K9 Ventures is a technology focused [Pre-Seed](https://www.k9ventures.com/blog/2015/06/05/the-seeds-have-changed-an-epilogue-to-the-new-venture-landscape/) fund based in Palo Alto, California. We believe that extraordinary things are possible when great teams come together around technology. We primarily invest at the pre-seed stage, when the founding team is established and just starting to build the product, but we sometimes invest even earlier and have engaged with founders when they’re just thinking about the idea and haven’t yet incorporated their company.
Primary stage
Lead / follow
Initial check size
Hardware / software
B2B / B2C
Investment focus
Does not invest in
We want companies where the customers pay for using the product or service directly. In other words, “I deliver value to you, you pay me.” We don’t like three-way business models as at the stage we invest it’s impossible to tell a company will become the next Google or Facebook. As a corollary, we don’t invest in companies built on media, content, advertising. We typically only consider companies where the founding team is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is not a function of where K9 is located, but because we believe that there is something that happens in Silicon Valley, which cannot be easily replicated in other geographies. We welcome working with remote or distributed teams (a change in our thinking), but absolutely will not consider companies that plan to outsource the development of their core technology/product.
Investors
Manu Kumar
How to reach them
We prefer that you reach us through a referral from a trusted connection who can vouch for you.