Seven Stars is a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2025 by Steven Lee, based in San Francisco. The fund is deeply personal (named after the family-run Seven Star Fashion business started by his immigrant parents from South Korea in Downtown Los Angeles), and reflects Lee’s dedication to supporting founders with grit, vision and entrepreneurial heritage.
Seven Stars focuses on early-stage startups building AI-powered applications across consumer and enterprise technology.
The firm is looking for visionary founders leveraging AI to create enduring software products and services that have the potential to significantly impact a broad user base.
In June 2025, Seven Stars closed its inaugural fund at $40 million, with strong interest resulting in an oversubscribed raise in just five weeks.
This debut fund is dedicated to backing pre-seed and seed-stage AI founders.
It offers portfolio companies hands-on support including fundraising coaching, access to diverse talent pipelines, and a curated advisory network of executives, operators, and researchers with backgrounds at top AI organizations like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI.
Seven Stars invests in collaboration with other VCs and angels, and is backed by a mix of long-term institutional limited partners including university endowments, pension funds, foundations and insurance-backed firms.
Leadership
The firm is led by Founder and General Partner Steven Lee, formerly a Partner at SV Angel. Lee has invested in and supported founders in over 900 financings and has helped raise more than $1.25 billion in total capital.
Investment Strategy
Seven Stars operates with conviction, speed and founder empathy. The strategy is to co-invest and work closely alongside founders from the first check, providing both strategic advisory and operational support. The fund emphasizes fast decisions, believes in backing teams early before signals are obvious, and uses Lee’s extensive AI industry network to unlock connections, expertise and talent for portfolio companies.
Notable Investments
As a newly launched fund, the portfolio of Seven Stars remains under development and is not yet public. However early backing and strong LP endorsements indicate a focus on high-potential AI application startups driven by exceptional founder-driven missions.
Other
Steven Lee’s journey is underpinned by personal heritage, his parents' immigrant story, and a commitment to ‘show up’ for founders with similar grit.
He is a member of Gold House, a nonprofit that empowers Asian Pacific creators and leaders, and was recognized in 2024 among impactful Asian Pacific leaders alongside figures from Nvidia and OpenA.
Seven Stars’ initial LP base includes institutional investors such as university endowments, pension funds, foundations and insurance-backed firms, highlighting confidence in Lee’s track record and vision.
