Maven Ventures

What Maven Ventures does

Maven Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2013 by Jim Scheinman and headquartered in Palo Alto, California. The firm operates under the legal entity Maven Ventures Growth Labs Management Company and runs a deliberately concentrated strategy, deploying 6–8 seed investments per year from approximately 50 portfolio companies across four funds. Standard check size is approximately $1M at first investment, with consideration for follow-on participation in subsequent rounds. Maven's investment theses span Consumer AI (xAI, Perplexity, The Bot Company, MultiOn, Lutra), Healthcare AI (Medeloop, Hello Heart), Personalized Medicine (Nest Genomics, Carrot Fertility), Future of Families (Kinside, Epic!, Daybreak Health), and Climate & Sustainability (Embark, Wildtype, Simulate).

The firm's core products and programs are its venture investment services, the annual Hypergrowth conference for portfolio founders and operators, the Maven Growth Network of advisors, and the Maven Portfolio Job Board (powered by Getro) which surfaces 656+ roles across portfolio companies. The firm has no proprietary technology stack — its deliverable is capital plus strategic guidance across KPI setting, go-to-market, growth, fundraising, and hiring, supplemented by brand and network effects from high-visibility founder relationships (Eric Yuan at Zoom, Kyle Vogt at Cruise and The Bot Company, Aravind Srinivas at Perplexity, Maayan Cohen at Hello Heart).

Maven generates revenue through the standard venture capital model: management fees on committed capital under management (industry-standard ~2%) and carried interest (typically 20%) on profits from portfolio exits. Total assets under management are approximately $200M, anchored by the $60M Fund IV closed in April 2024. The firm's go-to-market is sales-led via founder referrals and inbound deal flow; it does not run conventional marketing or pricing mechanics. Across its portfolio, Maven claims 4 unicorn exits, 10 acquisitions, 4 IPOs (including Zoom at a $16B IPO in 2019 and Embark at a $4.5B IPO in 2021), and a 16% hit rate on companies reaching $500M+ exit or valuation — roughly 10x the industry average.

Name

Maven Ventures

Legal name

Maven Ventures Growth Labs Management Company

Website

https://mavenventures.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Maven Ventures is a Palo Alto-based, seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2013 that invests approximately $1M per company in bold consumer software founders. The firm manages about $200M across four funds, concentrated in Consumer AI, healthcare AI, personalized medicine, family tech, and climate themes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA)

Keywords

• Seed stage venture capital
• Consumer software investing
• Startup seed funding
• Venture capital firm
• Consumer AI investments

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Management Fees: VC firms typically charge 2% management fees on committed capital under management.
2. Carried Interest: Standard VC carried interest (typically 20%) on profits from successful portfolio company exits and IPOs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Maven Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in bold technical founders building consumer software startups. The firm deploys a typical $1 million initial investment with follow-on consideration and provides hands-on strategic support across KPI setting, go-to-market strategy, growth, fundraising, and hiring. It operates the annual Hypergrowth conference and a portfolio-company job board as value-add services.

Product overview

Maven Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2013 that invests in bold founders building consumer software startups. The firm operates with a highly-concentrated strategy, making 6-8 core investments per year with typical $1 million initial investments and follow-on consideration. Maven's investment theses span Consumer AI (xAI, Perplexity, The Bot Company, MultiOn, Lutra), Healthcare AI (Medeloop, Hello Heart), Personalized Medicine (Nest Genomics, Carrot Fertility), Future of Families (Kinside, Epic!, Daybreak Health), and Climate & Sustainability (Embark, Wildtype). The firm provides strategic support including KPI setting, go-to-market strategy, growth guidance, fundraising assistance, and hiring support. Maven also operates the Hypergrowth annual conference and a Portfolio Company Job Board.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Hypergrowth: Maven's annual conference featuring founders, operators, and investors in consumer growth
• Maven Portfolio Company Careers

Products and services

• Seed-stage Venture Capital Investment
• Hypergrowth Conference
• Portfolio Company Job Board
• Maven Growth Network

Quantifiable outcome

• 16% of portfolio companies reach $500M+ exit or valuation (10x industry average)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• TechCrunchcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 16 April 2024Exclusive coverage partner for Fund IV announcement ($60M). TechCrunch published the story 'Consumer tech investing is still hot for Maven Ventures, securing $60M for Fund IV' which served as the primary public announcement of the fund raise.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Forerunner Ventures: Early-stage venture firm focused on consumer brands and software, with a similarly concentrated thesis and portfolio support model. Both firms lead seed and Series A rounds in consumer-facing companies and provide GTM and brand-building assistance.
• NFX: Seed-stage venture firm focused on network-effect businesses and consumer software. Co-invested with Maven in Warmly's Series A and shares a similar pre-seed/seed concentration strategy.
• Felicis Ventures: Early-stage venture firm with a concentrated, thesis-driven approach to seed investing in consumer and enterprise software. Co-invested with Maven in Warmly's Series A and shares a comparable fund size and seed-stage focus.
• Uncommon Capital: Early-stage venture firm investing in consumer and frontier technology startups. Co-invested with Maven in House Numbers' pre-seed, indicating a similar pre-seed/seed check size and consumer orientation.
• Resolute Ventures: Early-stage consumer-focused venture firm with comparable fund size and seed-stage approach. Co-invested with Maven in House Numbers' pre-seed round, signaling overlap in thesis and pipeline.

Broad incumbents

• Lightspeed Venture Partners: A multi-stage venture firm with significant early-stage consumer software investing and a track record that includes Zoom (lead Series B). Larger AUM and broader sector coverage make it a broader incumbent comparable to Maven's seed-stage consumer focus.
• Founders Fund: Prominent venture firm known for concentrated, high-conviction bets in transformative technology. Comparable to Maven in its bold-founding-investor branding and willingness to back ambitious, sometimes contrarian founders at seed.
• Khosla Ventures: Large venture firm with deep seed-to-growth investing across consumer, enterprise, and frontier tech. Comparable in its willingness to seed bold, technical founders in emerging categories like AI, though at substantially larger fund size.
• Bessemer Venture Partners: Large multi-stage venture firm with significant consumer software portfolio and cloud/SaaS heritage. Comparable in that it serves as an early institutional investor to high-growth consumer companies, though with far greater AUM.
• Sequoia Capital: Premier venture capital firm with deep consumer software exposure and prior co-investments with Maven in companies such as Embark. Operates at much larger fund sizes and across multiple stages, but competes for the same consumer software founders.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/mavenvc
• Facebookfacebook.com/MavenVC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/maven-ventures-vc.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments114 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Maven Ventures