Inspired Capital
Status
ACTIVE
Global HQ
New York, United States
Countries of investment
- United States
Investment stages
- Pre-Seed
- Seed
- Series A
Industries
- AI
- Fintech
- Health Tech
- Defense Tech
- Quantum Computing
- Robotics
- Climate Tech
- InsurTech
- Consumer Products
- B2B Software
About
Inspired Capital is a New York-based early-stage venture firm founded in 2019 by Alexa von Tobel and former US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. Its newest vehicle, Fund IV, closed at $450M, taking the firm to nearly $1.4B in assets under management after funds of $200M, $281M and $330M. The firm invests $1M to $15M initial cheques into about 10 new companies a year from pre-seed to Series A, with a portfolio split roughly evenly between the East and West Coasts. It counts more than 10 exits, including MosaicML's $1.3B sale to Databricks, and 12 unicorns across its first two funds.
Inspired Capital is a New York-based early-stage venture firm founded in 2019 by Alexa von Tobel and former US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. Its newest vehicle, Fund IV, closed at $450M, taking the firm to nearly $1.4B in assets under management after funds of $200M, $281M and $330M. The firm invests $1M to $15M initial cheques into about 10 new companies a year from pre-seed to Series A, with a portfolio split roughly evenly between the East and West Coasts. It counts more than 10 exits, including MosaicML's $1.3B sale to Databricks, and 12 unicorns across its first two funds.
Investment Thesis
Inspired Capital is a generalist early-stage firm that leads rounds from the napkin stage through Series A, writing initial cheques of $1M to $15M into about 10 new companies a year. It backs ambitious founders, about a third of them repeat founders, who want to build a fundamentally different future, and places early bets on themes such as physical AI and quantum computing. Its concentrated model puts the whole firm's support behind each company and lets it keep over 90% of its ownership as companies reach multibillion-dollar valuations.
Manager's Experience
Alexa von Tobel founded the personal finance startup LearnVest, later acquired by Northwestern Mutual, before launching Inspired Capital in 2019; she says the firm's second fund ranks in the top 5% of its cohort. Co-founder Penny Pritzker is a former US Secretary of Commerce. Across its first two funds the firm has produced 12 unicorns, about 15% of the portfolio, and more than 10 exits including MosaicML's $1.3B sale to Databricks.
Team
Alexa von Tobel - Founder and Managing Partner
Penny Pritzker - Co-Founder
Mark Batsiyan - General Partner
Lucy Deland - General Partner
Charlotte Ross - Partner
Kamran Ali - Partner
Chris Brown - Partner
Alexa Gellman - Principal
Portfolio
MosaicML
Dandy
ShopMy
Teamshares
Suno
Rho
Public
Bright AI
Allen Control Systems
Deeptune