Tau Ventures is a Palo Alto-based seed venture firm founded in 2019 by Amit Garg and Sanjay Rao, both former partners at Norwest Venture Partners with combined experience of over 50 years in Silicon Valley across Google, Samsung NEXT, Microsoft, and McKinsey. The firm invests in applied AI companies across digital health, enterprise software, and physical AI, and has backed 80+ companies across four funds with portfolio companies collectively raising over $6B in follow-on capital. The name Tau references the Greek letter equal to 2π, a nod to the founders' thesis that AI is a fundamental tool, not a trend.
Tau backs seed stage founders building applied AI companies with a distinct technical advantage, proprietary data, faster model training, or earlier error detection, across three verticals: digital health (primarily unregulated, fast-growing companies; limited appetite for long FDA cycles), enterprise (HR tech, fintech, cybersecurity), and physical AI (cars, drones, robots).
The firm is software and services led but hardware-friendly, and targets US-based CEOs with companies 9–18 months from their next funding round.
Tau Ventures Fund III launched in July 2026, the firm's fourth vehicle following Fund I (2019), Opportunity Fund (2020), and Fund II (2022).
Fund size is not publicly disclosed. Initial checks range from $500K–$1M, up from $500K in Fund II and $250K in Fund I.
The firm can increase check size by co-investing alongside LPs. A separate Opportunity Fund handles follow-on at Series A and B.
The firm manages $93M+ in AUM across its fund franchise. Existing LPs increased their commitments and new LPs joined for Fund III; LP composition is not publicly disclosed.
Leadership
Amit Garg is Co-Founder and Partner, focused on digital health, automation, and logistics. He holds a BS in computer science and MS in biomedical informatics from Stanford and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and previously invested at Samsung NEXT Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners.
Sanjay Rao is Co-Founder and Partner, focused on enterprise software and automation. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in EECS from MIT, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and served five years on the MIT Corporation; prior roles include McKinsey, Microsoft, and Norwest Venture Partners.
Sam Bogrov is Principal, focused on healthcare; previously M&A at Pediatric Associates, private equity at Investindustrial and Platinum Equity, and Wharton MBA.
Insoo Chang is Principal, focused on enterprise AI and fintech; previously SVP at Citigroup's strategic investment team.
Sharon S. Huang is Principal, previously a software engineer at Chan Zuckerberg Biohub; computer science and epidemiology degrees from Stanford.
Investment Strategy
Tau writes $500K–$1M initial checks into seed stage applied AI companies, with the ability to increase check size by partnering with LPs.
The Opportunity Fund runs as a separate vehicle for follow-on into seed portfolio companies and selective Series A and B investments in new companies, keeping the seed fund's return math intact.
The firm's advisory network, spanning senior operators from Johnson & Johnson, DocuSign, Palo Alto Networks, Workday, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Stanford, functions as an outsourced diligence and customer introduction capacity.
Portfolio companies have won pilots and follow-on investment through Tau's advisor and LP network.
Notable Investments
United States
