Formation
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
Formation firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Formation
- Legal name
- Formation
- Website
- https://formationvc.com
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Operating
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Formation industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Venture Capital
- NAICS
- Other Financial Vehicles (525990)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated) (FSANAAAM)
Keywords
Where Formation is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Formation business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Investment Returns from Portfolio Companies: Formation generates returns through equity investments in early-stage companies. The firm leads pre-seed rounds and participates in seed rounds, providing capital to founders in exchange for equity ownership. Returns are realized through portfolio company exits, follow-on funding rounds, or public market events.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Formation product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Formation is a venture capital firm that leads pre-seed rounds and participates in seed rounds for early-stage founders, focusing on the "Formation Stage" of company building. The firm provides equity capital alongside 1:1 cultivation and cohort-based programs, with a stated 10+ year partnership horizon. Formation backs both unheralded founders building generational companies and unicorn founders taking bigger swings, and has invested in companies such as Headway, Assured, Nourish, Covenant, Krea, Balerion AI, and Project Eleven.
Product overview
Formation is a venture capital firm that operates as a single, unified investment offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The firm specializes in leading pre-seed rounds and participating in seed rounds for early-stage founders, positioning itself at the 'Formation Stage' of company development. Formation's investment services encompass identifying promising founders, providing early capital, and supporting portfolio companies through 10+ year journeys. The firm has invested in companies such as Balerion AI (agentic AI for mortgage origination) and Project Eleven (post-quantum cryptography for digital assets).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Formation VC Investment Services Pre-seed and seed equity investment services for early-stage founders at the "Formation Stage" of company development, combining direct capital deployment with 1:1 cultivation, cohort-based founder programs, design partner introductions, and 10+ year partnership horizons. Intended for entrepreneurs at the discovery, growth, and conviction stage of building a company.
Companies that use Formation
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Formation technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Formation partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators2 records
Recent moves3 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Formation competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- BoxGroup: NYC-based pre-seed and seed venture firm with a founder-first, high-volume approach. Highly comparable to Formation: similar check sizes, similar stage focus, similar cohort/community ethos, and a co-investor in Balerion AI alongside Formation.
- Floodgate: Pioneering pre-seed/seed firm in San Francisco where partner Leeor Mushin previously worked. Direct peer in stage, geography, and founding-team thesis; one of the most operationally comparable seed investors in the US.
- Lerer Hippeau: NYC-based pre-seed and seed venture firm investing across consumer and enterprise. Operates in the same NYC early-stage ecosystem as Formation, with overlapping founder networks and similar check sizes and stage focus.
- Precursor Ventures: Pre-seed focused venture firm investing across a wide range of categories with high-conviction, founder-first checks. Direct peer in stage, philosophy, and average check size, with a similar emerging-manager profile.
- Castle Island Ventures: Crypto-native early-stage firm that led Project Eleven's Series A in which Formation participated. Direct co-investor peer with overlapping interest in crypto, digital-asset infrastructure, and security categories.
- Variant: Early-stage venture firm focused on crypto, web3, and adjacent frontier-tech categories. Co-investor on Project Eleven alongside Formation; direct peer for crypto/fintech-adjacent seed deals.
- Fin Capital: Early-stage fintech-focused venture firm with thematic concentration in financial services and infrastructure. Co-investor on Project Eleven alongside Formation; direct peer for fintech and crypto-finance category deals.
- Notation Capital: NYC-based pre-seed venture firm with a founder-first, thesis-driven approach and similar small-team profile. Direct peer in stage, geography, and emerging-manager positioning.
Broad incumbents
- Kleiner Perkins: Established multi-stage venture firm with broad sector coverage. Led the Balerion AI seed in which Formation participated; functions as a broad incumbent peer with significant overlap at the seed/Series A boundary despite a much larger platform.
Others
- Coinbase Ventures: Corporate venture arm of Coinbase focused on crypto, web3, and adjacent infrastructure. Co-investor on Project Eleven; functions as an ecosystem peer for crypto-native deals rather than a direct stage competitor.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Formation social profiles
Digital presenceFormation financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Formation leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Formation funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Formation M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments6 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Formation
What does Formation do?
Formation is a venture capital firm that leads pre-seed rounds and participates in seed rounds for early-stage founders, focusing on the "Formation Stage" of company building. The firm provides equity capital alongside 1:1 cultivation and cohort-based programs, with a stated 10+ year partnership horizon. Formation backs both unheralded founders building generational companies and unicorn founders taking bigger swings, and has invested in companies such as Headway, Assured, Nourish, Covenant, Krea, Balerion AI, and Project Eleven.
Is Formation a public or private company?
Formation is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Formation founded?
Formation was founded in -1.
Where is Formation based?
Formation is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Formation make money?
One revenue line is on record: investment Returns from Portfolio Companies.
Who are Formation's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are BoxGroup, Floodgate, Lerer Hippeau, Precursor Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Variant, Fin Capital and Notation Capital. Kleiner Perkins is listed as a broad incumbent. Coinbase Ventures is listed as an others.
Does Formation have an API?
No public API is recorded for Formation.
What industry is Formation in?
Formation's product category is Venture Capital. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAAAA, Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed), with a secondary code of FSANAAAM, Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated). Its NAICS code is 525990.