This week’s Moves in VC contains 13 Moves and 6 new fund announcements, compiled from 40+ sources.
NEW FUNDS
| Benchmark just blinked. For over two decades, they kept funds capped at ~$425M and backed only early-stage startups. That discipline became their identity while rivals chased mega-funds. They just closed $2B across two new funds, including a $1.25B growth vehicle, their first ever.If one of the most disciplined firms in Silicon Valley is rethinking how it operates, it’s worth asking what’s driving that change and what it means for the rest of the industry. |
🔴 San Francisco-based Kindred Ventures announced $355M across two funds, an early-stage fund and a growth-stage fund to focus on novel intelligence.
🔴 London-based Tramline Ventures closed its $13.4M Tramlines Fund I to focus on AI-native services companies.
🔴 Berlin-based Merantix Capital closed its $112M fund to back early-stage AI-native teams across Europe.
🔴 Palo Alto-based Gigascale raised $250M for its climate fund.
🔴 A group of Snap alums launched an undisclosed-size investment fund, Ghost Angels, to invest in AI startups.
ICYMI
🔵 Michael Zhao joined Eniac Ventures as a Principal. Michael previously worked at Vimcal as a Cofounder and CTO. Eniac Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm. He’s also a lovely guy! (Met him at our ‘Moves’ dinner last week!)
EASTERN US
🟠 My business school classmate Jindra Zitek left his role as a Partner and Head of Scale at Stripes. Stripes is a growth equity firm focusing on consumer and enterprise companies.
🟠 Josh Cohen and Dave DeSisto were promoted to Partner at Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures. Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Liberty Mutual Insurance, focuses on all segments of the P&C insurance market.
🟠 Maddy Gaiman Brosnan joined Khosla Ventures as a Director of Business Development. Maddy previously worked at Amex Ventures as a Partnerships & Platform Senior Manager.
🟠 Chris Oh joined 53 Stations as a Principal. Chris previously worked at GreenPoint Partners in Venture and Growth. 53 Stations is a venture capital firm supporting tech companies across sectors and stages.
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WESTERN US
🟢 Tanuj Dutta was promoted to General Partner at Congruent Ventures. Congruent Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focusing on mobility and urbanization, energy transition, food and agriculture, and sustainable production and consumption sectors.
🟢 David Rhoades joined Mighty Capital as the Head of Capital Formation. David previously worked at Aether Investment Partners as the Head of Capital Formation and Chief Operating Officer. Mighty Capital is a venture capital firm that leverages the Products That Count community for deal sourcing, diligence, customer introductions, and recruiting.
🟢 Jared Rosen left his role as a Managing Director at Insight Partners. Jared started a new role as a Cofounder and Managing Partner at IO Capital. IO Capital is a software growth equity firm.
🟢 Mark Valdez joined Pear VC as a Chief Operating Officer. Mark previously served as the CEO at Eads Bridge Holdings.
🟢 Soso Sazesh left his role as a Cofounder and General Partner at 43. 43 is a pre-product fund that helps founders reach product-market fit.
🟢 Emily Zhen and Ila Iyengar joined HealthQuest Capital as a Principal and Associate, respectively. Emily previously worked at Zeal Capital Partners as a Principal, while Ila worked at Strategy& as an Associate. HealthQuest Capital is a private asset firm focusing on medical products, diagnostics, healthcare IT, and innovative services.
🟢 Cameron Turner joined Sequoia Capital as a Communications Manager. Cameron previously worked at SBS Comms as a Director.
EUROPE
🟡 Julius Westphal joined Balderton Capital as an Investor. Julius previously worked at Peak as an Investment Manager.
ASIA
⚪ Aarushi Khanna was promoted to Partner at Arka Venture Labs. Arka Venture Labs is a pre-seed fund for Indian B2B founders.
FOR EMERGING MANAGERS
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Stay tuned for next week’s Moves in VC!
