Cape Fear Ventures

What Cape Fear Ventures does

Cape Fear Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, founded by serial entrepreneur Richard Stroupe. The firm invests at the pre-seed and seed stages across four defined sectors: Enterprise Software, AppliedAI, Defense & National Security, and Space. Its stated thesis is to back founders "solving hard, physical-world problems" and to support companies that can withstand economic downturns. Beyond capital deployment, the firm positions itself as an operating partner — providing hands-on mentorship, technology judgment, and strategic guidance drawn from Stroupe's prior exits across technology, defense, and real estate. The team includes Venture Partners Matt Gittleman (deal sourcing, also founding partner of VC in DC), Justin Edelman (AI/healthcare, ex-Microsoft), and Thomas Hornall (communications, ex-Press Association), plus Elevate Program Manager Rita Suggs.

The firm's product surface extends beyond traditional fund management into two adjacent branded offerings. The Elevate CEO Retreat is a paid 2.5-3 day in-person program held at Saltwater Resort in Surf City, NC, targeting growth-stage founders with $250K-$3M ARR; pricing is $2,000 for the October 2026 cohort and $3,000 for the March 2027 cohort. The Amplified CEO Podcast, hosted by Stroupe, is distributed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, and Topsail Insider and functions primarily as a thought-leadership and deal-sourcing channel. Reported portfolio investments include a $1.4M pre-seed in Juno Propulsion (rotating detonation engines, 2025), a $2M pre-seed in Raven Space Systems alongside $4.5M in non-dilutive contracts (2024), and a led seed in Ohanafy, an AI platform for food and beverage. Stroupe has additionally made personal angel investments in SpaceX, Palantir, Sayari, Sequoia, SixGen, Immuta, and ID.me.

The business model combines traditional VC economics (management fees on deployed capital and carried interest from exits) with direct professional services revenue from the Elevate CEO Retreat. Distribution and deal sourcing occur through founder networks, the podcast, an active LinkedIn presence, a weekly newsletter, academic affiliations (GWU faculty, Georgetown EIR), and the VC in DC investor community. Cape Fear Ventures is a privately held LLC, operates without a disclosed parent company or institutional LP structure in available materials, and is registered in North Carolina.

Name

Cape Fear Ventures

Legal name

Cape Fear Ventures, LLC

Website

https://capefear.vc/

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Cape Fear Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Wilmington, NC, founded by Richard Stroupe. The firm invests pre-seed and seed capital in Enterprise Software, AppliedAI, Defense, and Space startups, and operates the Elevate CEO Retreat program and The Amplified CEO Podcast as adjacent revenue and brand-building lines.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Early-Stage Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Corporate Strategic Partnership & Ecosystem Investment Arms (FSANAHAF)

Keywords

• Early-stage venture capital
• Seed-stage startup investing
• Portfolio founder mentorship
• Defense tech investment
• Applied AI funding

Headquarters

HQ city

Wilmington

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, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Returns: Cape Fear Ventures generates returns through traditional VC economics including management fees on deployed capital and carried interest from successful portfolio company exits. The firm invests in early-stage companies across Enterprise Software, AppliedAI, Defense & National Security, and Space sectors, with the goal of building companies that can weather economic downturns.
2. Elevate CEO Retreat Program: The firm operates a paid in-person CEO transformation retreat program targeting growth-stage founders. The program is priced at $2,000-$3,000 per participant for 2.5-3 day intensive training sessions covering strategic clarity, scale systems, leadership architecture, and financial discipline. Additional revenue may come from the alumni portal and ongoing community access.
3. Amplified CEO Podcast: The firm produces The Amplified CEO Podcast featuring interviews with founders, operators, and investors. While not directly monetized, the podcast serves as a marketing and deal sourcing tool, building audience and establishing thought leadership in venture capital and entrepreneurship.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Cape Fear Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in pre-seed and seed-stage founders across four sectors — Enterprise Software, AppliedAI, Defense & National Security, and Space. The firm combines capital with hands-on operating experience, technology judgment, and a proprietary Elevate CEO Retreat program designed to accelerate founder development. It also produces The Amplified CEO Podcast, which surfaces operator playbooks from successful technology founders and executives.

Product overview

Cape Fear Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that provides investment services and operational support to founders. Rather than a unified software platform, the firm offers a portfolio of services including venture capital investment across Enterprise Software, AppliedAI, Defense & National Security, and Space sectors; the Elevate CEO Retreat (a transformational in-person program for growth-stage founders); and the Amplified CEO Podcast (a content series featuring insights from industry leaders). The investment approach combines capital deployment with hands-on mentorship and technology expertise from operators who have built and exited companies themselves.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Elevate CEO Retreat: A 2.5-day transformational program for growth-stage founders to install CEO operating systems that scale without them.
• The Amplified CEO Podcast

Products and services

• Venture Capital Investments
• Elevate CEO Retreat A three-day intensive, cohort-based retreat program designed for growth-stage founders generating $250K–$3M in annual recurring revenue. The retreat is built around Cape Fear's proprietary Elevate methodology and focuses on helping founders unlock the next stage of company growth, attract follow-on capital, and develop as CEOs. Available to founders who have already raised at least a seed round.
• Amplified CEO Podcast A media property (podcast) featuring interviews and playbooks from successful technology founders, CEOs, and operators. Functions as a thought leadership and brand-building channel for Cape Fear Ventures while delivering content value to early-stage and growth-stage founders. Distributed through major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Quantifiable outcome

• Founded multiple successful ventures with exits across technology, defense, and real estate
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• VC in DCcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerMatt Gittleman, Venture Partner at Cape Fear Ventures, is a founding partner of VC in DC, the Mid-Atlantic's largest institutional investor community. The organization connects more than 700 investors across 400+ funds, providing deal sourcing, co-investment opportunities, and ecosystem connections for the firm.
• George Washington UniversityminorOthersRichard Stroupe serves as Part-Time Faculty Member at George Washington University, contributing to entrepreneurship education and maintaining connections with academic institutions for talent and deal sourcing.
• Georgetown UniversityminorOthersRichard Stroupe serves as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Georgetown University, mentoring students, alumni, and emerging founders on scaling ventures and leadership. Provides access to university ecosystem and entrepreneurial talent.
• Saltwater ResortminorOthersThe Elevate CEO Retreat program is hosted at Saltwater Resort in Surf City, NC. The resort provides lodging, meeting spaces, and amenities for the 2.5-day intensive CEO transformation program.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Shield Capital: Early-stage VC firm focused exclusively on defense, national security, and dual-use technology. Directly comparable to CFV's Defense & National Security thesis and seed-stage check size profile.
• Costanoa Ventures: Early-stage enterprise software and applied AI investor with comparable fund size profile and operator-friendly value-add model. Overlaps with CFV's enterprise software and AppliedAI theses at pre-seed/seed stages.
• Lux Capital: Early-stage venture capital firm investing in deep-tech, space, and frontier science founders — most directly comparable to CFV's defense/space/AppliedAI thesis with similar pre-seed/seed orientation and operator-led investment style.
• Bloomberg Beta: Early-stage enterprise-focused VC with thesis overlap in AppliedAI and enterprise software. Comparable emerging-manager profile with operator-style value-add to founders, though geographically based in SF rather than Southeast US.
• Innovation Endeavors: Early-stage deep-tech and enterprise AI investor founded by an operator (Eric Schmidt). Comparable thesis in AppliedAI and hard-tech, similar founder-friendly value-add model, and overlapping LP base of operator-led emerging managers.
• 8VC: Early-stage operator-led VC investing across enterprise software, AI, defense, and logistics. Highly comparable mission-driven thesis and multi-sector seed-stage approach with similar operational depth expectations from portfolio founders.
• MaC Venture Capital: Early-stage VC investing in frontier technology, mobility, and enterprise software with a strong operator/founder-investor model. Comparable to CFV in sector breadth, check size profile, and emphasis on technically rigorous founders.

Broad incumbents

• Founders Fund: Established multi-stage VC with thesis alignment to CFV in defense, space, and frontier technology. Larger AUM and broader sector exposure make it a broad incumbent peer rather than direct competitor at pre-seed.
• General Catalyst: Large multi-stage VC with growing defense tech and AI investment activity. Functions as broad incumbent overlapping with CFV's enterprise software and AI theses at later stages than CFV typically invests.
• Andreessen Horowitz: Large multi-stage VC with active American Dynamism thesis covering defense, space, and enterprise software. Competes for the same founders in CFV's core sectors but with vastly larger fund size and platform resources.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@AmplifiedCEO
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/capefearvc

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

Investments5 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Cape Fear Ventures