The fastest yes in venture right now often comes from one person. Solo GPs run their own funds, make their own decisions, and answer their own emails. No partnership to convince, no Monday meeting to survive, no associate filtering the inbound.
For founders raising a first round, that speed and conviction can be the difference between a closed round and a stalled one.
Below are 40 solo GPs actively writing first checks in 2026.
What Is a Solo GP?
A solo GP is the single general partner of a venture fund. They raise capital from limited partners, source deals, run diligence, and make the final call alone.
Fund sizes usually sit between $5M and $100M, and checks tend to land in first-money-in territory: pre-seed and seed.
The model rewards a specific kind of investor: someone with a sharp thesis, a strong personal brand, and enough operating or investing history that founders want them on the cap table.
Because the decision sits with one person, solo GPs move faster than committee-driven firms and often build unusually close relationships with the founders they back.
Why Founders Raise From Solo GPs
Three reasons come up again and again.
Speed: one decision-maker means a meeting can turn into a wire in days, not months.
Access: many solo GPs came out of operating roles or top firms, so their networks run deep in a specific sector.
Alignment: a solo GP lives and dies by their own picks, so the attention founders get is real, not delegated.
The tradeoff is capital depth. Solo funds rarely lead large rounds or carry big follow-on reserves, so founders usually pair a solo GP with other investors and plan to bring in a larger lead at the next round.
40 Best Solo GP VC Firms Writing First Checks
Beth Turner, Valkyrie
Valkyrie is a $45M fund backing founders in AI and critical industries like nuclear energy and the grid. Turner left SV Angel and closed the fund in five weeks, with an LP list that includes Conway, Dorsey, and Andreessen.
Helen Min, Articulate
Articulate is a $10M pre-seed fund focused on enterprise software and fintech. Min spent a decade as an operator at Facebook, Dropbox, Plaid, and AngelList before going solo.
Robin Haak, Robin Capital
Robin Capital is a €13M fund focused on AI, deeptech, and enterprise software. Haak wrote the first check into N26 and is now on Fund II with ten deals already closed in 2026.
Kevin Costa, Belief Capital
Belief Capital is a $20M fund focused on AI, robotics, and infrastructure. Costa has been angel investing since 19 and finds founders straight off X, often before they have a deck.
John Brennan, Holly Ventures
Holly Ventures is a $33M fund exclusively backing cybersecurity founders from Day Zero. Brennan is ex-YL Ventures and works with founders before most funds will take the meeting.
Nicola Sinclair, Twin Track Ventures
Twin Track Ventures is a £5M fund focused on dual-use deep tech. Sinclair spent eighteen years in the Royal Air Force and is backed by the NATO Innovation Fund.
Max Samuel, Off Piste Capital
Off Piste Capital is a €25M fund focused on deeptech and AI. Samuel spent seven years inside Thiel Capital, and his first close came from Apeiron and the Thiel ecosystem itself.
Adi Levanon, Selah Ventures
Selah Ventures focuses on Israeli fintech. Levanon wrote her first $500K check without flinching, betting that Israeli fintech quietly outperforms cyber.
Erica Wenger, Park Rangers Capital
Park Rangers Capital is a pre-seed generalist fund. Wenger's "Elephants Not Unicorns" thesis reached millions of readers, and she backs founders while they're still at their day job.
Casey Caruso, Topology Ventures
Topology is a $75M fund focused on AI, neurotech, and aerospace. Caruso is an ex-Google engineer and one of the most technical solo GPs writing first checks into frontier categories.
Mo El-Bibany, Page One Ventures
Page One Ventures focuses on deep tech, life sciences, and B2B. El-Bibany backs founders working where disciplines converge, the messy overlap where breakthroughs tend to hide.
Katie Stanton, Moxxie Ventures
Moxxie Ventures is a $95M fund (Fund III) focused on early-stage generalist investing. Stanton ran media at X before venture and is now three funds deep with a strong operator network.
Lolita Taub, Ganas Ventures
Ganas Ventures focuses on community-driven early stage investing. Taub built a 100K-person founder community first and raised the fund second.
Paige Finn Doherty, Behind Genius Ventures
Behind Genius Ventures is an early-stage generalist fund. Doherty raised her first fund at 22, making her one of the youngest solo GPs in venture.
Annie Lee, Parable
Parable focuses on consumer investing. Lee left a16z, where she backed Whatnot and Cider, to back consumer founders solo.
Allison Pickens, Allison Pickens Ventures
Allison Pickens Ventures focuses on SaaS and go-to-market. Pickens is the former Gainsight COO and works with founders like a part-time operator, not a passive check.
Matt Hartman, Factorial Capital
Factorial Capital focuses on pre-seed frontier AI. Hartman is ex-Betaworks, backed Hugging Face early, and is now writing first money into frontier AI.
Jamie Gull, Wave Function Ventures
Wave Function Ventures is a $15M fund focused on hardware deep tech across aerospace, defense, and energy. Gull is ex-SpaceX and brings real hardware credibility to a category most seed funds avoid.
Suds Sridharan, SF1
SF1 is a $10M fund focused on AI-native founders. Sridharan made eighty angel bets before 25 and now writes first money into AI-native teams.
Rachel ten Brink, Red Bike Capital
Red Bike Capital focuses on pre-seed fintech, vertical SaaS, and consumer. Ten Brink co-founded Scentbird, so she's scaled a consumer brand from zero herself.
Ben Zises, SuperAngel.Fund
SuperAngel.Fund focuses on consumer, proptech, and future of work. Zises is a day-zero investor with 150+ companies behind him, including first check and founding advisor to quip and Caraway.
Alex Witt, Verda Ventures
Verda Ventures focuses on fintech and stablecoin infrastructure in emerging markets. Witt is ex-Celo CFO and deep in the financial rails most investors never touch.
Yigit Ihlamur, Vela Partners
Vela Partners focuses on AI. Ihlamur is ex-Google and soft-commits fast using his own investing tooling.
Colin Gardiner, Yonder VC
Yondr VC focuses on marketplaces. Gardiner is ex-Outdoorsy CRO and writes first checks into marketplace founders, the category he operated in.
Nate Cooper, Barrel Ventures
Barrel Ventures focuses on seed-stage consumer. Cooper got in early on Olipop, Haus, and Clove, and has a sharp eye for consumer brands before they break out.
Lucas Vaz, Ravelin Capital
Ravelin Capital focuses on critical software, infra, defense-adjacent, and fintech. Vaz is ex-Village Global, now backing founders in the harder corners of software.
Heston Berkman, Banter Capital
Banter Capital focuses on generalist pre-seed consumer. Berkman is ex-SignalFire and BoxGroup, two of the sharpest early-stage shops in the game.
Richard Blankenship, Dream Ventures
Dream Ventures focuses on consumer, CPG, and web3. Blankenship co-founded Prizeout and invests out of Las Vegas, off the coastal map.
J. Patrick Garry, Garry Elevator
Garry Elevator focuses on community ownership, governance, and media. Garry is ex-Notre Dame investment office, working a thesis most funds aren't even looking at.
Reed McBride, Mintaka
Mintaka writes $100K–$250K first checks into B2B SaaS, fintech, and applied AI. McBride is ex-Carta, having spent a decade scaling venture-backed companies before going solo.
Desiree Vargas Wrigley, Catalyst Fund (Velocity Catalyst)
Velocity Catalyst is a $50M hybrid fund backing pre-seed startups in Chicago and Illinois' critical industries. Wrigley built GiveForward and Pearachute before launching a fund that backs both startups and emerging fund managers.
Ethan Austin, Outside VC
Outside VC writes $100K–$250K first checks into pre-seed fintech, backing outsider founders. Austin co-founded GiveForward, then became a Techstars managing director before going solo.
Rex Woodbury, Daybreak
Daybreak has raised $100M across Fund I and Fund II, backing AI-native, sector-agnostic pre-seed and seed founders. Woodbury is ex-Index Ventures and writes the Digital Native newsletter to 70,000+ founders and operators weekly.
Mike Ma, Sidecut
Sidecut is an undisclosed-size micro-VC fund focused on pre-seed economic mobility, digital health, climate, and education. Ma is ex-CMO at Betterment and Own Up, running a "coach first, capital second" model.
Brian Hollins, Collide Capital
Collide Capital closed a $95M Fund II, bringing total AUM past $170M, backing fintech, supply chain, and future-of-work founders. Hollins is ex-Goldman Sachs and Lightspeed, co-founded with Aaron Samuels, who also built AfroTech.
Owen Willis, Opal Ventures
Opal Ventures is a $10M fund backing pre-seed healthcare infrastructure. Willis is ex-COO at Osmosis and launched the healthcare arm at On Deck before going solo.
Jackie DiMonte, Grid Capital
Grid Capital backs pre-seed and seed industrial tech across manufacturing, supply chain, and construction, at an undisclosed fund size. DiMonte is ex-Chicago Ventures and Hyde Park Venture Partners, running a concentrated, lead-investor strategy.
Ken Horenstein, Pack Ventures
Pack Ventures raised $30M for its second fund, backing pre-seed and seed founders affiliated with the University of Washington. Horenstein is ex-Microsoft's venture fund, and Fund I backed 26 companies off $5M.
Leslie Feinzaig, Graham & Walker
Graham & Walker is a $10M fund backing pre-seed and seed underrepresented and female founders. Feinzaig founded Female Founders Alliance before turning it into a fund.
Mayur Aras, Lucinda Capital
Lucinda Capital is a $2.5M fund backing pre-seed CPG founders, with a focus on diverse founders. Aras spent a decade in brand roles at Chobani, Nespresso, ALOHA, and Applegate before going solo.
How to Pitch a Solo GP
The playbook differs from pitching a multi-partner firm in a few ways that matter.
Go straight to the person: there is no associate layer, so your outreach lands with the decision-maker. Make it sharp and personal.
Match the thesis precisely: a solo fund makes 20 to 30 bets total, so every check has to fit. Read their writing, know their portfolio, and lead with why you fit their specific angle.
Respect the check size: most solo GPs write $100K to $1M and rarely lead large rounds. Frame the ask around their size and show how they fit the round you are building.
Move at their speed: solo GPs can decide in days. Have your data room ready, respond fast, and you can close them while slower firms are still scheduling the second meeting.
To build your target list of newly launched funds and solo GPs, filter by stage, sector, and check size in the Everything Startups New VC Funds directory, or get the full database with investor contact details here.
FAQ: Solo GP VC Funds
What is the difference between a solo GP and an angel investor?
An angel invests their own money and answers to no one. A solo GP raises a fund from LPs and invests on their behalf, which means a real diligence process, follow-on reserves, and fiduciary responsibility, combined with the speed of a single decision-maker.
How big are solo GP funds?
Most sit between $5M and $100M. Below roughly $10M the fund behaves like a structured angel. Above $50M a solo GP can lead small rounds and hold meaningful reserves.
Do solo GPs lead rounds?
Some do, especially at pre-seed where a $500K to $1M check can anchor the round. Many prefer to write first checks alongside a lead, which makes them a strong fit for founders assembling a round with momentum.
Are solo GPs good for first-time founders?
Often yes. They decide fast, they are frequently former founders or operators themselves, and the attention is direct. The tradeoff is limited follow-on capital, so plan to bring in a larger lead at the next round.
Solo GP details compiled from Everything Startups research and the Everything Startups VC Funds database, tracking newly announced funds weekly across the US, Europe, and Israel.
