Collide Capital is a New York-based early-stage venture firm founded in 2021 by Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels. The firm backs companies in fintech, supply chain, and the future of work, with a particular focus on diverse founding teams who bring direct lived experience to the problems they are solving. Collide has backed 75 companies to date and manages capital across two funds.
Collide focuses on enterprise SaaS, fintech, supply chain technology, and future-of-work platforms. The firm is especially interested in companies building automation, real-time collaboration tools, and data-driven decision-making infrastructure.
Collide looks for founders who are building solutions for underserved markets and who have the proximity to their customer base that gives them a structural advantage.
Collide closed its $95 million Fund II in April 2026, following its inaugural $66 million Fund I, which closed in 2022. The firm expects to deploy Fund II over approximately 3.5 years, targeting at least 30 companies, with an average check between $1 million and $3 million.
Limited partners in Fund II include the University of California Endowment (UC Regents), which anchored the previous fund, as well as Accolade Partners, Fairview Capital, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan. Five portfolio investments have already been made. The fund took roughly 13 months to raise, a timeline the partners attribute to the challenging environment for emerging managers, though Collide's track record and the partners' professional pedigree helped accelerate LP interest.
Leadership
Brian Hollins is Co-Founder and Managing Partner. He spent a decade across Goldman Sachs, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Slow Ventures before founding Collide. At Goldman, he helped launch the Emerging Entrepreneurs Coverage group and assisted in deploying over $100 million as a software investor in the firm's growth equity practice. He is also a Founding Board Member of BLCK VC, the largest Black investor community in the United States. Aaron Samuels is Co-Founder and Managing Partner. He brings six years of growth equity experience at Goldman Sachs, holds a CFA charter, and is the founder of AfroTech, one of the largest tech conferences in the world for Black technologists and entrepreneurs. He is also a Founding Board Member of BLCK VC and a Kauffman Fellow.
Investment Strategy
Collide invests from pre-seed through Series A, writing checks between $1 million and $3 million. The firm leads and co-invests, and takes an active role in supporting portfolio companies through community, introductions, and operational guidance. Both partners have deep networks across major tech companies, financial institutions, and venture firms, which they use to connect founders to follow-on capital and enterprise customers.
Notable Investments
The portfolio spans fintech, edtech, AI, and enterprise platforms:
Other
Collide runs the Collide Campus program, launched in 2022, which trains the next generation of founders and venture capitalists. The undergraduate initiative is active on more than 20 campuses including Harvard and Johns Hopkins. A graduate fellowship program places students directly with the Collide team as investors and apprentices. Over 50 students have completed the program and gone on to roles at firms including General Catalyst and Collide itself.
United States
