Deviation Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm, has launched as a newly independent business following the completed spinout of the Two Sigma Ventures operation from quantitative investment and trading firm Two Sigma.
As part of the spinout, Deviation has acquired management of certain existing Two Sigma Ventures funds with approximately $2 billion in assets under management and will continue to invest in technical founders harnessing the accelerating forces of data and computing. The Two Sigma Ventures platform was incubated within Two Sigma 14 years ago and grew into a scaled, operationally mature firm over that period. TSV leadership viewed Fund V as a natural inflection point to transition to an independently owned and operated business. Deviation maintains offices in New York and San Francisco.
Deviation is led by partners Colin Beirne, who founded the predecessor firm more than a decade ago; Dusan Perovic, who leads investments at the intersection of data science and life sciences; Sidney Costabile, who oversees capital markets; and Jonathan Golden, a former NEA partner and longtime product leader who is joining to lead and build out the San Francisco office. The firm’s portfolio spans consumer, enterprise, and life sciences, including companies such as WHOOP, Remote, Xaira, Kalshi, Gameto, and Etched. A formal access arrangement with Two Sigma’s network of senior technical experts across data science, artificial intelligence, engineering, and applied research provides Deviation with a differentiated resource for sourcing, diligence, and portfolio support that independent firms typically lack.
Beirne described the firm’s investment thesis as predating what the market now calls AI — rooted in a conviction, held since the early days of Two Sigma Ventures, that the most consequential companies would be built by applying data science and advances in computing to upend industries or create entirely new ones. That conviction drives Deviation’s continued focus on exceptional companies at the intersection of data, software, and advanced computing. Golden, joining from NEA, characterized Deviation’s formula as a resilient, long-standing thesis combined with deep technical expertise across infrastructure, applied AI, and TechBio — a combination he described as rare among early-stage venture platforms.
Two Sigma’s Management Committee, John Overdeck and Seth Platt, expressed pride in the business the team built over nearly 15 years and noted that Two Sigma remains a believer in Deviation’s team as it enters its next chapter as an independent firm. The spinout reflects a broader maturation of AI-focused venture investing as the category moves from an emerging thesis to a defined and competitive institutional asset class.
KEY QUOTES:
“What the market now calls ‘AI’ actually served as the founding thesis of Two Sigma Ventures for almost 15 years. With Deviation, we’re carrying that same vision forward knowing that truly exceptional companies in this space are rare and hard to spot. Deviation is precision-built to find them.”
Colin Beirne, Partner, Deviation Capital
“Deviation has a very special formula: a resilient, long-standing metathesis spanning data and computing and an unmatched, deep technical expertise across infrastructure, applied AI, and TechBio.”
Jonathan Golden, Partner, Deviation Capital
