Fuel Capital

What Fuel Capital does

Fuel Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2013 by Chris Howard and headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area (Burlingame, California). The firm invests in early-stage companies across developer tools, business software, and consumer marketplaces, having deployed capital across three funds totaling $146M in assets under management: Fund I ($25M, 2013), Fund II ($46M, 2017), and Fund III ($75M, 2019), the last of which was oversubscribed and enabled the firm to begin leading rounds rather than only co-investing.

Fuel generates revenue through the standard VC mechanics of management fees (typically ~2% of committed capital) and carried interest (typically ~20% of fund profits) on its three funds, with notable realized exits including CoreOS (acquired by Red Hat for $250M) and Nervana (acquired by Intel). The firm differentiates through operational and marketing support: General Partner Leah Solivan, founder of TaskRabbit, joined in 2017 and contributes brand-building expertise, GP Chris Howard brings a decade-long marketing career, and Chief Marketing Officer Jamie Viggiano (hired 2019) formalized marketing and branding services for portfolio companies. Roughly half of Fund III dollars were committed to companies with diverse founders, and the firm operates the ReFUEL founder wellness program, Fuel Up podcast, and a publicly available Marketing Toolkit. Portfolio companies include Flexport, Convoy, Lattice, Clearbit, Clara Labs, Feather, Interana, Specto, Notable Labs, Ikaria, Goodcover, and DayJ.

Name

Fuel Capital

Legal name

Fuel Capital

Website

https://fuelcapital.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Fuel Capital is a San Francisco Bay Area seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2013, managing $146M across three funds and investing in developer tools, business software, and consumer marketplaces, with a focus on underrepresented founders and hands-on marketing support.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital (Seed-Stage Investment)

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Venture Capital Fund-of-Funds / Multi-Manager Platforms (FSANAAAJ)

Keywords

• Seed-stage venture capital
• Early-stage investing
• Startup funding
• Developer tools investing
• Consumer marketplace investing

Headquarters

HQ city

Burlingame

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, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Returns: Fuel Capital generates returns through carried interest (typically 20% of fund profits) and management fees (typically 2% of committed capital) on their venture funds. The firm has had successful exits including CoreOS (acquired by Red Hat for $250M) and Nervana (acquired by Intel).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Fuel Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests $25M–$75M per fund (cumulatively $146M AUM) into early-stage companies building developer tools, business software, and consumer marketplaces. Beyond capital, the firm provides portfolio companies with hands-on marketing/branding support, founder wellness programming (ReFUEL), and the Fuel Up audio series and Marketing Toolkit as thought-leadership resources.

Product overview

Fuel Capital is a venture capital firm that provides seed-stage investment and portfolio support services to early-stage companies. The firm does not offer a software product or technology platform; rather, it offers investment capital, founder support, marketing resources, and educational content through its Marketing Toolkit. The Marketing Toolkit includes resources on brand, PR & communications, growth, management, thought leadership, and content creation. Additionally, the firm produces the Fuel Up audio series and hosts ReFUEL wellness events for founders.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ReFUEL: A series of events focused on the physical and mental well-being of founders, including diet, fitness, recovery, meditation, and improved sleep initiatives.
• Fuel Up

Products and services

• Fuel Capital Fund I The firm's first seed-stage venture capital fund, raised in 2013, used to make early-stage investments in developer tools, business software, and consumer companies. Limited Partners commit capital and the fund invests in startups.
• Fuel Capital Fund II The firm's second seed-stage venture capital fund, raised in 2013 and closed at $46M, used to continue early-stage investments in developer tools, business software, and consumer marketplaces.
• Fuel Capital Fund III The firm's third and largest seed-stage venture capital fund, closed at $75M in May 2019, bringing total AUM to $146M. Fund III enables Fuel Capital to lead seed-stage rounds (rather than only co-invest), expand marketing/branding services to portfolio companies, and continue the ReFUEL founder wellness program; nearly 50% of Fund III dollars are invested in companies with diverse founders.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 50% of Fund III invested in companies with diverse founders
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 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.

• ScreendoorcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 June 2021Screendoor is a collaborative effort to expand diversity within the venture capital ecosystem. Launched with more than $50M in commitments from forward-looking early-stage investors. The goal is to spark a virtuous cycle of wealth creation for underrepresented fund managers. Fuel Capital GPs Leah Solivan and Chris Howard have joined as founding Venture Advisors. All founding advisors invest in the fund itself and none draw fees or take carry.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• First Round Capital: Premier seed-stage VC with comparable AUM scale and a strong community/value-add platform (First Round Review, the Capital Chair). Competes directly with Fuel for the same seed deals in B2B SaaS and consumer, with similar founder-support orientation.
• Lerer Hippeau: Seed-stage VC with similar check sizes and a thesis spanning consumer, B2B SaaS, and marketplace categories. Both firms target pre-seed/seed rounds with operator-style support, putting them in direct competition on similar deals.
• Homebrew: Seed-stage VC investing in B2B SaaS, consumer, and developer tools with an operator-led support model. Highly comparable to Fuel in stage, sector focus, and value-add philosophy, with similar fund-size scale.
• Susa Ventures: Seed-stage VC that co-led Specto alongside Fuel Capital. Similar check sizes, thesis in B2B/enterprise SaaS and data, with comparable founder-support orientation. Direct co-investor and direct peer.
• BBG Ventures: Seed-stage VC specifically focused on female and diverse founders. Most directly comparable to Fuel on the underrepresented-founder thesis, with similar AUM and seed check sizes.
• Crosscut Ventures: Early-stage VC investing across consumer, SaaS, and frontier tech with similar fund size and operator-driven support. Competes on the same deal flow in seed-stage B2B and consumer categories.
• SV Angel: Seed-stage angel firm led by Ron Conway that co-invested with Fuel in CoreOS and Specto. Direct peer on seed allocation and follow-on participation in Bay Area startups.

Broad incumbents

• Forerunner Ventures: Consumer-focused early-stage VC with a larger fund footprint. Overlaps with Fuel's consumer thesis (e.g., Feather is similar in style to Forerunner investments) while operating at a broader scale and category focus.
• Bain Capital Ventures: Established multi-stage venture platform that co-led Specto with Fuel. Overlaps on early-stage B2B SaaS and dev tools, but operates with much broader fund scale and longer-duration capital than Fuel.
• Khosla Ventures: Large, multi-stage VC that co-invested in Feather with Fuel. Overlaps on seed-stage B2B SaaS, consumer, and dev tools but operates at much larger fund scale and broader sector mandate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fuelcapital

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

Investments159 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Fuel Capital