What Horizon does

Horizon is a software-focused venture capital firm founded in 2022 by Sandy Kory, headquartered in San Francisco with reported presence in Miami. The firm invests at the pre-seed and seed stages, writing checks of $250,000 to $1.5 million and frequently participating in follow-on rounds. Its stated thesis targets technical, product-obsessed founders building generational software companies, and the firm publicly claims prior early-stage exposure to category-defining companies including Palantir (2009), Canva, BillionToOne, Flutterwave, and Sendbird. The firm is led by a three-person team: founding General Partner Sandy Kory (15+ years of VC experience), General Partner Mike Firmage (who also runs a separate boutique M&A advisory, Horizon Partners), and Associate Shivali Halabe (former quantitative trader at SIG with a Cornell CS degree).

The portfolio comprises 20+ companies spanning AI infrastructure (Baseten, Julius AI, Marble), AI applications (Bland, Praxos, Sample, Artos), developer tools (Nango, Shuttle, Subscript), fintech and banking infrastructure (Float, Pier, Sandbox), vertical SaaS (BuildPass, Pylon, Lyrebird Health, Lace), and consumer/hardware (SendCutSend, Raven, Vexev). Portfolio companies are distributed across the United States, Australia, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom. Notable follow-on activity includes participating in Baseten's progression from pre-seed through a $75M Series C in early 2025 and co-leading $100M+ Series B rounds for autonomous trucking companies (KargoBot / Carl Power) in Q1 2026, alongside a co-investment in SynapX (Octopus Power) alongside Hillhouse, Xiaomi, Shunwei, and Linear Capital.

Horizon's business model is that of a traditional emerging-manager venture firm: it generates management fees on committed capital and carries on successful exits, with revenue derived from the appreciation in value of its equity stakes in portfolio companies. The firm uses content marketing (Sandy Kory's "Software Snack Bites" Substack), podcast appearances, and direct founder outreach for deal sourcing. Horizon does not disclose fund size, AUM, LP composition, or any revenue or performance figures, and there is no indication of a parent entity, institutional backing, or plans for a liquidity event.

Name

Horizon

Legal name

Horizon

Website

https://horizon.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Horizon is a software-focused venture capital firm founded in 2022 by Sandy Kory that invests $250k–$1.5m at pre-seed and seed stages in technical founders, with a 20+ company portfolio spanning AI infrastructure, fintech, vertical SaaS, and healthcare across the US, Australia, Nigeria, and the UK.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282), Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Software startup funding
• Pre-seed investments
• Seed stage capital
• Early-stage software investors

Headquarters

HQ city

Miami

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. Venture Capital Returns: Horizon generates returns through equity ownership in portfolio companies. As a VC firm, they earn management fees on committed capital and carry (performance fees) on successful exits. Their revenue is derived from the appreciation in value of their portfolio companies over time.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Horizon is a venture capital firm that invests in software companies at the pre-seed and seed stages, writing checks ranging from $250,000 to $1.5 million and frequently participating in follow-on rounds. The firm partners with technical, product-obsessed founders, providing capital, strategic guidance, and ongoing operational support across the entire journey from inception to scale. Horizon maintains a portfolio of 20+ companies spanning AI inference, fintech, healthcare, autonomous trucking, and developer infrastructure.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pre-Seed and Seed Venture Capital Investments Equity investments in software companies at the pre-seed and seed stages with check sizes of $250k to $1.5m, including follow-on participation in subsequent rounds, targeted at technical and product-obsessed founders building generational companies.
• Follow-On Venture Capital Funding Subsequent-round equity participation in existing portfolio companies, including co-leading larger Series B rounds for portfolio companies such as KargoBot and Carl Power.
• Strategic Portfolio Support Hands-on strategic guidance and operational support for portfolio founders across the full journey from inception to scale, delivered by a team of founders, operators, and builders.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Neo: Pre-seed investor focused on exceptional technical founders, often with prior founder backgrounds at major tech companies. Closely mirrors Horizon's thesis of identifying outliers at inception.
• Pear VC: Pre-seed/seed software-focused VC with similar check sizes, operating out of the Bay Area, and known for backing technical founders early. Directly comparable as a small, founder-led software seed fund.
• Unusual Ventures: Pre-seed and seed investor focused on software companies led by technical, product-obsessed founders. Same stage, similar check size, and overlapping founder persona.
• Afore Capital: Pre-seed software VC writing initial checks before broader seed participation. Directly comparable on stage, software focus, and founder-support positioning.
• Conviction: Early-stage software/AI fund led by Sarah Guo with a thesis-light, founder-first approach and a strong media/podcast presence. Highly comparable brand-building and sourcing strategy.
• 1984 Ventures: Pre-seed fund focused on software startups, with a thesis of backing founders building enduring companies. Same stage and software-first mandate as Horizon.
• Susa Ventures: Early-stage software-focused VC with an operator-investor model, writing seed and pre-seed checks into technical founding teams. Comparable on stage and software thesis.
• Lobby Capital: Early-stage software investor writing checks at seed and Series A into technical, ambitious teams. Similar check-size range and software-first positioning.

Emerging players

• Designer Fund: Early-stage fund backing founders at the intersection of design and technology, with smaller initial checks and a focus on product-quality-led teams. Comparable niche, earlier-stage tilt.
• South Park Commons: Founder community + early-stage investor that supports technical founders exploring ideas pre-company-formation. Comparable in supporting outliers from 0 to 1, with broader community angle.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/horizonvc

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

Investments14 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Horizon