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Ascend

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uuid0000ctg

Namestring
Ascend
Legal namestring
Ascend Solutions, LLC
Websiteurl
https://www.ascend.vc
Company typeenum
Private
Founded yearint
2019
Descriptiontext

Ascend (operated as Ascend.vc and legally Ascend Solutions, LLC) is a Seattle-based pre-seed venture capital fund founded in 2019 by Kirby Winfield. The firm invests in early-stage technology and AI startups across the Pacific Northwest, explicitly targeting the region's AI engineering talent base — citing that roughly one in four US AI engineers is based in Seattle. Across two funds, Ascend reports backing more than 60 pre-seed startups, with portfolio companies spanning AI infrastructure, vertical AI applications in healthcare and energy, commerce, fintech, defense/robotics, and consumer products.

Ascend's core product is its fund vehicle and the founder-support platform built around it. The firm maintains a website with a portfolio showcase, a "Token Talk" newsletter covering AI topics, a Seattle Startup Toolkit offering pitch deck templates, due diligence checklists, and curated lists of local investors and service providers, and a portfolio-wide job board powered by Getro. These assets function as both marketing channels and value-add services to portfolio founders, supplementing direct capital deployment.

As a venture capital firm, Ascend generates revenue through management fees charged against committed fund capital and carried interest on realized returns from its investment funds. The firm does not publicly disclose fund sizes, AUM, fee rates, or realization data. Its distribution is direct: the partners source deals through founder referrals, ecosystem networks, and outreach within the Seattle startup community. Ascend is privately held with no parent company and no disclosed institutional LP composition; the similarly named Ascend Capital Partners (New York, healthcare-focused) is a separate entity.

Short descriptiontext

Ascend (Ascend.vc) is a Seattle-based pre-seed venture capital fund founded in 2019 by Kirby Winfield that invests in AI and technology startups across the Pacific Northwest, reporting more than 60 portfolio companies backed across two funds.

Operating statusenum
Operating
Ownership categoryenum
Headcount rangeband
1–10
akta.pro rankint
HeadquartersSeattle, United States
HQ citystring
Seattle
HQ countrystring
United States
HQ regionstring
North America
Markets served

Serves global market

Keyword5 values
pre-seed venture capital, early-stage startup funding, AI startup investing, Pacific Northwest VC, seed-stage investments
Industry2 codes
1Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed)
CodeFSANAAAAPrimaryYes
2Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists)
CodeFSANAAADPrimaryNo
NAICS code1 code
  • Portfolio Management and Investment Advice523940
SIC code1 code
  • Investment Advice6282
Product category
Pre-Seed Venture Capital
Social media profiles2 records
Marketing channels3 records

Each record includes

Title, Type, Stage, Description, Source

Distribution channels1 record

Each record includes

Title, Type, Scope, Target buyer, Description, Source

Cost components5 values
Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
GTM typeB2B
B2B
Offering typeServices
Services
Core offering1 text field

Ascend is a pre-seed venture capital fund that invests in early-stage technology startups founded by AI engineers and technical talent in the Pacific Northwest, with Seattle-based startups as the primary target. The firm deploys capital from two funds into 60+ portfolio companies and supplements investment with portfolio support services such as hiring tools, fundraising templates, due diligence checklists, and introductions to later-stage investors.

Differentiator
Functional benefit
Problem solved
Quantifiable outcome1 value
  • Backed 60+ portfolio companies across two funds
Product and service1 record
1Pre-seed venture capital investment
Scale indicator4 records

Each record includes

Type, Value, Description, Source

Recent move7 records

Each record includes

Date, Type, Title, Description, Source

Expansion highlight4 records

Each record includes

Type, Description

Peers10 records
1Founders Co-op
TypeDirect peer
Description

Seattle-based pre-seed and seed venture firm. Direct peer — same geography, same stage, and has already co-invested alongside Ascend (led StitcherAI's $3M pre-seed round).

2Pioneer Square Labs
TypeDirect peer
Description

Seattle-based pre-seed venture studio and fund. Direct peer — same Pacific Northwest pre-seed focus on technical founders, competing for the same early-stage deal flow.

3Unlock Venture Partners
TypeDirect peer
Description

Seattle-based early-stage VC focused on pre-seed and seed. Direct peer — same PNW geography and stage with comparable check sizes and founder support orientation.

4Madrona Venture Group
TypeRegional player
Description

Seattle-based venture firm historically focused on seed-to-growth Pacific Northwest startups. Regional peer — same Seattle ecosystem but operates at later stages than Ascend.

5Voyager Capital
TypeRegional player
Description

Seattle-based venture firm investing across the Pacific Northwest. Regional peer — same geography but typically invests at Series A and beyond rather than pre-seed.

6Techstars
TypeBroad incumbent
Description

Global accelerator/seed investor with a Seattle program. Broad incumbent — competing for pre-seed AI/tech founders at the earliest stage but operating a different accelerator-driven model.

7Y Combinator
TypeBroad incumbent
Description

Global pre-seed/seed accelerator. Broad incumbent — sets the bar for pre-seed AI founder expectations and competes for the same talent pool Ascend targets in Seattle.

8Founders Fund
TypeBroad incumbent
Description

San Francisco-based venture firm. Broad incumbent — has co-invested with Ascend (Endurance Energy Series A) and represents the tier of fund Ascend aspires to partner with as portfolio companies scale.

9Felicis Ventures
TypeBroad incumbent
Description

Early-stage venture firm with deep AI/tech focus. Broad incumbent — co-invested alongside Ascend and competes for many of the same AI-focused seed deals.

10Plug and Play Ventures
TypeBroad incumbent
Description

Global accelerator and seed investor with strong enterprise/AI presence. Broad incumbent — co-invested with Ascend in StitcherAI and Oumi, and operates a comparable early-stage AI platform model.

Market position
Strengths4 records

Each record includes

Headline, Details, Source

Weaknesses4 records

Each record includes

Headline, Details, Source

Competitive moat4 records

Each record includes

Type, Details

Key risks6 records

Each record includes

Headline, Details, Source

Key highlights6 records

Each record includes

Headline, Details, Source

Customer concentration

Classification, Details

Segment1 record

Each record includes

Title, Type, Primary, Description, Pain point addressed, Use case, Source

Ideal customer profile1 record

Each record includes

Profile, Firmographic size, Sales motion, Sales cycle length, Buying structure, Purchase trigger, Buyer persona, Geography, Industry vertical, Primary use case, Description, Pain points, Evidence proof points, Target buyer

API detail
Has APIbool
No

Docs URL, Description

AI maturity
App detail

Has app

Core technology
Revenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Number of profiles
Profiles1 record

Each record includes

Name, Designation, Designation category, Overview, Profile commentary, Source

No data
No data
Funding overview

Funding stage, Last funding date, Total funding USD

Funding rounds

Each record includes

Round, Amount USD, Date, Pre money valuation, Total investors, Investors, News

Investors

Each record includes

Name, Type, Date of entry, Rounds participated, Website

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

M&A

Each record includes

Name, Acquisition type, Announced date, Completed date, Status, Website, News

Investment117 records

Each record includes

Name, Round, Announced date, Lead investor, Website, News

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

Ascend

Pre-Seed Venture Capitalascend.vc

Ascend (Ascend.vc) is a Seattle-based pre-seed venture capital fund founded in 2019 by Kirby Winfield that invests in AI and technology startups across the Pacific Northwest, reporting more than 60 portfolio companies backed across two funds.

What Ascend does

Ascend (operated as Ascend.vc and legally Ascend Solutions, LLC) is a Seattle-based pre-seed venture capital fund founded in 2019 by Kirby Winfield. The firm invests in early-stage technology and AI startups across the Pacific Northwest, explicitly targeting the region's AI engineering talent base — citing that roughly one in four US AI engineers is based in Seattle. Across two funds, Ascend reports backing more than 60 pre-seed startups, with portfolio companies spanning AI infrastructure, vertical AI applications in healthcare and energy, commerce, fintech, defense/robotics, and consumer products.

Ascend's core product is its fund vehicle and the founder-support platform built around it. The firm maintains a website with a portfolio showcase, a "Token Talk" newsletter covering AI topics, a Seattle Startup Toolkit offering pitch deck templates, due diligence checklists, and curated lists of local investors and service providers, and a portfolio-wide job board powered by Getro. These assets function as both marketing channels and value-add services to portfolio founders, supplementing direct capital deployment.

As a venture capital firm, Ascend generates revenue through management fees charged against committed fund capital and carried interest on realized returns from its investment funds. The firm does not publicly disclose fund sizes, AUM, fee rates, or realization data. Its distribution is direct: the partners source deals through founder referrals, ecosystem networks, and outreach within the Seattle startup community. Ascend is privately held with no parent company and no disclosed institutional LP composition; the similarly named Ascend Capital Partners (New York, healthcare-focused) is a separate entity.

Ascend firmographics

Firmographics
Name
Ascend
Legal name
Ascend Solutions, LLC
Website
https://www.ascend.vc
Company type
Private
Founded year
2019
Operating status
Operating
Headcount range
1–10 employees
Short description
Ascend (Ascend.vc) is a Seattle-based pre-seed venture capital fund founded in 2019 by Kirby Winfield that invests in AI and technology startups across the Pacific Northwest, reporting more than 60 portfolio companies backed across two funds.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Ascend industry classification

Industry
Product category
Pre-Seed Venture Capital
NAICS
Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)
SIC
Investment Advice (6282)
akta.pro primary industry
Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA)
akta.pro secondary industry
Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)

Keywords

  • Pre-seed venture capital
  • Early-stage startup funding
  • AI startup investing
  • Pacific Northwest VC
  • Seed-stage investments

Where Ascend is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city
Seattle
HQ country
United States
HQ region
North America

Markets served

Ascend business model

Business model
GTM type
B2B
Offering type
Services
Cost components
Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Ascend product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Ascend is a pre-seed venture capital fund that invests in early-stage technology startups founded by AI engineers and technical talent in the Pacific Northwest, with Seattle-based startups as the primary target. The firm deploys capital from two funds into 60+ portfolio companies and supplements investment with portfolio support services such as hiring tools, fundraising templates, due diligence checklists, and introductions to later-stage investors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

  • Pre-seed venture capital investment

Quantifiable outcome

  • Backed 60+ portfolio companies across two funds

Companies that use Ascend

Customer profile

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Ascend technology and API

Technology

API detail

Has API
No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Ascend partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Ascend competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Direct peers

  • Founders Co-op: Seattle-based pre-seed and seed venture firm. Direct peer — same geography, same stage, and has already co-invested alongside Ascend (led StitcherAI's $3M pre-seed round).
  • Pioneer Square Labs: Seattle-based pre-seed venture studio and fund. Direct peer — same Pacific Northwest pre-seed focus on technical founders, competing for the same early-stage deal flow.
  • Unlock Venture Partners: Seattle-based early-stage VC focused on pre-seed and seed. Direct peer — same PNW geography and stage with comparable check sizes and founder support orientation.

Regional players

  • Madrona Venture Group: Seattle-based venture firm historically focused on seed-to-growth Pacific Northwest startups. Regional peer — same Seattle ecosystem but operates at later stages than Ascend.
  • Voyager Capital: Seattle-based venture firm investing across the Pacific Northwest. Regional peer — same geography but typically invests at Series A and beyond rather than pre-seed.

Broad incumbents

  • Techstars: Global accelerator/seed investor with a Seattle program. Broad incumbent — competing for pre-seed AI/tech founders at the earliest stage but operating a different accelerator-driven model.
  • Y Combinator: Global pre-seed/seed accelerator. Broad incumbent — sets the bar for pre-seed AI founder expectations and competes for the same talent pool Ascend targets in Seattle.
  • Founders Fund: San Francisco-based venture firm. Broad incumbent — has co-invested with Ascend (Endurance Energy Series A) and represents the tier of fund Ascend aspires to partner with as portfolio companies scale.
  • Felicis Ventures: Early-stage venture firm with deep AI/tech focus. Broad incumbent — co-invested alongside Ascend and competes for many of the same AI-focused seed deals.
  • Plug and Play Ventures: Global accelerator and seed investor with strong enterprise/AI presence. Broad incumbent — co-invested with Ascend in StitcherAI and Oumi, and operates a comparable early-stage AI platform model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Ascend social profiles

Digital presence

Ascend financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Ascend leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Ascend funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

Ascend M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments117 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Ascend

What does Ascend do?

Ascend is a pre-seed venture capital fund that invests in early-stage technology startups founded by AI engineers and technical talent in the Pacific Northwest, with Seattle-based startups as the primary target. The firm deploys capital from two funds into 60+ portfolio companies and supplements investment with portfolio support services such as hiring tools, fundraising templates, due diligence checklists, and introductions to later-stage investors.

Is Ascend a public or private company?

Ascend is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.

When was Ascend founded?

Ascend was founded in 2019. It employs 1 to 10 people.

Where is Ascend based?

Ascend is headquartered in Seattle, United States, in the North America region.

Who are Ascend's main competitors?

Direct peers on record are Founders Co-op, Pioneer Square Labs and Unlock Venture Partners. Regional players are Madrona Venture Group and Voyager Capital. Broad incumbents are Techstars, Y Combinator, Founders Fund, Felicis Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures.

Does Ascend have an API?

No public API is recorded for Ascend.

What industry is Ascend in?

Ascend's product category is Pre-Seed Venture Capital. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAAAA, Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed), with a secondary code of FSANAAAD, Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists). Its NAICS code is 523940 and its SIC code is 6282.

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Live signals
PrtimesThe logistics crisis caused by 'rough estimates'. The reality of transportation companies that do not know their own costs and the challenges of small and medium-sized enterprises to stop the collapse.Ascend Corporation will hold a special seminar on cost accounting for transportation operators on September 17, 2026, in Tokyo. The event addresses a logistics crisis where 25% of capacity is projected insufficient by 2030, and only 30% of companies use cost data for improvement. The seminar aims to help operators improve pricing and profitability.Pulse 2.0Endurance Energy Raises $54 Million Series A To Develop Deep-Ocean Geothermal PowerEndurance Energy, a startup founded by former SpaceX engineer Andrew Redd, has raised $54 million in Series A funding to develop geothermal power plants that tap into energy resources beneath the ocean floor along the Pacific Ring of Fire. The funding round was led by Founders Fund with participation from Ascend, Construct Capital, Felicis Ventures, First Round Capital, Point72 Ventures, Riot Ventures, and Voyager Ventures. The capital will support development efforts as electricity demand increases from AI data centers, electric vehicles, and industrial applications.FinSMEsEndurance Energy Raises $54M in Series A FundingEndurance Energy, a Seattle-based developer of deep-ocean geothermal energy harvesting infrastructure, raised $54 million in Series A funding led by Founders Fund with participation from Ascend, Construct Capital, Felicis Ventures, First Round Capital, Point72 Ventures, Riot Ventures, and Voyager Ventures. The company intends to use the proceeds to scale its marine engineering teams, accelerate development of high-temperature deep-sea drilling technologies, and advance pilot extraction operations near oceanic tectonic plate boundaries. The company was founded by former SpaceX engineer Andrew Redd and has completed foundational thermodynamic simulations and validated early ocean-floor material resiliency designs within its first two years of operations.RenewablesnowEndurance Energy nets USD 54m to advance subsea geothermal techEndurance Energy has raised USD 54 million in a Series A financing round led by Founders Fund, with participation from Felicis, Voyager Ventures, Riot Ventures, Construct Capital, and existing investors Point72 Ventures, First Round Capital, and Ascend, to advance its subsea geothermal technology. The Seattle-based company has completed four prototype deployments at depths up to 3,300 metres and hydrothermal temperatures up to 386°C, and is on track to deploy its first end-to-end 100-kW Adelie generator to the Juan de Fuca ridge this fall. The system is designed to deliver gigawatts of zero-emission power to co-located subsea compute modules.Business Wire BlogStitcherAI Launches IT Investment ROI Platform to Answer the Question Every Board Is Asking: Are My AI Investments Paying Off?StitcherAI announced the general availability of its IT Finance system of intelligence platform, which embeds business-aligned financial context into human and agentic workflows to help organizations make accountable AI and IT investment decisions. The company launched with $3 million pre-seed funding led by Founders Co-op with participation from Sunshine Lake VC, Ascend, and Plug & Play Ventures. Beta customers, including Fortune 500 companies with nine-figure cloud and AI spend, reportedly reduced the cost of building and maintaining internal IT Finance infrastructure by 80% and reached time-to-value 85% faster.JD SupraAscend Closes New Fund With $791 MillionAscend Capital Partners announced the closing of its second fund, Ascend Capital Partners Fund II, with $791 million in commitments, surpassing its initial target of $700 million. The firm, founded in 2019 and based in New York, focuses on healthcare investments including physician and provider services, value-based care enablement, and healthcare IT.AscendVenture Capital — Blog — Ascend.vcAn analysis by Ascend.vc ranks U.S. startup ecosystems by venture capital efficiency, identifying the Bay Area, Boston, and Seattle as the top three metros for return on invested capital between 2000 and mid-2025. The report highlights that while Silicon Valley leads in absolute exit value, Boston and Seattle demonstrate superior capital efficiency with higher Multiple on Invested Capital (MOIC) ratios relative to their investment volumes.AscendVC for the rest of us: A big tech employee’s guide to becoming startup advisors — Ascend.vcAscend.vc published a guide for big tech professionals on how to become startup advisors, drawing on interviews with Microsoft and Google Cloud leaders including Taylor Black, David Pitman and Jim Alkove. The piece covers advisor motivation, matching founders to stages, compensation (often equity, sometimes cash), due diligence, and best practices such as staying operationally disconnected.Built In SeattleAllen Institute Gets $30M, Ascend Raises $25M, and More Seattle Tech NewsSeveral Seattle-area technology companies, including the Allen Institute and Ascend, secured significant funding rounds to support their artificial intelligence and clean energy initiatives. The Allen Institute raised $30 million for AI startup investments, while Ascend closed a $25 million fund focused on pre-seed AI ventures in the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, Modern Hydrogen raised $32.8 million to pivot toward hydrogen fuel production.Business Wire BlogCommercial Real Estate Fintech Start-Up Emerges from Stealth, Empowers Commercial Mortgage Brokers to Originate Over $2 Billion In Loan RequestsLOANtuitive, a Seattle-based commercial real estate fintech startup, has emerged from stealth mode following a $1.1 million pre-seed funding round led by Ascend.vc and other investors. Since its launch in April 2021, the company's B2B SaaS platform has enabled commercial mortgage brokers to originate over $2 billion in loan requests by matching them with lenders through machine learning.