Our founders · Seven companies
From first-time founders to serial entrepreneurs, we’ve got your back
The companies we’ve backed — and the founders building them. Every one is a vertical-AI company where The Founders VC was an early backer — often the very first yes.
Often the first Yes
Commerce
Bring the whole fashion universe to your fingertips with transformative AI.
Julie Bornstein was an early pioneer of personalized fashion commerce — through Stitch Fix’s IPO and The Yes, acquired by Pinterest. With Daydream, she and Lisa Yamner Green are applying generative AI to fashion discovery.
We chose to work with The Founders VC because they are early pioneers in AI-first personalized eCommerce, with deep expertise in 0-to-1 product development and UX.— Daydream, on choosing TFVC
In the news
Science
Autonomous scientific discovery and runaway knowledge production.
Dr. Nick Edwards, a pharma researcher, and Ryan Kosai, a multi-time founder and CTO, are building AI scientists — turning research goals into executable lab experiments, from hypothesis to protocol.
The team at The Founders VC has been super helpful in introducing us to relevant decision-makers in our field. Their go-to-market expertise and support is invaluable.— Potato, on working with TFVC
In the news
Real estate
Local knowledge from real people.
A team from gaming, personalization, and real estate building a buyer-first home-buying experience. Led by Mark Van Ryswyk (former CPO of Tinder, who led game studios at EA), with Martin Butt (ex-Head of Tech at EA), Andrew Callejo (a prior real-estate-tech founder), and Dr. Judy Chen leading AI.
The Founders VC sees the full picture—it’s not just about AI, it’s the cultural and consumer shifts creating a moment to reinvent what it means to buy a home.— Catchouse, on working with TFVC
Productivity
Empower every knowledge worker with an omniscient assistant.
Sarah Andrabi spent more than a decade building AI/ML productivity tools at Dropbox. Liminary is a cross-platform AI companion — save anything, in any format, auto-linked and instantly recalled.
The Founders VC was the first ‘Yes’ in our pre-seed round. Their diligence pushed us to sharpen our thinking, and Mia’s engagement, intros and support made our funding a reality.— Sarah Andrabi, Founder & CEO, Liminary
Marketing
The AI digital advertiser for businesses and agencies — managing ads across every major platform.
Across his prior businesses, Miguel Guerrero saw that most small businesses hold first-party data but have no easy way to use it — and that AI could finally serve them at scale. With Tom Madsen, he’s building an AI advertiser that runs campaigns across all the major platforms.
The TFVC team has been a valuable partner for Otis because they bring deep domain expertise as operators, not just capital — helping us think through product depth, distribution, category positioning and strategic partnerships.— Otis, on working with TFVC
Data infra
Deploy dashboards in hours, embedded on any site.
Ellie Fields, former SVP of Product at Tableau, and Dr. Jeffrey Heer, head of the UW Interactive Data Lab and co-founder of Trifacta, are building analytics dashboards and data agents you can embed anywhere — customer-facing and running in-browser.
We were oversubscribed from our lead investor and prominent angels, but included The Founders VC because of their experience and their ability to help us grow.— Ridge AI, on their round
Climate
Enable accurate and actionable extreme-weather forecasting.
Dr. Hansi Singh, a climate scientist, is building AI that forecasts extreme weather up to two years out — actionable intelligence for climate-risk management.
The Founders VC team has been extremely helpful in our GTM efforts, connecting us to expert LPs and introducing early customers. We’re grateful to have their experience on our team.— Planette, on working with TFVC
In the news
Building in vertical AI? We’d love the first look.
Send us what you’re building. If it’s a fit, you could have your first yes within the week.
Pitch us →team@thefounder.vc · Seattle + SF Bay Area