital, Streamlined Ventures, SV Latam Fund, Sweater Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Tribe Capital, TY, Ulu Ventures, Uncork Capital, Union Square Ventures, Webb Investment Network, Y Combinator, Aaron Rankin (Sprout Social), Aaron Rosenson, Antoine Martin, Calvin Chu, Charlie Songhurst, Christian Reber, Emily Kramer, Eric Nadalin, Garrett Koehn, Gokul Rajaram, Grant Miller, Guy Podjarny, Martin Li, Nicolas Steegmann, Paul Forster, Ravi Grover, Ron Pragides, Sahin Boydas, Sam Altman, Simon Dawlat
Jan 1, 2023	Arch	$3.0M Seed	—	Jana Messerschmidt, Battery Ventures, Connect Ventures, Emerge, Factor[e] Ventures, FinTech Collective, IVP, Khosla Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Picus Capital, Y Combinator, Yext, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Chris Murphy, Chris Schagen, Dylan Field, Emily Kramer, Eric Wu, Gokul Rajaram, Mike Hudack, Ron Pragides, Tony Xu, Zack Kanter
Dec 1, 2022	Giskard	$2.0M Seed	—	AirAngels, Battery Ventures, Connect Ventures, Lead Edge Capital, Moonfire Ventures, Motier Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Speedinvest, Y Combinator, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Charles Gorintin, Chris Murphy, Chris Schagen, Emily Kramer, Jean Charles Samuelian, Mathilde Collin, Mike Hudack, Riccardo Zacconi, Ron Pragides, Roxanne Varza, Sebastian Knutsson, Varsha Rao, Zack Kanter
Nov 1, 2022	Plain.	$6.0M Seed	—	9Yards Capital, Abstract Ventures, Kevin Hartz, AirAngels, Allison Pickens Ventures, formerly The New Normal Fund, Alt Capital, Alumni Ventures, Amplify Partners, Asymmetric Capital Partners, Banana Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, C2 Investment, Cherry Ventures, Connect Ventures, Craft Ventures, Earl Grey Capital, Electric Capital, Fika Ventures, First Round Capital, foobar.vc, Founders Fund, F-Prime Capital Partners, Innovation Endeavors, Inventure, Jude Gomila Rolling Fund, Kearny Jackson, Khosla Ventures, La Famiglia, Menlo Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Mischief Venture Capital, Mosaic Ventures, Mucker Capital, Offline Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Pioneer Fund, Plaid, Primetime Partners, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, Scribble Ventures, Seedcamp, Sequoia Capital, Seven Seven Six, Solid Bond Capital, Stripe, Susa Ventures, Terra Venture Partners, Village Global, YLEM, Azeem Azhar, Calum Forsyth, Carl Pei, Chase Gilbert, Dan Wright, David Petersen, Derrick Li, Eric Ries, Frederic Kerrest, Gordon Wintrob, Jeremy Cai, Jon Runyan, Mathilde Collin, Matt Macinnis, Max Mullen, Oscar Pierre, Parker Conrad, Paul Rios, Peter Kazanjy, Ryan Carlson, Ryan Chan, Scott Belsky, Siqi Chen, Thibaud Hug de Larauze, Tony Xu
Aug 1, 2022	Pomelo	$20.0M Seed	—	20VC, 8VC, 9Yards Capital, Kevin Hartz, A* Capital (A Star Capital), ACME Capital, Addition, Afore Capital, AirAngels, Alt Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Buckley Ventures, C2 Investment, Cedar Capital Group, Coalition Operators, Earl Grey Capital, Electric Capital, Force Over Mass Capital, Founders Fund, GSR Ventures, M.G. Siegler, Index Ventures, Kaszek Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Latitud, Mantis VC, monashees, NXTP Ventures, Origin Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Plaid, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, SciFi VC, Section 32, Slow Ventures, Susa Ventures, Trust Fund, Volition Capital, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Bangaly Kaba, Baron Davis, Biz Stone, Bradley Horowitz, Chase Gilbert, Claire Hughes Johnson, Derrick Li, George Ruan, Julia Hartz, Julian Shapiro, Karim Atiyeh, Louis Beryl, Manik Gupta, Martin Varsavsky, Mathilde Collin, Matt Macinnis, Melissa Tan, MG Siegler, Parker Conrad, Philippe Teixeira da Mota, Ravi Grover, Ryan Tedder, Scott Belsky, Shervin Pishevar, Siqi Chen, Tyler Willis, Vindi Banga, William Hockey
Aug 1, 2022	Aisera	$90.0M Series D	—	10100, Acrew Capital, Felicis Ventures, H.I.G. Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Owl Rock Capital Partners, S28 Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Sherpalo Ventures, Sweater Ventures, The Hit Forge, Threshold Ventures, True Ventures, Webb Investment Network, What If Ventures, Aaron Rankin (Sprout Social), Emily Kramer, Grant Miller, Ron Pragides, Shlomo Kramer
Jul 1, 2022	Equals	$7.0M Seed	—	Accel, Alt Capital, C2 Investment, Craft Ventures, Dragonfly Capital Partners, Electric Capital, Felicis Ventures, Founders Fund, F-Prime Capital Partners, Khosla Ventures, LGF, Plaid, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Susa Ventures, Chase Gilbert, Claire Hughes Johnson, David Petraeus, Derrick Li, Gretchen Howard, Guy Podjarny, Henry Kravis, Matt Macinnis, Parker Conrad, William Hockey
Jul 1, 2022	Neon	$30.0M Series A	—	Alt Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, C2 Investment, Electric Capital, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Notable Capital, Plaid, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, Susa Ventures, Trajectory Ventures, Chase Gilbert, Derrick Li, Matt Macinnis, Parker Conrad, Quinn Slack, Guillermo Rauch
Jun 1, 2022	Flexpa	$9.0M Seed	—	Alt Capital, C2 Investment, Electric Capital, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Plaid, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, Susa Ventures, Chase Gilbert, Derrick Li, Matt Macinnis, Parker Conrad
Jun 1, 2022	Auxilius	$10.0M Series A	—	AlleyCorp, Alt Capital, Bullpen Capital, C2 Investment, Electric Capital, Founders Fund, G20 Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Plaid, Renegade Partners, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, Susa Ventures, Vinyl Capital, Work-Bench, XYZ Venture Capital, Derrick Li, Matt Macinnis, Michael Ma, Parker Conrad
Jun 1, 2022	Opal Security	$10.0M Series A	—	10100, Abstract Ventures, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, C2 Investment, Felicis Ventures, Framework Ventures, Greylock, Pantera Capital, Paradigm, S28 Capital, Seed Club Ventures, Sweater Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Webb Investment Network, Aaron Levie, Aaron Rankin (Sprout Social), Arash Ferdowsi, Balaji Srinivasan, Charlie Cheever, Christina Cacioppo, Dylan Field, Emily Kramer, Frederic Kerrest, Grant Miller, Jawed Karim, John Collison, Julia Hartz, Mark Cuban, Ron Pragides, Tobias Lutke
Jun 1, 2022	Repool	$4.0M Seed	—	50 Partners, Abstract Ventures, Kevin Hartz, Alkeon Capital, Alt Capital, Alumni Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Amplo, AngelList Syndicator, Axiom Partners, BoxOne Ventures, Buckley Ventures, C2 Investment, Champion Hill Labs, Concept Ventures, Conversion Capital, Matt Ocko, DST Global, Earl Grey Capital, Electric Capital, Endeavor Venture Funds, Exponent Founders Capital, FirstHand Alliance, Foundation Capital, Founders Fund, Goat Capital, Greylock, GSV Ventures, Hardware Club, Khosla Ventures, LAUNCH, LGF, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Maven Ventures, NEO, Hans Tung, Not Boring Capital, NXTP Labs, One Way Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Pareto Holdings, Pario Ventures, Patron, Plaid, Quiet Capital, Ribbit Capital, Runa Capital, Saga, Scalar Capital, Sequoia Capital, Shaan's All Access Fund, SRB Ventures, Susa Ventures, SV Angel, Thirty Five Ventures, Vouch Insurance, Aaron King, Aaron Rankin (Sprout Social), Adam D'Angelo, Adam Michalski, Ameet Patel, Balaji Srinivasan, Bill Tai, Brad Holden, Charlie Cheever, Charlie Songhurst, Chase Gilbert, Chris Fanini, Daniel Kan, David Petersen, David Petraeus, Derrick Li, Emmett Shear, Fredrik Hjelm, Guy Podjarny, Henry de Zoete, Hugues De Braucourt, Immad Akhund, James Beshara, Jason Hunt, Jay Jamison, JD Ross, Jeff Seibert, John Hennessy, Julia Hartz, Julian Shapiro, Karim Atiyeh, Kyle Vogt, Leore Avidar, Luca Ascani, Marcelo Sampaio, Matteo Franceschetti, Matt Macinnis, Mikhail Seregine, Nicolas Berggruen, Oleg Rogynskyy, Oliver Jung, Parker Conrad, Paulo Silveira, Pedro Franceschi, Philippe Teixeira da Mota, Rafael Larragoiti Lucas, Roxanne Varza, Ted Serbinski, Thomas Rebaud, Tom Blomfield, Victoria van Lennep, Vikas Gupta, Viral Bajaria, Vishal Rao, Wayne Chang
Apr 1, 2022	alphaMountain.ai	$3.0M Seed	—	10100, S28 Capital, Sweater Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Webb Investment Network, Aaron Rankin (Sprout Social), Emily Kramer, Grant Miller, Ron Pragides
Apr 1, 2022	Sealed	$30.0M Series B	—	10100, Kevin Hartz, Accel, Bond, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Fifth Wall, Footprint Coalition, Future Shape, JLL Spark, Khosla Ventures, Next Play Ventures, Marc van den Berg, S28 Capital, Sound Ventures, Sweater Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Webb Investment Network, Wind Ventures, WndrCo LLC, Aaron Rankin (Sprout Social), Bradley Horowitz, Emily Kramer, George Kurtz, Gerhard Eschelbeck, Grant Miller, Justin Timberlake, Robert Vis, Ron Pragides, Ryan Reynolds, Stewart Butterfield, Tobias Lutke, Trevor Noah
Feb 1, 2022	OpsLevel	$15.0M Series A	—	10100, 468 Capital, Addition, Alkeon Capital, Arena Ventures, B Capital Group, BoxOne Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Matt Ocko, Earl Grey Capital, Endeavor Venture Funds, Felicis Ventures, Fika Ventures, FirstHand Alliance, First Round Capital, General Catalyst, Goat Capital, GSV Ventures, LAUNCH, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Maven Ventures, Mischief Venture Capital, Okta Ventures, Operator Partners, Pareto Holdings, Pario Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Root Ventures, Runa Capital, S28 Capital, Shaan's All Access Fund, Sprout Social, Inc., Sweater Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Tiger Global Management, Two Sigma Ventures, Webb Investment Network, Aaron King, Adam Michalski, Bill Tai, Chris Fanini, Daniel Kan, David Rosenberg, Dylan Field, Emmett Shear, Francesco Cipollone, Immad Akhund, Jason Hunt, Jay Jamison, Justin Mateen, Kyle Vogt, Mikhail Seregine, Oleg Rogynskyy, Siqi Chen, Steve Chen, Teddy Citrin, Ted Serbinski, Vikas Gupta, Viral Bajaria, Vishal Rao, William Hockey

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at MKT1 Capital.

Kelly Chrisman Specht

Leadership Team

Key people at MKT1 Capital.

Kelly Chrisman Specht

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

MKT1 Capital is an early-stage venture fund that invests in high-growth B2B marketing and sales technology startups, focusing on scalable solutions tailored for enterprise customers. Its mission is to produce outsized returns by identifying startups with strong go-to-market (GTM) viability and accelerating their marketing efforts through hands-on support and expertise. The firm’s investment philosophy centers on combining investor insight with deep marketing leadership to fill a gap in the startup ecosystem, emphasizing startups that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Key sectors include B2B SaaS and marketing technology, with a portfolio of 14 startups such as Anrok, Pocus, and Plain. MKT1 Capital impacts the startup ecosystem by advocating for marketing as a critical driver of startup success and by integrating marketing professionals into the investment process, thus enhancing founders’ ability to scale effectively[1][3][4].

Origin Story

Founded in 2022 by Emily Kramer (formerly of Asana and Carta) and Kathleen Estreich (formerly of Box, Intercom, and Scalyr), MKT1 Capital emerged from their shared recognition that marketing expertise was sorely missing in venture investing despite its outsized impact on startup success. Both founders brought extensive marketing leadership experience at high-growth B2B companies and sought to create a fund that not only invested capital but also provided hands-on marketing guidance. The fund quickly raised nearly $5 million in its first tranche, backed by prominent investors including Bain Capital Ventures and Atacama Ventures, and garnered support from notable general partners and marketing leaders across the tech industry. Over time, MKT1 has evolved to also focus on community building and education for marketers and founders, while continuing to support its portfolio companies[1][3][4].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Combines traditional venture capital with deep marketing expertise, offering both capital and hands-on marketing support to startups.
Network Strength: Access to a broad network of 75+ marketing leaders from top B2B startups (e.g., Airtable, Slack, Dropbox) who actively mentor and advise portfolio companies.
Track Record: Invested in 14 startups within its first two years, with a focus on companies demonstrating strong GTM potential.
Operating Support: Provides direct mentorship, marketing strategy workshops, and community resources to help startups scale their marketing and sales efforts effectively.
DEI Focus: Actively prioritizes investments in diverse founding teams and partners with LPs who share these values[1][3][5].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

MKT1 Capital rides the growing trend of recognizing marketing as a critical lever for startup growth, especially in B2B SaaS and enterprise sales technology. The timing is significant because many startups struggle with go-to-market execution despite having strong products, and marketing expertise is often underrepresented in early-stage investing. Market forces such as increased competition for enterprise customers and the complexity of sales cycles favor startups that can scale marketing efficiently. By integrating marketing professionals into the investment process and advocating for marketing education, MKT1 influences the broader ecosystem by reshaping how startups approach growth and how investors evaluate GTM viability[1][4][6].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Although MKT1 Capital stopped making new investments as of summer 2024, its founders continue to focus on advising, mentoring, and building the marketing community through MKT1’s newsletter and strategic workshops. The future outlook for MKT1 lies in deepening its role as a marketing thought leader and ecosystem builder, helping startups and investors better understand the value of marketing in scaling businesses. Trends shaping their journey include the increasing complexity of B2B sales, the rise of marketing technology, and the growing demand for diversity in startup leadership. MKT1’s influence is likely to evolve from direct investing to becoming a key resource and network hub for marketing-driven startup growth[3][6].

Sources

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Combines traditional venture capital with deep marketing expertise, offering both capital and hands-on marketing support to startups.
Network Strength: Access to a broad network of 75+ marketing leaders from top B2B startups (e.g., Airtable, Slack, Dropbox) who actively mentor and advise portfolio companies.
Track Record: Invested in 14 startups within its first two years, with a focus on companies demonstrating strong GTM potential.
Operating Support: Provides direct mentorship, marketing strategy workshops, and community resources to help startups scale their marketing and sales efforts effectively.
DEI Focus: Actively prioritizes investments in diverse founding teams and partners with LPs who share these values[1][3][5].