What Honors Fund does

Honors Fund is a venture investment sub-fund within CEAS Investments I, LLC, a single family office based in Delray Beach, Florida. Founded in 2022, the fund concentrates exclusively on pre-seed investments in software startups whose founders are university students, recent graduates (within 12 months), post-docs, or faculty members. The fund operates with a committed $25 million allocation for first checks, writing typical investments of $250,000 with capacity for follow-on capital in subsequent rounds, and has backed 25 of a stated 100-company target, deploying over $10 million since inception.

The fund's go-to-market is community-led rather than institutional. Core distribution runs through a branded University Pitch Competition — held in-person across Los Angeles, Austin, San Francisco, New York, and London, then shifted to a virtual format in 2025 — where winners receive a standardized $150,000 SAFE investment on a default $2 million post-money valuation with pro-rata rights. Supplementary channels include a Tally.so direct-application funnel, a $1,000-per-successful-referral Airtable form, the "Extra Credit" Beehiiv newsletter, and lead-investor Blake Hatten's LinkedIn presence. The team consists of Blake Hatten (lead investor) and Noah Isserman PhD, making it a notably lean vehicle relative to its deployment scale.

The portfolio spans consumer software (AI Merch, Vovy), healthcare AI (Neru Health, Bond Health, Pharmovo.ai), enterprise tools (BuildSync, Biomonadic), developer infrastructure (Truth Systems), and AI-native products (Valley AI, Switchpoint AI, AgentPhone, Probat). A forthcoming virtual pitch competition is scheduled for July 31, 2026 in collaboration with NGEN, extending the fund's sourcing into GEM-affiliated networks (NSBE, SHPE, AISES). The competitive positioning is a focused bet on a structurally undercapitalized founder demographic, executed through standardized terms and a high-volume, community-sourced deal funnel.

Name

Honors Fund

Legal name

CEAS Investments I, LLC

Website

https://honorsfund.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Honors Fund is a venture sub-fund within CEAS Investments I, LLC that deploys $25M of family-office capital into pre-seed software startups founded by university students, recent graduates, post-docs, and faculty, typically writing $250k first checks via a community-driven pitch-competition funnel.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital / Pre-Seed Investing

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Impact Investment & Development Investment Funds (BPADACAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Gender Lens / Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Funds (FSANAJAM)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Pre-seed funding
• Early-stage startups
• Student founder capital
• Pitch competition investing

Headquarters

HQ city

Delray Beach

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

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns: Generates returns through equity investments in student/faculty-founded software startups. Typical first check of $250k with capacity for follow-on investments. Returns realized through portfolio company exits, acquisitions, or subsequent funding rounds.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Honors Fund is a venture investment sub-fund within CEAS Investments I, LLC, a single family office in Delray Beach, FL, that invests $25M in first checks into student and faculty-founded software startups. The fund's typical first check is $250,000 with capacity to grow positions through follow-on investments, and it also runs a $150,000 University Pitch Competition awarding SAFE investments on a $2M default post-money valuation. Since 2022 the fund has backed 25 companies and deployed over $10M.

Product overview

Honors Fund is a venture investment sub-fund within CEAS Investments I, LLC, a single family office based in Delray Beach, FL. The fund operates two primary offerings: (1) Startup Investment Funding — providing $250,000 first-check investments to student and faculty-founded software startups with follow-on capacity, and (2) a University Pitch Competition — a virtual competition awarding $150,000 SAFE investments on a $2M default post-money valuation. Additionally, the fund publishes the 'Extra Credit' newsletter for startup insights. The fund has backed 25 companies since 2022, deploying over $10M.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Startup Investment Funding First-check equity investments of typically $250,000 into incorporated, software-based startups founded by students, recent graduates (within 12 months), post-docs, or faculty members. Includes capacity for follow-on participation in subsequent rounds and mentorship from the Honors Fund team.
• University Pitch Competition

Quantifiable outcome

• 25 companies backed out of 100 target
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 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.

• NGENcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNGEN (National GEM Consortium) collaborated with Honors Fund on the $150k University Pitch Competition. The competition offers $150,000 SAFE investment, is virtual, and scheduled for July 31, 2026. Applications close June 30, 2026. NGEN provides access to GEM (National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and AISES) network of graduate engineers and scientists.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Contrary: Research-focused VC and talent platform that invests in student and early-career founders, particularly those building ambitious technical companies. Closely comparable in founder-stage targeting and emphasis on under-25 talent pools.
• Pioneer Fund: Pre-seed fund founded by YC partners and operators that writes $250k-$1M checks into very early software startups. Highly comparable in check size, pre-seed software focus, and ambition to be the first institutional check into founder-first companies.
• Pear VC: Pre-seed VC with a strong emphasis on founders from Stanford and other universities, often investing in student or recently-graduated technical founders. Comparable in pre-seed software focus and student-founder sourcing via pitch competitions (Pear Competition).
• Z Fellows: Pre-seed program/fund for exceptional young technical founders (often students or recent grads), providing $250k-$1M for a small cohort. Closely comparable in targeting young technical talent and providing concentrated first institutional capital.
• Dorm Room Fund: First Round Capital's student-focused pre-seed fund that invests exclusively in founders with current university affiliations. Direct comparable in thesis (university founders), check size, and category, though backed by a multi-stage institutional VC rather than a family office.
• Rough Draft Ventures: General Catalyst-affiliated fund that backs student and recent-graduate founders at the pre-seed stage. Directly comparable pre-seed student-founder thesis with similar check sizes and community-driven sourcing approach.

Emerging players

• South Park Commons: Membership-based community for founders and operators transitioning into startups, with affiliated pre-seed investment activity. Comparable as a community-led GTM motion for sourcing and supporting technical founders pre-PMF.
• Backstage Capital: Pre-seed VC fund explicitly dedicated to investing in founders of color, women, and LGBTQ+ founders — a DEI mandate that overlaps with Honors Fund's NGEN partnership pipeline. Comparable in pre-seed check size and diversity-focused thesis.
• Unshackled Ventures: Pre-seed VC focused exclusively on immigrant founders, combining capital with visa and immigration support. Comparable as a thesis-driven pre-seed fund targeting an underserved founder demographic with non-obvious barriers.

Broad incumbents

• SV Angel: Long-running, well-known pre-seed and seed fund investing broadly in software startups with high-velocity first-check activity. Comparable as a category benchmark for pre-seed software investing, though much larger in scale and not thesis-constrained to students.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/honorsfund

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments6 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Honors Fund