What Scribble Ventures does

Scribble Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2020 that invests in AI-native companies at the pre-seed and seed stages. The firm operates a two-fund structure consisting of Scribble Core (initial checks of $750K-$1.5M) and Scribble Breakout (follow-on reserves for ownership defense in subsequent rounds). Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, the firm runs a deliberately small 5-person investing team composed of operators drawn from OpenAI, Meta, Twitter, and Andreessen Horowitz, supplemented by a curated network of 100+ senior practitioners — referred to as "friends" — who provide deal sourcing, diligence, and post-investment support to portfolio companies.

The firm has built a portfolio of 100+ companies spanning AI infrastructure, developer tools, vertical SaaS, consumer, and energy applications. Scribble positions itself as a "first call" for technical AI founders and systematically co-invests alongside tier-1 venture firms including GV, Peak XV, General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, and Y Combinator. Portfolio activity through 2024-2026 includes checks into companies such as c/side, Smack Technologies, Luminai, YO Labs, Streamline AI, Guild.ai, Ditto, Noon, Brox, Völur, and Critical Energy. The firm's investment thesis centers on companies where AI is foundational to the product rather than a bolt-on feature.

Scribble generates revenue through traditional venture capital economics: management fees on committed capital — typically 2% annually over the fund's life — plus carried interest on successful realizations. With approximately $134M in assets under management across Fund I ($50M, 2020 vintage) and Fund II ($84M, October 2022 vintage), the firm derives the bulk of operating revenue from Fund II management fees and the prospective upside from portfolio exits. There is no disclosed evidence of non-fund revenue lines such as syndication fees, portfolio services, or GP-staked secondaries.

Name

Scribble Ventures

Legal name

Scribble Ventures

Website

https://scribble.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Scribble Ventures is an early-stage VC firm investing in AI-native companies at pre-seed and seed stages. Founded in 2020 and based in the SF Bay Area, the 5-person operator-led team manages $134M across Scribble Core and Breakout funds covering 100+ portfolio companies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital / Early-Stage Investment

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Micro-VC & Angel Funds (FSANAAAI)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Early stage funding
• Pre-seed investments
• AI startup funding
• Startup capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Portola Valley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture capital fund management fees and carried interest: Scribble Ventures generates revenue through management fees on its venture capital funds (initial $50M fund launched Fall 2020; $84M across Core and Breakout funds launched Oct 2022) and carried interest from successful exits across its portfolio of AI-native startup investments.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Scribble Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in AI-native companies at the pre-seed and seed stages. It deploys capital through two funds — Scribble Core (initial investments of typically $750K–$1.5M into AI-native startups) and Scribble Breakout (follow-on capital for portfolio winners) — and pairs the funding with operator-led product and go-to-market support sourced from a network of senior tech leaders.

Product overview

Scribble Ventures is a single-platform early-stage venture capital firm, not a software product company; its core offering is a pair of investment vehicles — the Scribble Core fund for pre-seed to traction-stage AI native companies and the Scribble Breakout fund for follow-on capital — delivered by an operator-led team from OpenAI, Meta, Twitter, and a16z. Rather than a product-plus-modules software architecture, Scribble's offering combines these two funds with hands-on product and go-to-market support to founders (set-up WhatsApp threads, customer and talent introductions, and access to a curated advisory network) in exchange for typically $750k–$1.5M initial checks, with investment decisions typically made within 1–2 weeks of a first meeting.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Scribble Core Fund
• Scribble Breakout Fund

Quantifiable outcome

• Investment decisions within 1-2 weeks of first meeting
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Scribble 'Friends' Network (100+ senior operators)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerScribble's extended network of senior product and business leaders from companies including OpenAI, Meta, Twitter, Google, Coinbase, Stripe, Pinterest, Adobe, Microsoft, Plaid, Figma, Dropbox, Atlassian, Netflix, etc. Provides deal sourcing, founder introductions, hiring help, and operational support to portfolio companies. Notable members include Arash Ferdowsi (Dropbox), Emilie Choi (Coinbase), Sheila Vashee (Figma), Jean-Denis Greze (Plaid), Maggie Hott (OpenAI), and many others.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): Mega-stage VC with a major AI-focused practice and an operator network that includes several Scribble team alumni (Elizabeth Weil was previously an a16z investor). Overlaps on thesis and network but operates at materially larger fund sizes and broader stages.
• Khosla Ventures: Multi-stage VC with deep AI investment focus across seed through growth. Co-invested with Scribble on Guild.ai and shares an aggressive AI-native thesis, though Khosla operates at much larger fund scale and broader stage range.

Direct peers

• Susa Ventures: Seed-stage venture firm investing in technology businesses with an operator-network model. Co-led Critical Energy's seed round with Scribble participating, reflecting shared thesis and stage.
• Initialized Capital: Early-stage VC co-founded by operators (Garry Tan) emphasizing hands-on product support and fast decisions, with a comparable check-size philosophy to Scribble's pre-seed/seed focus.
• Costanoa Ventures: Early-stage enterprise-focused VC with an operator-in-residence program and seed-to-Series A focus. Co-led Smack Technologies' Series A alongside Scribble, signaling overlapping AI/infrastructure thesis.
• NFX: Operator-led seed VC with a network-effects investment thesis, deep founder playbook, and concentrated check sizes. Stu Smith (Scribble Partner) was previously affiliated with NFX, and Scribble co-invests with NFX (e.g., Guild.ai).
• Uncork Capital: Seed-stage VC with operator-heavy value-add, fast decision cycles, and a community-of-founders GTM model. Co-invested alongside Scribble on c/side's seed round and targets comparable early-stage companies.
• Bloomberg Beta: Early-stage enterprise AI/ML-focused fund with an operator-in-residence model. Co-invested with Scribble on Smack Technologies Series A and shares a thesis on AI-native startups.
• Foundation Capital: Multi-stage VC with a seed program and operator-network value-add. Co-invested with Scribble in YO Labs and previously backed Racket (Stu Smith's prior company), illustrating thesis and network overlap.
• First Round Capital: Seed-stage venture firm known for founder-friendly terms, community-driven GTM, and a capital-efficient seed+ model — closely matches Scribble's $750K-$1.5M check size, 1-2 week decision speed, and product/GTM-led value-add orientation.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/scribblevc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/scribble-ventures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments210 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Scribble Ventures