Story Ventures

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)
Sep 1, 2025	Brineworks	$8.0M Seed	—	SeaX Ventures, Ulu Ventures
Jun 1, 2025	Vertical Insure	$9.0M Series A	—	Bread and Butter Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, Dafina Toncheva, Ellen Pao, John Fontein
Jun 1, 2025	Empo Health	$7.0M Venture Round	—	IGNIA Partners, SeaX Ventures, SOSV, Ulu Ventures
Mar 1, 2025	LightSource	$33.0M Series A	—	Ardent Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Cherry Ventures, foobar.vc, J2 Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pillar VC, Seedcamp, Sunfish Partners, The Engine, Tribeca Venture Partners, Andrew Jones, Bastian Nominacher, Chris Murphy, Christian Reber, Gloria Baeuerlein, Gokul Rajaram, Jeppe Rindom, Maciej Frankowicz, Mads Fosselius
Jan 1, 2025	Delfina	$17.0M Series A	—	Bread and Butter Ventures, Collide Capital, Matchstick Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Dafina Toncheva, U.S. Venture Partners, Daren Cotter, Ellen Pao, John Fontein
Nov 1, 2023	Aether Biomedical	$6.0M Series A	—	J2 Ventures
Jan 1, 2023	Vertical Insure	$2.0M Seed	—	Bread and Butter Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, Dafina Toncheva, Ellen Pao, John Fontein
Jun 1, 2022	Pergamin	$1.0M Seed	—	J2 Ventures, Sunfish Partners, Maciej Frankowicz
Mar 1, 2022	Delfina	$5.0M Seed	—	Bread and Butter Ventures, Coalition Operators, Collide Capital, Cowboy Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, Pioneer Fund, True Ventures, Dafina Toncheva, Verity Venture Partners, Daren Cotter, Ellen Pao, John Fontein, Robin Pimentel, Shane Neman
Feb 1, 2022	Loloft	$1.0M Seed	—	8VC, EVE Atlas, Fontinalis Partners, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, Revolution, Kelvin Beachum Jr.
Jan 1, 2022	Tul	$180.0M Series B	—	8VC, AngelList, EVE Atlas, Fontinalis Partners, Foundamental, Greycroft, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, Revolution, Tiger Global Management, Trifecta Growth Equity, Y Combinator, Amit Jindal, Kelvin Beachum Jr., Kunal Shah, Rodolphe Ardant
Dec 1, 2021	KlearNow.AI	$50.0M Series B	—	8VC, EVE Atlas, Fontinalis Partners, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, Revolution, Kelvin Beachum Jr.
Feb 1, 2021	Voices	$2.0M Seed	—	75 & Sunny, Bessemer Venture Partners, Davidovs VC, FINTOP Capital, Foundation Capital, Founders Fund, Immeasurable, Indicator Ventures, Newtopia VC, Pareto Holdings, Scribble Ventures, Tucker Seed Fund LLC, Cory Levy, David and Daniil Liberman, Hannah Bronfman, Justin Mateen, Ron Pragides, Sean Rad
Dec 1, 2020	Supergreat	$7.0M Series A	—	9Yards Capital, Accel, Adjacent, Alt Capital, Amazon Alexa Fund, Antler, Archetype, Arrive, Bam Ventures, Benchmark, Converge Venture Partners, Convoz, Craft Ventures, Electric Capital, First Round Capital, Frontier Ventures, Jett Fein, Kleiner Perkins, LAUNCH, Left Lane Capital, Lerer Hippeau, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Long Journey Ventures, Olima Ventures, Paradigm, Plug & Play Ventures, Ravelin Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital, Sound Ventures, Sozo Ventures, Susa Ventures, Thrive Capital, TQ Ventures, Verified Capital, Volition Capital, Brad Lewthwaite, Colin Carrier, David Lieb, Demi Lovato, Jared Leto, Jared Sleeper, Joao Otavio Oliverio, Joe Greenstein, Justin Mateen, Justin Timberlake, Kevin Colas, Kevin Weil, Matt Coffin, Michael Stoppelman, Mike Vernal, Oskar Hartmann, Ron Pragides, Scott Belsky, Sean Flynn, Sean Rad, William Miller
Dec 1, 2020	Glosslab	$3.0M Seed	—	Hannah Bronfman, Justin Mateen
Dec 1, 2020	Wellory	$3.0M Seed	—	Alt Capital, Bread and Butter Ventures, Browder Capital, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Founders Fund, FTX Ventures, Gotham Gal Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Mischief Venture Capital, Oyster Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Saga, Slow Ventures, Summit Partners, TCV, The Hit Forge, Yes VC, Christina Cacioppo, Dharmesh Shah, Dylan Field, Fidji Simo, Immad Akhund, Jason Lemkin, Jonathan Neman, Joshua Reeves, Julian Shapiro, Justin Mateen, Max Mullen, Parker Conrad, Scott Belsky, Siqi Chen
Nov 1, 2020	Phood	$2.0M Seed	—	8VC, EVE Atlas, Fontinalis Partners, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, Revolution, Kelvin Beachum Jr.
Jul 1, 2020	Meroxa	$4.0M Seed	—	8VC, Acequia Capital, Addition, Andreessen Horowitz, BootstrapLabs, Coinbase Ventures, Dig Ventures, Earl Grey Capital, EVE Atlas, Fontinalis Partners, Founders Fund, Four Rivers Group, Greylock, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Independent, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, Kleiner Perkins, Liquid 2 Ventures, Madrona Ventures, Mango Capital, Motivate Ventures, Next Play Ventures, Olima Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Outrun Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Pioneer Square Labs, Propeller VC, Redpoint Ventures, Revolution, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Unlock Venture Partners, Vitalize Venture Group, Akshay Kothari, Anna Patterson, Augusto Marietti, Dylan Field, Evan Williams, Fidji Simo, Gokul Rajaram, Kevin Nazemi, Kevin Zuber, Max Mullen, Michael Stoppelman, Mike Krieger, Parker Conrad, Rikard Steiber, Rudra Peram, Ryan Chan, Scott Belsky, Shane Curran, Sujal Patel
Jun 1, 2019	Anvl	$2.0M Seed	—	8VC, Comcast Ventures, EVE Atlas, Fontinalis Partners, Foundry Group, Grand Ventures, High Alpha, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyperplane, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, Ravelin Capital, Refinery Ventures, Revolution, Touchdown Ventures, Upfront Ventures, Brad Coffey, Dan Springer, Kelvin Beachum Jr., Rob Meyerson
Feb 1, 2019	FreightWaves	$21.0M Series B	—	8VC, Cleveland Avenue, DeepWork Capital, EVE Atlas, Fontinalis Partners, General Catalyst, Ingeborg Investments, Interlace Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, LOUD Capital, Moving Capital, Revolution, Sixty8 Capital, Wind Ventures, Y Combinator, Colin Carrier, Emil Michael, Jeffrey Vinik, Josh Mohrer, Mark Pincus, Steve Aoki, Ted Serbinski
Jun 1, 2018	FreightWaves	$13.0M Series A	—	8VC, Cleveland Avenue, Fontinalis Partners, General Catalyst, Ingeborg Investments, Interlace Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, LOUD Capital, Moving Capital, Revolution, Sixty8 Capital, Wind Ventures, Y Combinator, Colin Carrier, Emil Michael, Josh Mohrer, Mark Pincus, Steve Aoki, Ted Serbinski
Nov 1, 2017	FreightWaves	$3.0M Seed	—	8VC, DeepWork Capital, EVE Atlas, Fontinalis Partners, Interlace Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Moving Capital, Wind Ventures, Y Combinator, Colin Carrier, Emil Michael, Jeffrey Vinik, Josh Mohrer, Mark Pincus, Steve Aoki, Ted Serbinski

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Story Ventures.

Leadership Team

Key people at Story Ventures.

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Story Ventures is a New York-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2016 that focuses on investing in startups at the intersection of connectivity, technology, and media, with a particular emphasis on data automation and processing. Their mission is to back entrepreneurs with bold visions who leverage technology and improved data handling to transform legacy industries. Key sectors include information technology, healthcare, financial services, software, SaaS, AI, enterprise, fintech, and hardware. Story Ventures aims to generate strong returns while helping portfolio companies realize their full potential by investing in foundational technologies that automate manual processes and enable machine intelligence[1][3][5].

Origin Story

Story Ventures was launched in 2016 to capitalize on the emerging trend of digital data systems automating manual processes in traditional industries. The founders combined experiences from firms like Fontinalis, Cravath, and Gunderson to create New York City's first exclusively data-focused venture capital firm. Their initial fundraising was challenging, but with support from early investors and mentors, they raised $5 million to pursue their vision. By 2018, after a successful first fund, they raised $25 million, increasing check sizes and taking board seats to deepen their involvement with portfolio companies. The firm’s evolution reflects a growing conviction in the transformative power of data automation and machine intelligence[6][1].

Core Differentiators

Exclusive Data Focus: Story Ventures is uniquely dedicated to the data stack, investing across data capture, aggregation, and application layers, including AI and machine learning.
Early-Stage Leadership: They lead pre-seed and seed rounds with check sizes ranging from $500K to $3M, actively supporting founders from the very first check.
Strong Network: The firm benefits from deep relationships with experienced investors and industry veterans who have helped shape its investment philosophy.
Operating Support: Beyond capital, Story Ventures provides strategic guidance, board participation, and operational support to help startups scale.
Sector Breadth: Their portfolio spans healthcare, AI, enterprise software, fintech, and hardware, reflecting a broad yet focused approach to data-driven innovation[5][6].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Story Ventures rides the wave of increasing digitization and automation of manual processes in legacy industries, a trend accelerated by advances in data capture technologies, middleware, and AI. The timing is critical as businesses seek to harness proprietary data for competitive advantage and improved decision-making. By focusing on foundational data infrastructure and machine intelligence, Story Ventures influences the broader ecosystem by enabling startups that build the essential building blocks for automated systems, thereby shaping the future of technology-driven industries[3][6].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Story Ventures is well-positioned to continue leading investments in the evolving data automation space, especially as AI and machine learning applications expand across sectors. Trends such as increased demand for data-driven decision-making, automation of legacy workflows, and the growth of AI infrastructure will likely shape their investment focus. Their influence may grow as they back the "authors" of the future data economy, helping startups that transform how data is captured, processed, and applied to solve complex problems. This trajectory aligns with their founding vision of enabling lasting impact through audacious, data-centric entrepreneurship[3][6].

Sources

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Exclusive Data Focus: Story Ventures is uniquely dedicated to the data stack, investing across data capture, aggregation, and application layers, including AI and machine learning.
Early-Stage Leadership: They lead pre-seed and seed rounds with check sizes ranging from $500K to $3M, actively supporting founders from the very first check.
Strong Network: The firm benefits from deep relationships with experienced investors and industry veterans who have helped shape its investment philosophy.
Operating Support: Beyond capital, Story Ventures provides strategic guidance, board participation, and operational support to help startups scale.
Sector Breadth: Their portfolio spans healthcare, AI, enterprise software, fintech, and hardware, reflecting a broad yet focused approach to data-driven innovation[5][6].