01
Source
Two hundred first-look conversations a year — through the operator network we built long before Catalyst existed. No cold pipeline.
Avg. intro within 48h
High-voltage capital for the next decade
We are the catalyst behind category-defining companies.
Catalyst Ventures is a founder-first pre-seed and seed firm. We write the first check, work the hardest weeks, and stay in the trench — for AI, financial infrastructure, healthcare, and the energy transition.
Fund IV · 2024 — presentScroll ↓
Firm snapshot · Apr 202604 signals
$620M
Committed
Across Fund I — IV
64
Investments
Three continents
14
Exits & IPOs
$18B realized
12y
Same team
One partnership
Manifesto · 001
We write first checks into companies the consensus has not yet learned to name.
Partner note
We have made the firm deliberately small. Five partners, twelve investments a year, one thesis held across four funds. The constraint is the product: founders get the same people who signed the term sheet, in the hardest weeks, for as long as it takes.
Elena Park
Managing partner
Managing partner
PolarionLumen HealthAperture EnergyLedgerlineNorthfieldAxon RoboticsCadence BioStratosphereMercuriTessellateHelix GridFinnwellPolarionLumen HealthAperture EnergyLedgerlineNorthfieldAxon RoboticsCadence BioStratosphereMercuriTessellateHelix GridFinnwell
Investment Thesis
We back the reactions that rewrite entire markets.
The defining companies of this decade will fuse breakthrough technology with operational precision. We concentrate capital around three convictions — durable infrastructure, the re-architecture of regulated industries, and the rare teams that sit at their intersection.
Portfolio
A few companies we have been lucky to ignite.
A selection of founders quietly building category-defining businesses across artificial intelligence, financial infrastructure, climate, and healthcare.
Selected portfolio00 companies
How we work
A short, deliberate process.
A short, deliberate process — designed so every company we back gets a partner from day one to day one thousand.
02
Conviction
Deep diligence by the partners themselves. One of us runs the memo, another runs the anti-memo. No associates writing on our behalf.
2-week decision
03
Capital
$1M – $5M first checks, lead or co-lead. Terms plain, board seat optional, follow-on reserved at fund construction.
Pre-seed · seed
04
Operate
We take on fewer than twelve new investments a year so we can actually show up — hiring, GTM, introductions, the hardest weeks.
For the full decade
Partnership
Operators. Builders. On the phone at 11pm.
Our partners have founded, scaled, and exited companies in the markets we now invest in. We show up where founders need us most — and get out of the way the rest of the time.
Frequently asked
Answers, before you have to ask.
The questions founders and prospective LPs ask us most. If yours is not here, email the partnership directly.
Reference · 06 items
Plain answers to the questions that most often get buried inside a pitch-deck appendix.
Pre-seed and seed founders building infrastructure software, financial systems, healthcare, or the energy transition. We are domain-specific but stage-flexible — if you are raising a first check of $1–5M, we are the right conversation.
Initial checks of $1M to $5M, typically leading or co-leading the round. We target 8–12% ownership at entry and reserve meaningful follow-on at fund construction to participate through Series B.
Our aim is two weeks from first meeting to a term sheet or a clear no. One partner runs the memo, another runs the anti-memo — no associate screens, no hidden committee.
Optional. We take a board seat where it is useful, and an observer or informal role where it is not. We are operators first and allergic to governance theater.
Fewer than twelve new investments a year. By choice. It is the only way to keep the commitment we make to every founder we back.
Headquartered in San Francisco with partners in New York and London. We meet in person within a week of serious conversations — distance has never been the reason a deal did not happen.
Contact
Building something combustible? Tell us.
We read every inbound. Share a deck and a short note about what you are building — we aim to respond within three business days.
Send signal
We read every message.
Decisions from the partnership within three business days — including a pass.
For founders
founders@catalystventures.vcOffice
One Embarcadero Center, 34th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111