Contour Venture Partners

What Contour Venture Partners does

Contour Venture Partners is a New York City-based pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2005, recognized as the first seed-stage VC focused on the NYC technology ecosystem. The firm invests between $500,000 and $2 million in initial rounds across enterprise SaaS, vertical B2B SaaS, financial services technology, and digital health, typically as a lead or co-lead investor. Contour takes board seats and provides hands-on operational support covering recruiting, sales strategy, business development, finance, and exit planning, and it has participated in every subsequent round of high-conviction investments such as Datadog from seed through IPO.

The firm manages seven funds in total: four seed funds (currently investing out of Contour Venture Partners V) and three late-stage Opportunity Funds (currently investing out of Contour Opportunity Fund III). Across its history, Contour has backed 105-120+ portfolio companies, achieved 33 liquidity events including marquee exits like Datadog (Nasdaq: DDOG, added to the S&P 500 in 2025), OnDeck (NYSE: ONDK), Ticketfly (acquired by Pandora), ShopKeep (acquired by Lightspeed POS for $440 million), and Simpli.fi (scaled to over $100 million in revenue before exit to GTCR). The firm maintains a partnership with the FinTech Innovation Lab alongside major banks including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Barclays.

The team is intentionally small — co-founders Matt Gorin and Bob Greene plus General Partner Owen Davis — and is currently expanding to a fourth member via a Principal hire. Revenue mechanics follow standard VC economics: roughly 2% annual management fees on committed capital across active funds, plus 20% carried interest on profitable exits. Contour has earned consistent industry recognition, including Crain's New York's ranking as the #1 most active VC firm in NYC in 2018 and 2020 and Business Insider's Seed 100 list in 2022 and 2023.

Name

Contour Venture Partners

Legal name

Contour Venture Partners

Website

https://contourventures.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Contour Venture Partners is a New York City-based seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2005, investing $500K-$2M initial checks in enterprise SaaS, vertical B2B SaaS, fintech, and digital health startups, with a board-seat, hands-on operating model across seven funds.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Seed Stage Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)

Keywords

• Seed stage venture capital
• Venture capital firm
• Enterprise SaaS investing
• B2B SaaS investing
• Fintech venture capital

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

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

Revenue model

1. Fund Management Fees: VC firms typically charge management fees (usually 2% of committed capital) on funds under management. Contour has 7 funds under management as stated on their website.
2. Carried Interest (Performance Fees): VC firms earn carried interest (typically 20%) on profits from successful portfolio company exits. Contour has achieved 33 liquidity events including notable exits like Datadog (IPO), OnDeck (IPO), Ticketfly (acquired by Pandora), ShopKeep (acquired by Lightspeed), and many others.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Contour Venture Partners is a New York City-based seed stage venture capital firm founded in 2005 that invests $500,000 to $2 million in initial rounds in companies providing innovative software solutions across enterprise SaaS, vertical B2B SaaS, financial services, and digital health sectors. The firm takes board seats and provides hands-on operational support including recruiting, sales strategy, business development, finance, and exit planning to seed-stage companies, with a particular focus on the New York City technology ecosystem. The firm manages seven funds and has invested in 105+ companies since inception.

Product overview

Contour Venture Partners is a New York City based pre-seed and seed stage venture capital firm founded in 2005. The firm invests between $500,000 and $2 million in the initial round in companies providing innovative software solutions into the enterprise SaaS, vertical B2B SaaS, financial services, and digital health sectors, with a focus on the New York City technology ecosystem. The firm currently manages seven funds including Contour Venture Partners V (fifth fund) and Contour Opportunity Fund III (late stage growth fund). The firm takes board seats on portfolio companies and provides operational assistance, transactional expertise, capital, network, and overall judgment to maximize potential for success.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Contour Venture Partners V: Fifth fund of Contour Venture Partners, currently being invested.
• Contour Opportunity Fund III
• Contour IV

Products and services

• Contour Venture Partners V (fifth seed fund)
• Contour Opportunity Fund III (late-stage growth fund)
• Contour IV (fourth seed fund)

Quantifiable outcome

• 33 liquidity events achieved including multiple IPOs and high-value acquisitions
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• FinTech Innovation LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerContour Venture Partners is listed as a venture capital participant in the FinTech Innovation Lab based in NYC. The Lab provides early and growth-stage fintech companies with a platform to develop, trial and prove their value proposition alongside the world's leading banks through a 12-week mentorship program. Supporting financial institutions include Ally Financial, American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, Capital One, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Guardian Life, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, New York Life, State Street Corporation and UBS.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Lerer Hippeau: Lerer Hippeau is a New York-based seed and early-stage venture capital firm investing primarily in NYC-headquartered startups. They are the most direct peer to Contour, with overlapping SaaS, commerce, and consumer focus, similar seed check sizes, and parallel involvement in the NYC tech ecosystem.
• First Round Capital: First Round Capital is a leading seed-stage venture capital firm with deep roots in New York and a track record of backing category-defining companies. They are directly comparable in stage (seed), check size, and pattern of leading rounds and taking board seats, though they have a broader geographic footprint and a dedicated state-of-the-art platform for founders.
• Notation Capital: Notation Capital is a New York-based seed venture capital firm investing in technical, often enterprise-focused founders. They overlap directly with Contour in NYC geographic focus, seed stage, and B2B software orientation.
• Founder Collective: Founder Collective is a seed-stage venture capital firm with offices including New York, investing in enterprise, consumer, and crypto categories. They are comparable in stage, check size philosophy, and founder-led approach, and have a similar early-institutional track record.
• BBG Ventures: BBG Ventures is a New York-based early-stage venture capital firm investing in enterprise software, fintech, and consumer. They are highly comparable as a NYC-based seed VC with a similar stage and software/fintech orientation, though with a stronger diversity thesis.
• Betaworks: Betaworks is a New York-based startup studio and seed investor that builds and incubates early-stage companies. They overlap with Contour in NYC focus and seed-stage investing, but lean more toward company-building than traditional lead-investor seed rounds.
• NextView Ventures: NextView Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on internet and software startups. They are a direct peer in stage, check size, and thesis on consumer-internet-adjacent and SaaS businesses, with a strong platform offering for early-stage founders.

Emerging players

• Techstars NYC: Techstars NYC is the New York-based accelerator program of the global Techstars network, providing seed capital and mentorship to early-stage startups. They are comparable through NYC focus and seed-stage activity, and via the accelerator-format overlap with Owen Davis's NYC Seedstart background.

Regional players

• NYU Tandon's Future Labs: NYU Tandon Future Labs is a New York-based startup incubator and venture program supporting early-stage tech companies. They overlap with Contour in NYC seed-stage deal flow and ecosystem participation, though as an academic/regional initiative rather than a traditional VC.

Others

• Lighthouse Capital Partners: Lighthouse Capital Partners is a New York-based growth equity firm that has co-invested in multiple Contour portfolio companies in later rounds. They are comparable as an NYC-focused capital provider participating in the same portfolio's later-stage financings, often as a co-investor alongside Contour's Opportunity Funds.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments219 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Contour Venture Partners