What Dreamers VC does

Dreamers VC is a Los Angeles-based, privately-held venture capital fund established in 2018 with $100 million of committed capital. The fund was co-founded by actor Will Smith and Japanese soccer star Keisuke Honda through Honda's family office KSK Group, with Nomura Holdings (Nomura HD) participating as an anchor institutional limited partner. It pursues a thematic "Where capital becomes culture" positioning, investing in early-stage U.S. startups across six verticals: Consumer, Enterprise, Entertainment, Finance-Tech, Health-Biotech, and Other, with a portfolio of 50+ companies including high-profile names such as Bolt, The Boring Company, Neuralink, Mercury, Dapper Labs, Oura, Clubhouse, and Beam Therapeutics.

The fund operates a traditional venture capital business model, earning revenue through management fees on committed capital (industry standard ~2% annually) and carried interest (industry standard ~20%) on profitable portfolio exits. Deal flow is sourced through a combination of the co-founders' entertainment and Asian-market networks, a self-service "Submit an Idea" form on the fund's website, and senior advisors including D.A. Wallach (Inevitable Ventures, with ties to Ron Burkle). Operating team is intentionally lean (1-10 employees) and is augmented by the Smith Family Office (led by Kosaku Yada), with Vikram Sasi serving as Partner and Dax Casillas as Chief of Staff.

Dreamers VC's competitive differentiation rests on a dual-founder celebrity thesis that fuses Hollywood cultural reach with Asian sports and business networks, enabling cross-Pacific deal sourcing and portfolio support that few peers can match at the $100M fund size. The fund has no proprietary technology, software product, or AI capability of its own; its value proposition to portfolio companies is strategic guidance, network access, and brand credibility rather than operational tooling.

Name

Dreamers VC

Legal name

Dreamers VC

Website

https://dreamers.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Dreamers VC is a Los Angeles-based venture capital fund founded in 2018 by Will Smith and Keisuke Honda with $100M committed capital, investing in early-stage U.S. startups across Consumer, Enterprise, Entertainment, Finance-Tech, and Health-Biotech sectors through a 50+ company portfolio.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Other Financial Investment Activities (5239), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

Keywords

• Venture capital fund
• Early-stage investing
• Startup funding
• Portfolio management
• Cultural capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Management Fees: VC funds typically charge management fees on committed capital, typically 2% of assets under management annually.
2. Carried Interest: VC funds generate returns through carried interest (typically 20%) on profitable portfolio exits.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Dreamers VC is a venture capital fund that invests early-stage capital in innovative startups across Consumer, Enterprise, Entertainment, Finance-Tech, and Health-Biotech sectors. The fund, established in 2018 with $100M in anchor commitments from co-founders Will Smith and Keisuke Honda plus Nomura HD, has backed 50+ companies including Bolt, Neuralink, The Boring Company, Tonal, Oura, Mercury, and Gen.G. Portfolio companies receive strategic mentorship and access to the founders' combined entertainment, sports, and Asian market networks in addition to capital.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dreamers VC Fund The Dreamers VC Fund is a $100 million early-stage venture capital vehicle providing capital, strategic mentorship, and network access to innovative startups across Consumer, Enterprise, Entertainment, Finance-Tech, and Health-Biotech sectors. It is targeted at founders of early-stage companies seeking venture funding, and at qualified limited partners seeking exposure to the curated deal flow generated by the celebrity-founded fund.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• M13: M13 is a consumer-focused early-stage VC that invests broadly across consumer, fintech, and commerce at seed and Series A — comparable to Dreamers VC's horizontal, consumer-and-fintech-heavy early-stage approach with a brand-driven LP narrative.
• Slauson & Co. Slauson & Co. is an early-stage VC co-founded by Jay-Z and others with an explicit focus on underrepresented founders and cultural impact — directly parallel to Dreamers VC's "Where capital becomes culture" positioning and emphasis on amplifying new voices.
• Serena Ventures: Serena Ventures is the early-stage fund of Serena Williams, investing across consumer, health, and fintech at seed and Series A. It mirrors Dreamers VC's celebrity-co-founder structure, thematic branding around diversity and culture, and early-stage generalist orientation.
• Lerer Hippeau: Lerer Hippeau is a New York-based early-stage seed and Series A fund investing across consumer, enterprise, and media — a comparable generalist early-stage vehicle to Dreamers VC with similar check sizes and consumer tilt.
• Crosscut Ventures: Crosscut Ventures is a Los Angeles-based early-stage VC investing across consumer, enterprise, and frontier tech. It directly overlaps with Dreamers VC on geography (LA), stage (seed/Series A), and sector breadth (consumer + enterprise + frontier).
• Forerunner Ventures: Forerunner Ventures is a leading consumer-focused early-stage VC investing at seed and Series A. It overlaps materially with Dreamers VC's Consumer and Finance-Tech portfolio categories and shares a brand-led, thesis-driven approach to deal selection.
• WndrCo: WndrCo is the investment vehicle of Jeffrey Katzenberg, deploying capital across early-stage consumer, enterprise, and media startups. It is structurally comparable to Dreamers VC as a celebrity/operator-led thematic early-stage fund with cultural-brand-led deal sourcing.
• Acrew Capital: Acrew Capital is an early-stage VC investing across consumer, fintech, and enterprise at seed and Series A, with a thesis around diverse founders. Comparable to Dreamers VC on stage, sector mix, and founder-impact orientation.
• Plus Capital: Plus Capital is an early-stage VC that partners with cultural figures and brands to back startups, sitting at the intersection of culture and capital — closely aligned with Dreamers VC's celebrity-culture-capital positioning.
• Sound Ventures: Sound Ventures is a celebrity-led early-stage VC founded by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary, investing across consumer and enterprise at seed and Series A — directly comparable to Dreamers VC's celebrity-co-founder model, early-stage focus, and cross-sector approach.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/willsmith
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dreamers-vc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments54 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Dreamers VC