CRV
CRV is a 55-year-old venture capital firm that leads seed and Series A rounds in technical founders, with a $750M fund and a portfolio spanning AI, cybersecurity, developer tools, and infrastructure. Founded in 1970, the firm serves founders and limited partners from offices in San Francisco and Palo Alto.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1970
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What CRV does
CRV is a privately-held venture capital firm founded in 1970 as Charles River Ventures, headquartered in San Francisco with a secondary office in Palo Alto. The firm specializes in leading seed and Series A rounds in technical founders, with a 55+ year track record that includes founding-stage investments in DoorDash, Airtable, Mercury, Vercel, Datadog, HubSpot, Cribl, Zip, and Cursor. CRV differentiates itself through a 24-hour firm-commit authority (any partner can commit without investment committee approval), an equal partner compensation model, and a stated philosophy of founder autonomy ("You're the Boss"). The firm manages multiple funds from limited partners, with the most recent $750 million fund closed in August 2025. CRV's primary revenue comes from management fees (industry-standard ~2% of committed capital) and carried interest (~20% of fund profits from successful exits such as Zendesk's 2014 IPO, Aerodome's acquisition by Flock Safety for $300M+, and Voyage AI's acquisition by MongoDB for $220M).
CRV's current investment focus is concentrated in AI, cybersecurity, developer tools, and infrastructure. The firm has led or co-led notable rounds including Reflection AI's seed/Series A (subsequently $2B Series B at $8B valuation), 7AI's $130M Series A (largest cybersecurity Series A in history), Theker's $85M Series A (Europe's largest robotics Series A), CodeRabbit's Series A, Tavus's $40M Series B, and dozens of other AI-native companies. CRV operates an extensive content marketing library (founder education guides), a CRV Talent Network job board (powered by Consider), an LP portal (powered by Dynamo Software), and a public newsroom. The firm employs 11-50 people and is structured as a partnership with multiple general partners, including Saar Gur and Veronica Orellana (promoted to GP in February 2026).
In a notable 2024 decision, CRV returned $275 million to its limited partners rather than deploy capital at inflated valuations, demonstrating fund-level discipline. CRV co-invests alongside every major US venture capital firm, including Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, ICONIQ, TCV, BOND, Coatue, and others. The firm is recognized on the Forbes Midas List (2024 and 2025) and its portfolio companies have appeared on Forbes Fintech 50, G2 Best Software Companies, RSAC Innovation Sandbox, and other industry rankings.
CRV firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CRV
- Legal name
- CRV
- Website
- https://crv.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1970
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- CRV is a 55-year-old venture capital firm that leads seed and Series A rounds in technical founders, with a $750M fund and a portfolio spanning AI, cybersecurity, developer tools, and infrastructure. Founded in 1970, the firm serves founders and limited partners from offices in San Francisco and Palo Alto.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CRV industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Venture Capital
- NAICS
- Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Open-End Investment Funds (525910)
- SIC
- Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211), Finance Services (6199)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Real Estate Private Credit (CRE Debt) (FSANADAG)
Keywords
Where CRV is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
CRV business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Management fees from limited partners: Recurring annual management fees (industry-standard ~2% of committed capital) charged against LPs in CRV's venture funds, including the new $750M fund announced in August 2025.
- Carried interest (carry) from successful portfolio exits: Performance-based share (industry-standard ~20%) of fund profits earned upon successful realization events (IPOs, M&A) across portfolio companies such as Zendesk (IPO May 2014), DoorDash, Mercury, Cribl, Datadog, etc.
- Realizations from IPO and M&A exits: Capital returned to CRV through liquidity events in portfolio companies (e.g., 7AI Series A, Mercury Series D, Cribl Series E, Encord Series C, Tavus Series B, DeductiveAI acquisition, Voyager AI acquisition by MongoDB, Koala acquired by Cursor, Voyage AI $220M exit, Aerodome acquired by Flock Safety).
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels9 records
CRV product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CRV is an early-stage venture capital firm that has led Seed and Series A rounds in technology startups since 1970. The firm manages multi-hundred-million-dollar venture funds (most recently a $750M fund announced August 2025) that invest equity capital in technical founders across AI, cybersecurity, developer tools, infrastructure, fintech, and consumer. CRV commits term sheets within 24 hours, leads rounds without requiring consensus, and provides follow-on capital through subsequent fund vintages.
Product overview
CRV is an early-stage venture capital firm (not a software product company) operating since 1970. Its primary offering is a Seed and Series A venture fund, most recently a $750M fund announced in August 2025, focused on leading rounds in technical founders. The firm's supporting 'products' are all website-driven services rather than a unified SaaS platform: the CRV Companies portfolio catalog (showcasing portfolio companies such as DoorDash, Mercury, Airtable, Vercel, Datadog, HubSpot, Cribl, and Zip), the CRV Content founder-education library (guides on pricing, fundraising, AI SaaS, SAFE vs. convertible notes, etc.), the CRV Newsroom (aggregated press coverage), the CRV Insights Medium publication (investment thesis posts such as 'Power to the Bot' and 'Power to the CISO'), the LP Portal (Dynamo Software-hosted limited partner access), and the CRV Talent Network / Jobs Board (Consider-powered job marketplace for portfolio company roles). Together these function as marketing, recruiting, education, and investor-relations layers around CRV's core venture capital offering rather than as an integrated product suite with modules.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- CRV Seed and Series A Venture Fund Flagship venture capital fund that provides equity capital to technical founders building companies at the seed and Series A stages. CRV commits term sheets within 24 hours, leads rounds directly, and provides follow-on capital through later fund vintages. Used by founders building in AI, cybersecurity, developer tools, infrastructure, fintech, and consumer sectors.
- CRV Talent Network (Jobs Board) Job marketplace for opportunities at CRV portfolio companies, powered by Consider. Filterable by role, skill, location, company stage, industry, salary range, internships, and remote options. Available to job seekers and portfolio companies.
Quantifiable outcome
- $200M Series D at $5.2B valuation raised by Mercury portfolio company
- +7 more outcomes
Companies that use CRV
Customer profileNamed customers41 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
CRV technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
CRV partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.
- Elastic / DeductiveAIflagshipElastic (NYSE: ESTC) acquired CRV-seeded DeductiveAI for up to $85M in June 2026 — delivering an 11x return to CRV and co-investors. CRV had led DeductiveAI's $7.5M seed (Nov 2025).
- Voyage AI / MongoDBcoreCRV portfolio company Voyage AI (RAG/embedding tools) was acquired by MongoDB for $220M less than two years after launch (announced via Inc. Feb 2024). CRV had invested via its 'Power to the Developer' thesis (Oct 2024).
- Reflection AI co-founders and teamcoreCRV co-led Reflection AI's seed and Series A rounds (announced Mar 2025 via the 'Power to the Software Engineer' Medium post). Reflection subsequently raised a $2B Series B at $8B valuation (Oct 2025) with NVIDIA, Sequoia, Citi and others. CRV continues to be a meaningful shareholder and partner.
- Cursor / AnysphereflagshipCRV is an investor in Cursor (AI coding tool). In July 2025 Cursor acquired Koala (a CRV-backed GTM engine company that had raised $15M Series A in Feb 2025), consolidating two CRV portfolio companies in a strategic combination.
- Kasada and Vercel (BotID launch)coreTwo CRV-backed companies — Kasada (bot protection) and Vercel (AI web platform) — launched BotID, an invisible bot-protection product built for developers (Jun 2025).
- Brex and ZipcoreBrex (a CRV-adjacent fintech) partnered with former competitor Zip to reduce cash burn on the path to IPO (May 2025). The partnership is a GTM/distribution collaboration referenced in TechCrunch and CRV's newsroom.
- Cyera / Trail SecuritycoreCRV portfolio company Cyera acquired Trail Security for $162M (Oct 2024), merging two security startups in CRV's network. Cyera was raising at a $3B valuation at the time of the deal.
- Aerodome / Flock SafetycoreCRV portfolio company Aerodome was acquired by Flock Safety for over $300M (Oct 2024), only 17 months after founding. Aerodome and Flock Safety had earlier announced a strategic partnership to expand Drone-As-First-Responder Technology (Jul 2024).
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
CRV competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Sequoia Capital: Premier US venture capital firm leading seed through growth rounds; CRV and Sequoia repeatedly co-invest in the same companies (Mercury, Scanner, Skild AI, Reflection AI, Encord), making them the closest comparable for early-stage leadership and follow-on participation.
- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): Leading US venture firm with active seed, venture, and growth funds; a16z and CRV frequently co-invest (Concourse, Protege, Mercury), and a16z serves as a direct benchmark for multi-stage capacity and AI thesis investing.
- Accel: US/European venture capital firm leading seed through growth; Accel co-invests with CRV across cybersecurity and AI (Vega Series B, Skild AI, AlphaDrive), making it a direct peer for early-stage conviction-led investing.
- Greylock Partners: Long-tenured US venture firm focused on enterprise seed and Series A; Greylock and CRV share scale, vintage and stage focus, and co-invest in cybersecurity and AI (7AI), making Greylock a closely comparable early-stage peer.
- Index Ventures: US/European venture capital firm leading seed and early-stage rounds; Index led 7AI's $130M Series A with CRV participation and shares CRV's emphasis on technical founders and AI/cybersecurity themes.
- Lightspeed Venture Partners: Multi-stage venture firm with deep AI exposure; Lightspeed co-led Skild AI's $300M Series A alongside CRV and shares the AI-native seed/Series A focus.
- Kleiner Perkins: Historic Silicon Valley venture firm investing across seed, venture, and growth; Kleiner Perkins co-led Lotus Health AI's $35M Series A with CRV, making it a direct peer for AI-native healthcare and enterprise seed investing.
- Bessemer Venture Partners: Long-tenured US venture firm with broad sector coverage from seed to growth; comparable to CRV in vintage and stage diversity, and serves as a benchmark for US early-stage investing.
- Benchmark: Small, partner-led US venture firm that pioneered equal-comp and conviction-driven early-stage investing; Benchmark's structure is highly comparable to CRV's equal-partner-comp model and seed/Series A focus.
- First Round Capital: US seed-focused venture firm with a community-led GTM (similar to CRV's content library); First Round and CRV both target technical founders at seed, and First Round co-invested in Collate's $95M Series A alongside CRV.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
CRV social profiles
Digital presenceCRV financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CRV leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
CRV funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CRV M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments821 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CRV
What does CRV do?
CRV is an early-stage venture capital firm that has led Seed and Series A rounds in technology startups since 1970. The firm manages multi-hundred-million-dollar venture funds (most recently a $750M fund announced August 2025) that invest equity capital in technical founders across AI, cybersecurity, developer tools, infrastructure, fintech, and consumer. CRV commits term sheets within 24 hours, leads rounds without requiring consensus, and provides follow-on capital through subsequent fund vintages.
Is CRV a public or private company?
CRV is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was CRV founded?
CRV was founded in 1970. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is CRV based?
CRV is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does CRV make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Management fees from limited partners are the primary driver. The others are carried interest (carry) from successful portfolio exits and realizations from IPO and M&A exits.
Who are CRV's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Accel, Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Bessemer Venture Partners, Benchmark and First Round Capital.
Does CRV have an API?
No public API is recorded for CRV.
What industry is CRV in?
CRV's product category is Venture Capital. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANADAG, Real Estate Private Credit (CRE Debt). Its NAICS code is 525 and its SIC code is 6211.