Flying Fish Partners
Flying Fish Partners is a Seattle-based pre-seed and seed venture capital firm investing exclusively in AI and machine learning startups across foundational AI, applied intelligence, hard sciences, and consumer AI, serving visionary founders in the US, UK, and Canada.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersSeattle, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Flying Fish Partners does
Flying Fish Partners (doing business as Flying Fish Ventures) is a Seattle-headquartered venture capital firm founded in 2016 that invests at the pre-seed and seed stages in artificial intelligence and machine learning startups. The firm organizes its investing across four verticals: Foundational AI and Infrastructure (e.g., AgileRL, Phaidra, Axiom Math, RL Core), Applied Intelligence (e.g., Aisy, BluePill, Hiverge, Simular, NLX, Artificial Agency), Hard Sciences (e.g., Accipiter Biosciences, Latent Labs), and Consumer AI. Investment selection is guided by a proprietary framework — the Augmentation-to-Automation Continuum, Computational Discovery thesis, and an AI-stack-aware founder evaluation rubric — that maps founders' defensibility, distribution, and use-case clarity to where in the AI stack they are building.
The firm differentiates through an operator-heavy partnership drawn from Microsoft (Geoff Harris, Frank Chang, Lisa Nelson/M12 co-founder), Amazon (Frank Chang), Corning and Honeywell (Adriane Brown, eBay/Axon/American Airlines/KKR board director), JPMorgan and Tesla (Heather Gorham), and DocuSign CISO (Vanessa Pegueros), enabling post-investment support in technical recruiting, GTM, and customer introductions. Deal flow is sourced through direct founder outreach, the Substack newsletter, and monthly Bay Area technical salons hosted by Venture Partner Heather Gorham. Active 2024-2026 portfolio activity includes co-leading Accipiter Biosciences' $12.7M seed with Takeda, leading Hiverge's $5M seed, and participating in the $1.1B Ineffable Intelligence seed round (reportedly Europe's largest), alongside historical exits including Gradient to Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO), Finn.ai to Glia, Streem to Frontdoor (NASDAQ: FTDR), Reclaim to Dropbox (NASDAQ: DBX), and Ethos Life.
Revenue is generated through standard VC fund economics: periodic management fees on committed and invested capital across the firm's pre-seed and seed AI/ML funds, plus carried interest on portfolio company exits. As a privately held firm with no public disclosure of AUM, fund size, or revenue, financial visibility is limited. Operating geographies cover the United States (Seattle HQ at 2003 Western Ave STE 510), the United Kingdom (London, via Heather Gorham), and Canada (Edmonton, via Tiffany Linke-Boyko). The firm's customer base is, in VC terms, its portfolio companies and the limited partners who commit capital to its funds; both are not publicly disclosed.
Flying Fish Partners firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Flying Fish Partners
- Legal name
- Flying Fish Partners
- Website
- https://flyingfish.vc
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Flying Fish Partners is a Seattle-based pre-seed and seed venture capital firm investing exclusively in AI and machine learning startups across foundational AI, applied intelligence, hard sciences, and consumer AI, serving visionary founders in the US, UK, and Canada.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Flying Fish Partners is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Seattle
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Flying Fish Partners business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Venture Fund Management Fees & Carried Interest: As a venture capital firm, Flying Fish generates revenue from typical VC fund economics: periodic management fees on committed/Invested capital across its pre-seed and seed AI/ML funds, plus carried interest on successful realizations from portfolio company exits and acquisitions.
- Portfolio Company Realizations (Exits & Acquisitions): Returns-driven revenue stream realized when portfolio companies are acquired (e.g., Gradient acquired by Criteo/NASDAQ: CRTO; Finn.ai acquired by Glia; Streem acquired/NASDAQ: FTDR; Reclaim/NASDAQ: DBX; Ethos Life acquired; Carbon Black exit via Vanessa Pegueros' board role) or otherwise liquidate equity positions.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Quote-based / Not publicly disclosed |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Flying Fish Partners product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Flying Fish Partners (also branded as Flying Fish Ventures) is a Seattle-based pre-seed and seed venture capital firm that invests capital in transformative AI and ML startups. Beyond providing funding, the firm supplies portfolio companies with strategic resources including technical talent introductions, go-to-market support, and customer introductions, organized around four investment verticals: Foundational AI & Infrastructure, Applied Intelligence, Hard Sciences, and Consumer AI.
Product overview
Flying Fish Partners (branded as Flying Fish Ventures) is a Seattle-based pre-seed and seed venture capital firm, not a software product company. Its core offering is the Flying Fish Ventures fund, which invests in AI and ML technology companies, supplemented by a Strategic Founder Resources service line that provides portfolio companies with access to technical talent, go-to-market expertise, and customer introductions. The firm organizes its investing across four focus verticals: Foundational AI & Infrastructure (e.g., AgileRL), Applied Intelligence (e.g., Aisy, BluePill, Hiverge), Hard Sciences (e.g., Accipiter Biosciences, Latent Labs, Orbital Materials), and Consumer AI (e.g., Picnic, Sella). As a VC firm, Flying Fish does not sell a unified software product; rather, the fund itself is the central offering, with the four focus areas and strategic resources functioning as differentiated components of its investment platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Flying Fish Ventures Pre-seed and seed venture capital fund that provides equity capital to early-stage AI and ML technology companies across the Pacific Northwest and globally, with typical VC fund economics.
- Strategic Founder Resources
Quantifiable outcome
- Participation in Europe's largest reported seed round at $1.1B for Ineffable Intelligence
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Flying Fish Partners
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Flying Fish Partners technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Flying Fish Partners partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record.
- PfizerPfizer is named as a strategic collaborator with Accipiter Biosciences (a Flying Fish portfolio company) alongside Kite Pharma (Gilead). Pfizer's collaboration supports the development of de novo protein therapeutics via Accipiter's computational platforms for immunology and oncology.
- Kite Pharma (Gilead)Kite Pharma is named as a strategic collaborator with Accipiter Biosciences (a Flying Fish portfolio company) alongside Pfizer. The collaboration supports the development of multifunctional biologics targeting multiple disease pathways simultaneously.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Flying Fish Partners competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Madrona Venture Group: Seattle-based early-stage venture firm with deep AI/ML focus and Microsoft/Amazon alumni network; closest geographic and thematic comparable to Flying Fish.
- Lux Capital: Specialist seed and early-stage investor in AI, hard-tech, and scientific discovery; shares Flying Fish's AI-stack-aware and computational-discovery lens.
- DCVC (Data Collective): Early-stage VC focused on AI/ML, data science, and computational biology; directly comparable hard-sciences AI investing strategy.
- Amplify Partners: Seed-stage fund investing in technical founders building AI/ML infrastructure and applications; overlaps in pre-seed and seed AI investment focus.
- Zetta Venture Partners: Early-stage fund focused on AI-first startups building intelligent systems; comparable AI specialist seed investor.
- Bloomberg Beta: Early-stage venture firm focused on machine intelligence and enterprise software; similar pre-seed/seed AI orientation.
- Pioneer Square Labs: Seattle-based startup studio and seed investor in AI and enterprise software; co-invested with Flying Fish in BluePill and shares PNW roots.
Broad incumbents
- Khosla Ventures: Large venture firm with deep AI/ML and hard-tech investing across stages; broader and better-capitalized competitor for AI seed deals.
- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): Mega-fund with dedicated AI infrastructure and applied AI investing across all stages; co-investor and competitor in seed AI rounds.
- Bain Capital Ventures: Multi-stage venture firm with active AI/ML investing practice including seed; competes for AI application and infrastructure deals.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Flying Fish Partners social profiles
Digital presenceFlying Fish Partners financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Flying Fish Partners leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
Flying Fish Partners subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Flying Fish Partners funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Flying Fish Partners M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments81 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Flying Fish Partners
What does Flying Fish Partners do?
Flying Fish Partners (also branded as Flying Fish Ventures) is a Seattle-based pre-seed and seed venture capital firm that invests capital in transformative AI and ML startups. Beyond providing funding, the firm supplies portfolio companies with strategic resources including technical talent introductions, go-to-market support, and customer introductions, organized around four investment verticals: Foundational AI & Infrastructure, Applied Intelligence, Hard Sciences, and Consumer AI.
Is Flying Fish Partners a public or private company?
Flying Fish Partners is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was Flying Fish Partners founded?
Flying Fish Partners was founded in 2016. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Flying Fish Partners based?
Flying Fish Partners is headquartered in Seattle, United States, in the North America region.
How does Flying Fish Partners make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Venture Fund Management Fees & Carried Interest is the primary driver. The others are portfolio Company Realizations (Exits & Acquisitions).
Who are Flying Fish Partners's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Madrona Venture Group, Lux Capital, DCVC (Data Collective), Amplify Partners, Zetta Venture Partners, Bloomberg Beta and Pioneer Square Labs. Broad incumbents are Khosla Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Bain Capital Ventures.
Does Flying Fish Partners have an API?
No public API is recorded for Flying Fish Partners.