Venture Capital Firm Boldstart Launches $250 Million Fund VII, Focusing on Investments in Autonomous Businesses
In a significant move, Boldstart Ventures, a New York City-based venture capital firm, has announced the close of its latest fund, **Fund VII**. With a total of $250 million dedicated to backing founders reimagining the enterprise from inception to category leadership, this marks the firm's largest fund to date[1][2].
The investment strategy of Boldstart Ventures is centered around high-conviction, hands-on investing at inception, and nothing else. This approach has proven successful, with the firm's assets under management growing significantly from $1 million in 2010 to over $1.1 billion today[2].
Key investments made by Boldstart Ventures include Snyk, a leader in open-source security, known for its platform that helps developers manage vulnerabilities in their code. Snyk has seen substantial growth and funding rounds, currently valued at $7.4 billion[1]. Other notable investments include BigID, a company specializing in data discovery and intelligence, and Protect AI, which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks for over $700 million[1].
Recently, Boldstart Ventures has shown interest in expanding its portfolio into emerging technologies like Web3 and AI security. This is evident in their participation in Hypernative's $40 million Series B round, a company providing real-time risk intelligence for both crypto and traditional finance[3][5].
The investment in Hypernative is Boldstart Ventures' biggest commitment yet to supporting the builders reimagining the operating system of the enterprise. Hypernative aims to unlock programmable money and permissionless automation, enabling trustless coordination across systems at scale. The systems built by Hypernative will run at machine scale, continuously learning, reasoning, and operating in real time[1].
Eliot Durbin, another General Partner at Boldstart Ventures, emphasizes that the inception stage is about more than just capital, it's about compound leverage and working side by side with technical founders. Fund VII is dedicated to backing bold technical teams from the very first commit[1].
In the past, Boldstart Ventures has also seen success with inception-stage investments. Kustomer, another investment from Boldstart, was sold to Meta for a reported $1 billion, and Clay, another inception-stage investment, is valued at $3.1 billion[1].
Boldstart Ventures' strategy includes helping shape the earliest story, unlocking first customers, and architecting the conditions for breakout, which they do before the noise and before the signal. With Fund VII, they aim to continue this mission, backing the next generation of enterprise builders[1].
[1] - TechCrunch (2022) Boldstart Ventures raises $250 million for its seventh fund to back technical founders. [Online] Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/17/boldstart-ventures-raises-250-million-for-its-seventh-fund-to-back-technical-founders/
[2] - Boldstart Ventures (2022) Boldstart Ventures Announces the Close of Fund VII. [Online] Available at: https://www.boldstart.com/news/boldstart-ventures-announces-the-close-of-fund-vii/
[3] - Hypernative (2021) Hypernative raises $40M Series B to build real-time risk intelligence for crypto and traditional finance. [Online] Available at: https://hypernative.ai/blog/hypernative-raises-40m-series-b-to-build-real-time-risk-intelligence-for-crypto-and-traditional-finance/
[4] - TechCrunch (2021) Hypernative raises $40 million Series B to build real-time risk intelligence for crypto and traditional finance. [Online] Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/21/hypernative-raises-40-million-series-b-to-build-real-time-risk-intelligence-for-crypto-and-traditional-finance/
[5] - CoinDesk (2021) Hypernative Raises $40 Million in Series B Funding for Real-Time Risk Intelligence. [Online] Available at: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/04/21/hypernative-raises-40-million-in-series-b-funding-for-real-time-risk-intelligence/
- Boldstart Ventures' recent investment in Hypernative, a company providing real-time risk intelligence for both crypto and traditional finance, is a step towards expanding their portfolio into emerging technologies like Web3 and AI security.
- With Fund VII, Boldstart Ventures aim to continue their mission of helping shape the earliest story, unlocking first customers, and architecting the conditions for breakout, particularly in new-age sectors such as artificial-intelligence and technology.
