FAQ
We know that the process of finding and securing the right investor can be long and arduous, but there’s no need for it to be a mystery. To clarify your pursuit, we’ve answered some of the most common questions posed by founders when looking for a venture partner.
Investment Selection
Most of our investments are in North America or Europe, including Israel. We’ve been investing in breakout companies since 1980 from offices on Sand Hill Road and in San Francisco. We started partnering with European companies in 2005 - with investments including UiPath, DeepL, Pigment, Supercell, Wise and MySQL - and opened up our European office in London in 2023.
We look for companies with ambitious founders, a clear vision, established product-market fit and the beginnings of a strong go-to-market motion. With an influx of capital and expertise, these companies are poised to develop into dominant players.
Rather than invest in companies only at one stage or round of funding, our involvement begins when a company can demonstrate product-market fit, organic growth and customer love. This is typically the Series B, but is in no way limited to it. IVP is your best partner when you want to force-multiply your company’s progress.
Each year, we partner with around a dozen breakout Series B founders ready to scale from millions to hundreds of millions in revenue and expand from one market to many. Our selectivity is driven by our desire to give portfolio companies our full, focused attention.
Every company is unique, so no two pitches are alike. We like to see:
- A strong “why now” for your product or service
- Quantitative and qualitative demonstrations of product-market fit and customer love
- A roster of compelling, passionate and skilled team members
- A rapidly growing addressable market
We’re always eager to connect with visionary founders, so don’t wait until you’re raising to reach out. Whether you’re looking for help scaling or feedback on your trajectory, you can get started by emailing the investor(s) experienced in partnering with businesses like yours.
Working Together
IVP partners with breakout companies (typically series B or C) and fuels their transformation into enduring market leaders. For many, this is an IPO or exit; out of 400 investments, we’re proud to celebrate 130+ IPOs. We work hard to help you define and reach your vision of success.
Engagement starts with a real connection between you and a dedicated IVP partner: a fully committed collaborator with the intellect, experience and industry connections to help your company realize its full potential. But your relationship with us isn't limited to a single investor. We bring the full weight of our team - investors, expert operators - to activate the right expertise at the moments you need it most.
IVP is committed to being a long-term dedicated partner, always willing and able to do whatever it takes to help you succeed. That means providing your company with the right resources, expertise and connections to achieve enduring success.
Beyond go-to-market and talent, our team of investors and operators work to bolster critical and sometimes overlooked functions like finance and HR. Over the years, our trademark hands-on, low-ego approach has helped countless CEOs navigate cycles and storms, building the experience, insight and resilience to accelerate and re-accelerate growth time and time again.
We dig in wherever a need exists. This includes functions like strategic finance, hiring and recruiting, board management and communications, fundraising, product management, go-to-market and plenty more. Much of our expertise resides in-house, and when the need arises, we activate our network of expert operators on your behalf.
Our Experience
Initial investments tend to range from $15M to $75M. This excludes follow-ons.
Across industries, our focus is guiding emerging startups and companies on their paths to enduring market leadership. Most of our investments are in application SaaS, enterprise infrastructure, AI, fintech, digital health, gaming and consumer internet.
One of the original venture firms on Sand Hill Road, IVP partners with companies that define their eras—from Slack, Crowdstrike and Coinbase to Perplexity, Abridge, Glean and Chainguard—before the world truly appreciated them. Each year, IVP invests in just a dozen breakout founders ready to scale from millions to hundreds of millions in revenue and expand from one market to many. We’ve guided market leaders through cycles and storms, celebrating 130+ IPOs out of 400 investments.
For our full track record, take a look at our portfolio.