What One Way Ventures does

One Way Ventures is a U.S. venture capital firm founded in 2017 by Semyon Dukach (former Managing Director of Techstars Boston) that invests pre-seed and seed capital in companies founded by immigrants operating in the United States. The firm is structured as a Public Benefit Corporation under the legal name "One Way Ventures Management PBC, Inc." and operates from offices in Boston (headquarters, Dukach, Zhao, Lim), Mountain View (Malobrodsky), New York (Venture Partner Masha Levin), and Warsaw (Investor Dawid Przybysz), supported by a 15-person team of partners, venture partners, venture scouts, and advisors — every one of whom is themselves an immigrant. As of 2026 the firm manages at least Fund I and Fund II, holds a portfolio of 50+ companies spanning AI/ML, SaaS, Fintech, Deep tech, and Consumer categories, and counts multiple billion-dollar exits including Brex, Preply, Chipper Cash, and Momentus (IPO).

The firm's product offering extends beyond capital deployment into a structured community-and-platform stack: the One Way Ventures Fund (the core pre-seed/seed vehicle), a 22-step Pitch Us intake form for immigrant-founder deal flow, the Pathfinder Collective (a selective network of unicorn immigrant founders including Slack's Cal Henderson, Duolingo's Severin Hacker, LinkedIn's Eric Ly, and Noom's Saeju Jeong), the One Way Summit (an annual flagship event in San Francisco that scaled from 500 attendees in Dec 2025 to a planned 1,000+ in Oct 2026), and the One Way Foundation (a donor-advised fund supported by pledged portions of partner carried interest). Distribution runs through direct inbound via the website, warm introductions from the Pathfinder Collective, Techstars alumni relationships, and the Summit's global pitch competition; the firm has been increasingly taking lead-investor positions on pre-seed rounds in 2025–2026.

The firm generates revenue through standard venture-fund economics: 2% management fees on its committed capital across Fund I and Fund II, plus 20% carried interest on successful portfolio exits. Specific fund sizes, ticket sizes, and LP composition are not publicly disclosed. The investment thesis is anchored in the statistic that immigrants constitute 13% of the U.S. population but start 24% of high-tech startups and have founded or co-founded 55% of America's billion-dollar startups — a structural gap the firm positions itself to address through specialized capital, operator mentorship, and an immigrant-founder community platform.

Name

One Way Ventures

Legal name

One Way Ventures Management PBC, Inc.

Website

https://onewayvc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

One Way Ventures is a Boston-headquartered, immigrant-founded pre-seed and seed venture capital firm that backs U.S.-based immigrant founders across AI/ML, SaaS, Fintech, Deep tech, and Consumer, and surrounds them with a curated Pathfinder Collective of unicorn operators and an annual One Way Summit.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394), Other Financial Vehicles (52599), Open-End Investment Funds (52591)

SIC

Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Independent Venture Debt Funds / Platforms (FSANAIAB)

Keywords

• Seed venture capital
• Immigrant founder investing
• Pre-seed funding
• Venture capital fund
• Startup capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture capital fund management: As a venture capital firm, One Way Ventures generates returns through management fees on its funds (at minimum Fund I and Fund II are referenced) and carried interest on successful exits from portfolio investments. Specific fee structures, fund sizes, and return economics are not publicly disclosed.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

One Way Ventures manages a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital fund that invests in exceptional immigrant founders building U.S.-headquartered companies, with investments referenced across at least Fund I and Fund II. The firm surrounds portfolio founders with the Pathfinder Collective advisor network, the One Way Summit community event, and the One Way Foundation philanthropic arm. It distributes capital via a 22-step structured Pitch Us web form, supplemented by warm referrals from its immigrant-founder ecosystem and Techstars alumni relationships.

Product overview

One Way Ventures is a venture capital firm (not a traditional SaaS product company) whose core offering is a pre-seed and seed stage fund that backs exceptional immigrant founders building high-impact global companies. Its core product, the One Way Ventures Fund, is complemented by several supporting offerings: the One Way Ventures Portfolio (a public listing of AI/ML, SaaS, Fintech, Deep tech, and Consumer companies the fund has invested in), the One Way Summit (a flagship annual conference for immigrant founders), the Pathfinder Collective (a network of high-profile founder advisors), the One Way Foundation (a philanthropic donor-advised fund supporting immigrant communities), and the Pitch Us Intake Form (a structured submission tool for prospective portfolio companies). Together, these form a platform-plus-community architecture supporting immigrant-led entrepreneurship end-to-end, from pitch submission through investment, founder community-building, and philanthropy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Pathfinder Collective: A selective community of immigrant unicorn founders and high-achievers who help amplify the firm's message and support the next generation of immigrant entrepreneurs.
• One Way Summit

Products and services

• One Way Ventures Fund Pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital fund that backs exceptional immigrant founders building U.S.-headquartered companies, surrounding founders with a curated network of advisors and operators.
• One Way Ventures Portfolio Public listing of One Way Ventures' portfolio companies, filterable by stage (Pre-Seed, Seed, Growth), showcasing immigrant-founded investments including Brex, BuddyAI, KarmaCheck, Britive, Tive, Chipper Cash, and Provision.
• One Way Summit Flagship annual conference for immigrant founders in the U.S., held in San Francisco, bringing together immigrant entrepreneurs, VCs, and ecosystem partners with keynotes, fireside chats, pitch competitions, and networking.
• Pathfinder Collective Selective community of high-profile founders and operators (Cal Henderson of Slack, Severin Hacker of Duolingo, Kathryn Petralia of Kabbage, Saeju Jeong of Noom, etc.) who amplify One Way's mission and support the next generation of immigrant founders.
• One Way Foundation Donor-advised fund that supports nonprofit organizations serving immigrants and their communities at local, national, and international levels, with partners pledging a portion of fund profits.
• Pitch Us Intake Form

Quantifiable outcome

• Backed founders who have founded or co-founded 55% of America's billion-dollar startups (per Harvard/MIT studies cited by the firm).
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers17 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Pathfinder Collective (Cal Henderson, Severin Hacker, Kathryn Petralia, Saeju Jeong, Terry Jones, Alex Wheldon, Ali Parsa, Ben Uretsky, Brian Ma, Bozena Rezab, Christine Spang, Edith Harbaugh, Elias Torres, Eric Ly, Geraldo Thomaz, João Graça, Juan Pablo Ortega, Mada Seghete, Mikayel Vardanyan, Mikita Mikado, Scott Ernst, Pep Gomez, Piotr Pisarz)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerA selective community of unicorn and high-profile immigrant founders that One Way Ventures has assembled to amplify its mission and provide mentorship to portfolio founders. Members include CTO & Co-Founder of Slack (Cal Henderson), CTO & Co-Founder of Duolingo (Severin Hacker), CEO of Keep Financial and Former COO & Co-Founder of Kabbage (Kathryn Petralia), CEO & Co-Founder of Noom (Saeju Jeong), CEO & Founder of Travelocity (Terry Jones), CPO & Co-Founder of Rho (Alex Wheldon), Founder of Babylon Health (Ali Parsa), Co-Founder of Welcome Homes and DigitalOcean (Ben Uretsky), Founder & General Partner of Iterative Capital (Brian Ma), CEO & Co-Founder of GAMEE (Bozena Rezab), CTO & Co-Founder of Nylas (Christine Spang), Executive Chair & Co-Founder of LaunchDarkly (Edith Harbaugh), CTO & Co-Founder of Drift (Elias Torres), CEO & Co-Founder of KarmaCheck and CTO & Co-Founder of LinkedIn (Eric Ly), CEO & Co-Founder of VTEX NYSE:VTEX (Geraldo Thomaz), CTO & Founder of Unbabel (João Graça), Co-Founder of Yuno and Rappi (Juan Pablo Ortega), CMO & Co-Founder of Branch (Mada Seghete), CPO & Co-Founder of PicsArt (Mikayel Vardanyan), Founder of PandaDoc (Mikita Mikado), CEO of Drift (Scott Ernst), CEO & Founder of Fever (Pep Gomez), CEO & Co-Founder of Uncapped (Piotr Pisarz).
• One Way Summit ecosystem partners (20+ countries) and sponsors (KPMG, Freshfields, Minerva University, Silkroad Innovation Hub)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerAnnual One Way Summit convenes 20+ country ecosystem partners and key sponsors including KPMG, Freshfields, Minerva University, and Silkroad Innovation Hub. The 2025 Summit attracted 500 attendees and the 2026 edition is targeting 1,000+ attendees with 40+ startups competing in a global pitch competition.
• Techstars (Boston)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding Partner Semyon Dukach was formerly Managing Director of Techstars Boston, creating an ongoing warm-intro and deal-flow relationship between the One Way Ventures portfolio and the Techstars accelerator ecosystem.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Backstage Capital: Seed-stage VC focused on underrepresented founders, including immigrants and people of color. Most directly comparable to One Way Ventures in thesis, stage, and check size, and competes for the same founder pool.
• Harlem Capital Partners: Early-stage fund investing in diverse founding teams with a thesis-backed demographic focus. Comparable in stage, mission orientation, and brand-led deal sourcing, with overlap on immigrant and minority founders.
• Vamos Ventures: Pre-seed and seed fund backing Latino immigrant founders in the US. Operates an overlapping immigrant-founder thesis at the same stage and competes for similar founders in the demographic segment.
• Visible Hands: Seed fund targeting underestimated founders (women, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ+). Comparable in demographic-driven thesis, structured programming, and community-led deal sourcing.
• Cleo Capital: Early-stage fund focused on female and immigrant founders led by Sarah Kunst. Overlaps on immigrant-founder thesis and seed-stage check size, with similar brand-led community building.
• BBG Ventures: Seed fund focused on female founders and other underrepresented groups. Comparable in demographic-led thesis and early-stage positioning, with overlapping LP expectations around impact.
• Anu Capital: Early-stage fund dedicated to Native American and Indigenous founders. Comparable as a demographic-focused seed fund with a mission-aligned brand and community-led sourcing model.

Broad incumbents

• Techstars: Global accelerator and seed investor network; One Way's Founding Partner Semyon Dukach was formerly Managing Director of Techstars Boston. Comparable as a deal-flow source and co-investor at seed, though Techstars operates across all founder demographics.
• Y Combinator: Largest global pre-seed/seed accelerator; recurring co-investor with One Way Ventures in portfolio companies such as Provision and Buddy.ai. Comparable on stage and deal flow, though YC is generalist and substantially larger.

Emerging players

• Reach Capital: Seed-stage fund focused on education technology with overlapping thesis on founders from diverse and immigrant backgrounds (e.g., Buddy.ai co-investor). Comparable in stage and impact orientation though narrower sector focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/onewayvc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/one-way-ventures
• Facebookfacebook.com/onewayvc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments112 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about One Way Ventures