Kevin Hartz

Co-Founder & General Partner A*. Co-founder of Sauron, Eventbrite (NYSE: EB), and Xoom (IPO 2013, acquired by PayPal)

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

Today, we're announcing A* III, a $450 million early-stage fund.

We started @A_StarVC with the simple idea to be a founder's first believer.

We are generalists by sector, but specialists in the stage and craft of seed investing. We partner with founders before there is consensus, before there is traction, and often before there is even a product. We are not organized around a market thesis. We back exceptional builders and follow them into the most important categories.

That matters because seed investing has changed. It is more crowded, more visible, and increasingly transactional. Too often, firms use seed to secure an option and then wait for proof before investing real time and attention. Seed has become a market of access. We believe it should be a market of conviction.

We built A* around a different model. We commit early. We show up before external validation, deploying both time and capital from day zero to help founders find their first customer, make an early hire, or work through the decisions that define the company.

We are selective at the start and concentrated over time. We partner with a small number of founders and deepen our commitment as their companies take shape. The best outcomes come from knowing where to go deep and having the discipline to do it.

This approach has led us to companies like Ramp, Decagon, Whop, Cape, Simile, Paraform, Watney Robotics, and Mercor.

We're grateful to the founders who have chosen to build with us and to the limited partners who have backed us. With this fund, A* manages over $1 billion in assets less than five years after launch. Our job remains what it was on day one: back exceptional founders early and be the partner they need when it matters most.

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

Monumental progress! congrats!

[Jack Dent @jackdent]

I’m delighted to announce @chaidiscovery's collaboration with @pfizer. Their scientists will deploy our AI platform to accelerate drug discovery, including early access to our latest frontier model Chai-3.

You can learn more about this partnership and our momentum in @amyfeldman's feature in @Forbes out today

https://t.co/VBoynDgPCz

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

@AnnicaBenning @BennettSiegel @technology @GGuptaSF @vik_rama @jhwindmueller @A_StarVC yes! it is a Soodie.

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

@HarryStebbings Well thank you Harry!

[Jack Altman @jaltma]

One of the big changes in venture that Bennett and Kevin discussed is needing to understand a new type of founder -- researchers, which historically didn't always make for great founders but are obviously a huge part of the AI era.

"You have to listen so carefully...every word from a great founder will have so much meaning and intention about what they're gonna build."

[Bennett Siegel @BennettSiegel]

Thanks @technology for having me on to discuss A* and our new fund! @kevinhartz @GGuptaSF @vik_rama @jhwindmueller @A_StarVC

https://t.co/pOAbyZIjk0

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

See you soon!

[TBPN @tbpn]

Happy Tuesday. On today's show:

- @rogerlynch (Condé Nast)
- @DoombergT (Anon)
- @sahirjaggi (Forus)
- @samdblond (Monaco)
- @kevinhartz (A*)
- @alexshander03 (Judgement Labs)
- @itsglenwise (Cinder)

See you on the stream.

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

Lots of fun talking with @jaltma and @BennettSiegel on @uncapped_pod

[Jack Altman @jaltma]

My guests on Uncapped this week are @kevinhartz and @BennettSiegel, co-founders of the early stage VC firm A*.

They've backed companies like Notion, Mercor, Ramp, Decagon, Similie, and many more. They also announced a new $450m fund today.

We discussed the state of venture capital firms in the current AI cycle, what it means for seed specialists, trends with great founders, and what they're seeing in AI.

Timestamps:
(0:00) Intro
(0:25) The A* Capital story
(1:16) Why big funds went into seed
(7:50) The mother of all bubbles
(10:46) Why founders are getting younger
(13:00) Mapping talent, not markets
(16:31) The rise of AI researcher founders
(19:16) Why seed investing is so hard
(22:54) Concentration and venture returns
(27:34) The AI rollup craze
(31:15) AI vs traditional software
(33:15) Robotics and the future of AI
(35:39) What’s next for A*

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

@A_StarVC https://t.co/AMwkkHQsWm

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

Today, we're announcing A* III, a $450 million early-stage fund.

We started @A_StarVC with the simple idea to be a founder's first believer.

We are generalists by sector, but specialists in the stage and craft of seed investing. We partner with founders before there is consensus, before there is traction, and often before there is even a product. We are not organized around a market thesis. We back exceptional builders and follow them into the most important categories.

That matters because seed investing has changed. It is more crowded, more visible, and increasingly transactional. Too often, firms use seed to secure an option and then wait for proof before investing real time and attention. Seed has become a market of access. We believe it should be a market of conviction.

We built A* around a different model. We commit early. We show up before external validation, deploying both time and capital from day zero to help founders find their first customer, make an early hire, or work through the decisions that define the company.

We are selective at the start and concentrated over time. We partner with a small number of founders and deepen our commitment as their companies take shape. The best outcomes come from knowing where to go deep and having the discipline to do it.

This approach has led us to companies like Ramp, Decagon, Whop, Cape, Simile, Paraform, Watney Robotics, and Mercor.

We're grateful to the founders who have chosen to build with us and to the limited partners who have backed us. With this fund, A* manages over $1 billion in assets less than five years after launch. Our job remains what it was on day one: back exceptional founders early and be the partner they need when it matters most.

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

@A_StarVC Thanks @nmasc_ for writing about our work in
@technology
https://t.co/nqIfJYrDTY

[Mehul @mehul]

two camps in robotics:

wishful thinkers ➡️ fancy demos, zero deployment scars

hardened deployers ➡️ hard lessons, earned insights, real customers

@YorkYang5050 and @DynaRobotics welcome to the hardened deployers camp

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

Nothing but the best for Penny and Charlie! Their new food from @joingoldenchild has arrived and they love it. Super excited to have backed them at @A_StarVC

[Decagon @DecagonAI]

We're opening an office in Sydney. 🇦🇺

We've been seeing strong pull from teams in the APAC region, especially from companies operating across large geographies, extended hours, and global customer bases.

And, we're building our team on the ground. Check the thread to join our founding team in Australia.

[Redpoint @Redpoint]

We're ecstatic to be leading @joingoldenchild's $25M Series A.

Golden Child is building something different: a fresh food system designed from the ground up.

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

@RonConway sending good vibes!🧡

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

Excited to lead the seed and partner with @HarryMellsop, @AlexLangshur, and the @antiochrobotics team.

Antioch is building the simulation platform for physical autonomy, where engineers can build, test, and refine systems the way we do software. If physical AI scales the way we expect, this will redefine how robotic systems are built.

[Kanjun 🐙 @kanjun]

Twitter’s algorithm is optimized for addiction, not for us. We deserve better.

We’re releasing Bouncer today so you can take back control of your feed. Describe what you don't want, and Bouncer removes it.

It’s free, doesn’t collect your data, and will be open source soon.

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

@BillAckman @X I thought Table was a metaphor for the California government?

[Akash Raju @akashraju4]

I’m extremely excited to announce that @try_glimpse has raised a $35M Series A led by @a16z with continued participation from @8vc & @ycombinator bringing our total raised to $52M.

At Glimpse, we’re building the AI-native infrastructure for CPG & retail brands. We started off automating the deductions workflow - recovering brands millions of dollars back into their P&L & saving dozens of hours every week. With this initial focus, we’ve also built the CPG data layer giving us the opportunity to continue expanding to more manual workflows that can be automated. We’re giving CPG brands real operating leverage in the world of AI.

To our 200+ customers including PLTFRM, Evermark, IQ Bar, Alice Mushrooms, and more, thank you for your faith in us. We have more fuel now to keep supporting & scaling with you all.

We’re hiring - come join us! We’re just getting started.

[Kevin Hartz @kevinhartz]

@mercor_ai moved at the speed of light

[adarsh @adarsh_exe]

Traditional coding benchmarks do not reflect how software is actually built and maintained.

That's why we built a new benchmark, APEX-SWE, in partnership with @cognition. It measures whether AI models can perform complex, real-world software engineering work to ship systems that work and debug them when they don't.

@OpenAI GPT 5.3 Codex (High) tops the leaderboard at 41.5% on Pass@1.