Obvious Ventures
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
Obvious Ventures firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Obvious Ventures
- Legal name
- Obvious Management Services, L.L.C.
- Website
- https://obvious.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Obvious Ventures industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Venture Capital
- NAICS
- Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259), Other Financial Vehicles (52599), Other Financial Vehicles (525990)
- SIC
- Investment Advice (6282)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD), SDG / Thematic Sustainable Investment Funds (FSANAJAN)
Keywords
Where Obvious Ventures is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Obvious Ventures business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Fund management fees and carried interest: As a venture capital firm, Obvious Ventures earns revenue primarily through management fees on assets under management across its thematic venture funds (most recently OV5 at $360,360,360), supplemented by carried interest / performance returns from successful portfolio exits such as Beyond Meat (IPO), Planet Labs (SPAC), Recursion (IPO), Proterra (IPO), and Lilium (IPO).
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | — | Not applicable — Obvious Ventures is a venture capital firm, not a product or SaaS vendor |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels2 records
Obvious Ventures product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Obvious Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that raises capital from limited partners and invests it in early-stage "world positive" companies across three thematic pillars: Planetary Health, Human Health, and Economic Health. The firm's current vehicle is the OV5 / Obvious 360 Fund, sized at $360,360,360, which deploys capital into category-defining startups such as Planet Labs, Beyond Meat, Recursion, Zanskar, FleetZero, and Inductive Bio. Surrounding the fund, Obvious offers supporting programs including the annual World Positive Report, the Obvious Ideas editorial platform, an ESG evaluation framework, and the Obvious Champions advisor network.
Product overview
Obvious Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm (not a traditional software product company) that operates a single unified investment offering — themed venture funds — across three thematic pillars: Planetary Health, Human Health, and Economic Health. Its current vehicle is the OV5 / Obvious 360 Fund ($360,360,360), which deploys capital into a portfolio of category-creating companies such as Planet, Recursion, Beyond Meat, Diamond Foundry, Zanskar, Inceptive, and Inductive Bio. Surrounding the core fund offering, Obvious operates supporting public-facing offerings: the World Positive Report (annual thought-leadership publication), Obvious Ideas (editorial content hub), the ESG Policy & Evaluation Framework (governance overlay applied to portfolio companies), the Obvious Champions advisor network, and an LP Portal (FundPanel) for limited-partner reporting. There is no software platform product, API, or AI product offered directly by Obvious Ventures itself — the firm's "products" are its funds, frameworks, and publications.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Obvious 360 Fund: Fifth core venture capital fund (OV5) of $360,360,360, branded the 'Obvious 360 Fund,' representing a 360-degree view across planetary, human, and economic health.
Products and services
- Obvious 360 Fund (OV5) Obvious Ventures' fifth and current core venture capital fund, themed around a 360-degree view across Planetary Health, Human Health, and Economic Health. Backs early-stage founders building breakthrough solutions across clean energy, healthcare/biopharma, and economic inclusion; the primary product through which the firm earns management fees and carried interest.
- World Positive Report (2026 edition) Annual publication defining 'change agents' — people, technologies, and movements challenging the status quo — and showcasing Obvious Ventures' portfolio and thesis across planetary, human, and economic health. Published annually via Issuu.
- Obvious Champions Network Curated bench of 16+ senior operators and experts who advise Obvious Ventures' portfolio companies and serve as a referral pipeline for new deals. Members include former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra, MIT's Yet-Ming Chiang, iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman, and others.
- ESG Policy & Evaluation Framework Formal ESG evaluation process covering nine research areas (greenhouse gas reduction, resource use reduction, pollution/toxicity reduction, human physical & mental health, employee development, financial security & safety nets, team & board diversity, stakeholder inclusion, investor oversight). Includes an ESG Intentionality clause embedded in portfolio company term sheets.
Quantifiable outcome
- Beyond Meat IPO (NASDAQ: BYND) in May 2019 — first major public plant-based protein company
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Obvious Ventures
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Obvious Ventures technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Obvious Ventures partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- Carnegie Mellon UniversityminorAcademic origin for Gray Swan, the AI security company in Obvious Ventures' portfolio. Gray Swan is a CMU spinout founded by university researchers, and Obvious's investment is partly grounded in this academic pipeline.
- A.P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk Growth)coreStrategic shipping-industry backer participating alongside lead investor Obvious Ventures in Fleetzero's $43 million Series A. Maersk's involvement signals commercial validation of Fleetzero's electric marine propulsion for the global shipping industry.
- AMDminorAMD collaborated with portfolio company OpenHands (an Obvious investment via the firm's AI thesis) to improve agent performance on its Lemonade Server open-source platform. This is a partner relationship in Obvious's broader portfolio ecosystem rather than a direct Obvious Ventures commercial deal.
- Obvious Champions network (16 named advisors)coreCurated bench of senior advisors including Glenn Kelman (Redfin CEO), Sachin Jain (SCAN Group CEO), Sue Siegel (Illumina board), Aneesh Chopra (former US CTO, CareJourney President), Rodney Brooks (iRobot/Rethink/Robust.AI co-founder), Yet-Ming Chiang (MIT), Joanne Bradford (former Honey/SoFi), Eric Ryan (method/OLLY co-founder), Vivek Murthy (former US Surgeon General), Amy Abernethy MD, Julie Blunden (Plus Power), Phil Edmundson (Corvus founder), Shereef Elnahal (former VA Under Secretary), Brett Hurt, Brian Hamilton, Richelle Parham, Rene Lacerte, and Michele Catasta. Champions advise portfolio companies and serve as a referral pipeline for new deals.
- eBayminoreBay is an early adopter customer of Obello, an AI graphic design platform in Obvious Ventures' portfolio. Obvious's investment thesis supports brand-side adoption of AI creative tooling.
- RitualminorRitual is an early adopter customer of Obello, an AI graphic design platform in Obvious Ventures' portfolio, signaling portfolio customer validation in the consumer brand segment.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Obvious Ventures competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Breakthrough Energy Ventures: Bill Gates-backed venture fund investing in climate and sustainability technologies across multiple stages. Direct peer to Obvious Ventures given shared focus on planetary health, large single-fund sizes, and co-investment track record (co-invested in Fleetzero).
- Khosla Ventures: Sector-focused early-stage venture firm with deep exposure to clean energy, healthcare, and frontier tech. Highly comparable to Obvious given similar thematic breadth across planetary and human health, large fund vintages, and willingness to back hard-tech and science-driven founders.
- Lux Capital: Sector-focused VC investing in emerging science and technology companies at the intersection of biology, health, energy, and deep tech. Direct thematic peer to Obvious's Generative Science and Electrification theses; co-invested alongside Obvious in Inductive Bio.
- Lowercarbon Capital: Climate-focused venture fund backing founders across decarbonization, carbon removal, and clean energy. Direct peer to Obvious's Planetary Health pillar; both target similar early-stage, science-driven climate founders with thesis-led sourcing.
- Congruent Ventures: Early-stage venture fund investing in companies that address climate change, sustainable infrastructure, and resource efficiency. Direct thematic peer in the planetary health / climate-tech investing space, with similar check sizes and stage focus.
- DCVC (Data Collective): Deep-tech venture firm investing in computational and engineering breakthroughs across life sciences, energy, and materials. Comparable to Obvious on the science-driven, founder-led, large-market thesis; both back category-defining hard-tech companies at seed and Series A.
- Prelude Ventures: Early-stage climate tech venture fund focused on decarbonization across mobility, energy, buildings, and industry. Direct peer on the planetary health thesis and a comparable size and stage of investment.
- Madrona Venture Group: Early- and growth-stage venture firm focused on AI, cloud, and science-driven companies, headquartered in Seattle. Direct co-investor with Obvious (Gray Swan), and shares a thesis-led, founder-friendly orientation with sector depth in AI and life sciences.
Broad incumbents
- Emerson Collective: Laurene Powell Jobs's impact-focused investment and philanthropy organization backing mission-driven companies across education, immigration, climate, and health. Comparable to Obvious on impact-first mandate and willingness to invest at intersection of social and commercial returns.
- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): Large multi-stage venture firm with broad sector coverage including a dedicated Bio + Health franchise. Comparable as a co-investor (a16z Bio + Health co-invested in Inductive Bio), though substantially larger and more generalist than Obvious.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Obvious Ventures social profiles
Digital presenceObvious Ventures compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Obvious Ventures financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Obvious Ventures leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Obvious Ventures funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Obvious Ventures M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments211 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Obvious Ventures
What does Obvious Ventures do?
Obvious Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that raises capital from limited partners and invests it in early-stage "world positive" companies across three thematic pillars: Planetary Health, Human Health, and Economic Health. The firm's current vehicle is the OV5 / Obvious 360 Fund, sized at $360,360,360, which deploys capital into category-defining startups such as Planet Labs, Beyond Meat, Recursion, Zanskar, FleetZero, and Inductive Bio. Surrounding the fund, Obvious offers supporting programs including the annual World Positive Report, the Obvious Ideas editorial platform, an ESG evaluation framework, and the Obvious Champions advisor network.
Is Obvious Ventures a public or private company?
Obvious Ventures is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Obvious Ventures founded?
Obvious Ventures was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Obvious Ventures based?
Obvious Ventures is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Obvious Ventures make money?
One revenue line is on record: fund management fees and carried interest.
Who are Obvious Ventures's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, Congruent Ventures, DCVC (Data Collective), Prelude Ventures and Madrona Venture Group. Broad incumbents are Emerson Collective and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Does Obvious Ventures have an API?
No public API is recorded for Obvious Ventures.
What industry is Obvious Ventures in?
Obvious Ventures's product category is Venture Capital. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAAAB, Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B), with a secondary code of FSANAAAD, Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists). Its NAICS code is 525 and its SIC code is 6282.