What Rocketship.vc does

Rocketship.vc is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2015 by Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, headquartered in Los Altos, California, and operating as a remote-first team of 11-50 employees. The firm's central differentiator is its proprietary data infrastructure: a database covering over 10 million companies worldwide, combined with machine learning models used for predictive analytics, anomaly detection, and LLM-assisted categorization, enabling an outbound, algorithm-driven deal sourcing model that bypasses traditional network-based VC deal flow. Its investment scope spans seed through Series B, with check sizes ranging from approximately $1.2M (Plutus seed, 2026) to participation in $60M Series B rounds (Tessell, 2025), and a portfolio of 44+ companies across 14 countries (46% outside the U.S.) covering AI software, fintech, semiconductors, space, and other sectors.

The underlying technology stack includes an internal investment analytics platform for collecting and processing startup data, developing ML models to identify investment candidates, and tracking portfolio performance. Founding partners Harinarayan and Rajaraman are co-inventors of the concept underlying Amazon Mechanical Turk, co-creators of Amazon Marketplace, and co-authors of 'Mining of Massive Datasets' (1M+ downloads, 14 languages). The team includes a former Gojek Chief Data Officer (Madhu Shalini Iyer) and a former NASA Ames computer scientist (Sailesh Ramakrishnan), plus in-house software engineers with Stanford AI and Tesla backgrounds.

Rocketship's business model follows traditional VC fund economics: management fees (typically ~2% of committed capital) plus carried interest (typically 20% above a hurdle) on exits. It has raised three funds: Fund I ($40M, 2017), Fund II ($100M, August 2020), and Fund III ($125M first close, 2022). The firm does not publicly disclose management fees, carry terms, or revenue. To date, the firm reports five exits (Audacy, Chewse, Fitmob, Fynd, PaySense). Distribution is purely outbound via algorithmic sourcing rather than inbound pitch flow, with marketing limited to a thought-leadership blog on AI, SaaS, and emerging markets.

Name

Rocketship.vc

Legal name

Rocketship.vc

Website

http://www.rocketship.vc/

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Rocketship.vc is a data-driven early-stage venture capital firm that uses proprietary algorithms and a database of 10M+ companies to algorithmically source and invest in seed-to-Series B startups across 14 countries, with portfolio companies spanning AI, fintech, SaaS, and semiconductors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Early-Stage Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Other Financial Investment Activities (5239), 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

Geography-Focused Venture Capital (Regional/Emerging Markets) (FSANAAAE)

Keywords

• Venture capital funding
• Data-driven investing
• Early-stage investment
• Startup database analytics
• Algorithmic deal sourcing

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Altos

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Fund Management: Generates returns through traditional VC fund economics: management fees (typically 2% of committed capital) and carried interest (typically 20% of profits above the hurdle rate). Fund III targeting $125M with first close completed.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Rocketship.vc is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in startups using proprietary data science and machine learning algorithms. The firm maintains what it describes as the world's largest database of startup activity (covering 10+ million companies) and uses it to algorithmically identify and proactively reach investment candidates across seed, Series A, and Series B stages in 14 countries. Post-investment, the firm provides portfolio companies with data tracking, competitive benchmarking, strategic guidance, and Silicon Valley network access.

Product overview

Rocketship.vc is a data-driven venture capital firm that provides early-stage investment services to startups globally. Rather than a traditional VC model relying on networks, the firm leverages proprietary algorithms and the world's largest database of startup activity to identify promising companies for investment across 14 countries. The firm offers portfolio companies access to deep operational expertise, strategic guidance, and connections to Silicon Valley through partners with backgrounds at Amazon, Walmart, and NASA. The firm's investment process is driven by quantitative models that aim to reduce geographic, gender, race, and stage bias in startup selection.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Rocketship Fund I
• Rocketship Fund II
• Rocketship Fund III
• Data-Driven Investment Analytics Platform (Internal)
• Proprietary Startup Activity Database

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreTechnology or Integration · 4 December 2025Lyzr, a Rocketship portfolio company, achieved AWS Agentic AI Specialization and announced native support for Amazon AgentCore Memory, enabling context-rich AI agent deployment in AWS environments.
• EntrepreneurminorOthers · 25 June 2025Qashio, a Rocketship portfolio company, won the Best B2B Fintech Solution award at the Leaders in Fintech Awards 2025 organized by Entrepreneur Middle East.
• Bosch Global Software TechnologiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 April 2025Mindgrove Technologies, a Rocketship portfolio company, signed an MoU with Bosch for joint go-to-market opportunities, integrating products and solutions for potential customers in the semiconductor space.
• Alinma BankcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 23 March 2025Qashio partnered with Alinma Bank to roll out solutions to KSA customers, marking the first time a KSA corporate bank partnered with a fintech for corporate spend management solutions.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• SignalFire: Direct data-driven early-stage VC that built a proprietary 'Beacon' startup activity database and uses ML to source and track portfolio companies — closest comparable in thesis and execution approach to Rocketship.vc.
• Correlation Ventures: Data-driven early-stage VC using statistical models and large deal databases to inform investment decisions; shares Rocketship's algorithmic-deal-sourcing philosophy at comparable fund size.
• EQT Ventures: European data-driven VC that uses an AI platform ('Motherbrain') to identify and track startups globally; comparable as a larger data-native fund with similar thesis and global scope.
• Antler: Global early-stage VC active across 30+ countries including deep emerging-markets presence (India, Southeast Asia, Africa); comparable as sector-agnostic global seed investor with data-driven founder sourcing.
• 500 Global (500 Startups): Global seed/Series A VC with massive emerging-markets exposure (LATAM, MENA, SEA, Africa); comparable geographic-thesis and sector-agnostic early-stage investing at similar check sizes.
• Goodwater Capital: Data-driven consumer/tech early-stage VC using proprietary analytics and ML for deal sourcing; similar algorithmic-thesis at similar fund-size scale.

Broad incumbents

• Bessemer Venture Partners: Long-standing multi-stage VC with global presence and broad sector mandate; overlaps with Rocketship's Series A/B activity at the upper end of check sizes.
• Accel: Established global early/growth VC with US, Europe, and India presence; comparable as sector-agnostic Series A investor with international orientation.
• Lightspeed Venture Partners: Large global VC with strong India, China, and US presence; comparable as horizontal early-stage investor with emerging-markets exposure and similar global thesis.
• SOSV: Multi-stage global VC running accelerator programs (HAX, IndieBio, Chinaccelerator) and investing across US, Asia, and Europe; comparable global/horizontal early-stage mandate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/rocketshipvc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rocketship-vc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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

M&A

Investments106 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Rocketship.vc