What Miramar Digital Ventures does

Miramar Digital Ventures is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm based in Corona del Mar (Newport Beach), California, founded in 2014 as the next-generation evolution of Miramar Venture Partners, one of Southern California's longest-standing VC franchises. The firm operates with 11-50 employees and pursues a thematic investment strategy focused on founders building disruption at the intersection of smart connected sensors, big data, and advanced intelligent machines, with stated geographic concentration of over 75% of investments in Southern California and additional exposure in Austin, Denver, Northern California, the Intermountain West, and the Southwest.

The firm's portfolio spans more than 20 companies across verticals including mobile gaming (Scopely, acquired by Savvy Games Group for $4.9 billion), digital privacy (Burner), mobile observability (Embrace), geolocation data (Factual, acquired by Foursquare), AI semiconductors (Syntiant), AI content creation (Social Native), AI technology solutions (Veritone, IPO'd on NASDAQ), IoT cybersecurity (NetRise, acquired by Accenture), healthcare staffing (Globus.ai), data-science marketing (Breinify), customer service AI (Thankful.ai), smart irrigation (Rachio), and workplace AI (Wethos.ai). Notable exits demonstrate the firm's ability to generate venture-scale returns despite a seed-stage focus.

The business model follows standard venture capital economics, generating returns through equity appreciation and exits rather than fee-based revenue products. Deal sourcing is relationship-driven, relying on warm introductions from existing and former portfolio CEOs, E.I.R.s, and Fund Advisors rather than open application funnels. The firm participates as a non-lead investor in syndicated rounds (e.g., Thankful Series A led by Alpha Edison) and as a direct seed investor (e.g., Globus AI), and it has extended into venture-building through Stuart McClure's NumberOne AI incubator launched in 2022.

Name

Miramar Digital Ventures

Legal name

Miramar Digital Ventures

Website

https://miramarvp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Miramar Digital Ventures is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm based in Southern California that invests in founders building smart connected sensors, big data, and advanced intelligent machines, with a portfolio of 20+ companies and a relationship-driven deal sourcing model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)

akta.pro primary industry

Micro-VC & Angel Funds (FSANAAAI)

Keywords

• Seed venture capital
• Early-stage investing
• Thematic venture investing
• Startup funding
• Technology venture capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Corona Del Mar

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. Investment Returns: As a venture capital firm, Miramar Digital Ventures generates returns through equity investments in early-stage startups. Returns are realized through exits via acquisitions (e.g., Factual acquired by Foursquare, NetRise acquired by Accenture, Scopely acquired by Savvy Games) and IPOs (e.g., Veritone IPO on NASDAQ: VERI).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Miramar Digital Ventures is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm that invests capital and provides operational support to founders building startups around smart connected sensors, big data, and advanced intelligent machines. The firm deploys equity investments and works alongside founders from seed stage through exit, with a thematic focus on disruption-driven deep-tech and AI/data companies primarily in Southern California.

Product overview

Miramar Digital Ventures is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm that invests in founders accelerating disruption using smart connected sensors, big data, and advanced intelligent machines. Established in 2014 as an evolution of Miramar Venture Partners, the firm operates as a thematic investor supporting world-class entrepreneurs and product designers in Southern California's technology ecosystem. The firm does not offer a unified product platform; rather, its portfolio comprises investment stakes in 20+ portfolio companies spanning data science (Breinify), digital privacy (Burner), mobile observability (Embrace), geolocation (Factual), AI talent screening (FAMA), field services (Field Squared), healthcare staffing (Globus.ai), healthcare communities (Liquid Grids), lending solutions (Loanz), IoT cybersecurity (Netrise), supply chain (Parsyl), insurance runoff (Portage Holdings), mobile analytics (Quettra), smart irrigation (Rachio), interactive entertainment (Scopely), AI content creation (Social Native), AI semiconductors (Syntiant), customer service (Thankful.ai), AI technology solutions (Veritone), healthcare activations (Welltok), and workplace AI (Wethos.ai).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Seed and Early-Stage Venture Capital Investment Equity investment capital and operational support provided to founders of seed and early-stage technology startups building disruptive products in smart connected sensors, big data, and advanced intelligent machines; primarily Southern California with expansion across the U.S.

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 indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Lerer Hippeau: Long-standing seed-stage VC focused on consumer and enterprise tech. Comparable in stage, thematic breadth across AI/data categories, and operator-involvement ethos.
• Greycroft: Early-stage venture firm with SoCal presence and AI/enterprise focus. Has co-invested with Miramar (Thankful round), confirming directly comparable thesis and check profile.
• SV Angel: Long-running seed-stage firm focused on early internet/software companies. Comparable in fund size, stage, and operator-friendly ethos, though concentrated in the Bay Area rather than SoCal.
• Crosscut Ventures: LA-based seed and early-stage VC focused on technology-driven startups. Mirrors Miramar's SoCal-centric, operator-driven seed approach and similar thematic orientation toward emerging tech.
• Bonfire Ventures: Southern California-based seed-stage VC investing in B2B software and digital media startups. Directly comparable to Miramar in geography (LA/SoCal focus), stage (seed), and check size.
• Mucker Capital: Southern California seed-stage fund investing in software and internet startups. Comparable stage, check size, and SoCal focus; competes for the same regional founder pool.
• Ten-One-Ten Ventures: Seed-stage investor with SoCal orientation. Co-invested alongside Miramar in Thankful, indicating directly comparable deal type, stage, and regional approach.
• Alpha Edison: Early-stage VC investing in technology-enabled businesses. Led the Thankful round with Miramar participating, indicating directly overlapping deal sourcing and stage focus.

Broad incumbents

• Techstars: Global accelerator/seed investor with a much larger platform and broader portfolio. Competes for early-stage founders across the same tech verticals Miramar targets but with significantly more scale and standardization.
• 500 Global: Global seed-stage fund and accelerator program. Operates at much larger scale than Miramar but pursues the same seed-stage founders across AI/data categories and competes for warm-introduction-driven deal flow.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments11 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Miramar Digital Ventures