Mantis VC, a venture capital firm co-founded by Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, members of the musical group The Chainsmokers, has raised $100 million in commitments for its third fund. This amount marks a $20 million increase from the previous Fund II, which raised $80 million. With this new fund, Mantis VC now manages a total of $225 million across all three funds.
Pall mentioned that raising the funds was challenging due to factors such as inflation, rising interest rates, a stagnant IPO market, global instability, bank failures, and presidential uncertainty.
Fund III will be primarily used to support early-stage technology startups at the Seed and Series A stages. The firm focuses its investments in areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, healthcare technology, data infrastructure, and emerging technologies like Web3 and gaming.
Notable investors in Fund III include Summit Peak, Allocate, TriplePoint Capital, Mark Cuban, David Blitzer, and Michael Rubin.
In recent years, Mantis VC has invested in a variety of companies, including OpenComp, Certa, Superhuman, Superbloom, Frost Giant Studios, Stardust, Burq, Snickerdoodle, FitOn, Slushy, Tally Health, MoonPay, Pipe, Kalshi, Paybook, Figment, Chainguard, and Acryl Data.
KEY QUOTES:
“Fund III is a defining milestone for Mantis. It’s a reflection of the trust we’ve built through real results with category-leading investments, and a culture-first approach to venture. Raising this fund is about doubling down on our mission to be the most connected and impactful partner on the cap table. With Fund III, we have the capital, the platform, and the community to help the next generation of innovators win bigger and faster than ever before. Founders deserve investors who don’t just sit on cap tables but rather build with them, open doors, and move at founder speed. We’re raising the bar for what real partnership looks like in venture.”
Jeffrey Evans, General Partner at Mantis VC
“At Allocate, we evaluate nearly 1,000 private market funds each year and select only a limited group for our platform. We chose Mantis to be on the platform based on their differentiated approach, thoughtful articulation of their investment strategy, and clear alignment with early-stage founders. In our view, Mantis brings a distinctive perspective to venture investing, combining cultural connectivity with disciplined execution.”
Samir Kaji, co-founder and CEO at Allocate
“Mantis has been instrumental in helping us to reach and beat our growth milestones. They’re some of the hardest working investors on our cap table, and are always available to help us close candidates and get connected to key people at accounts. They also partner directly with our marketing team to plan and help host memorable events that truly push the needle on our demand-gen strategy.”
Dan Lorenc, co-founder and CEO at Chainguard
“Having Mantis on your cap table is a no brainer. They play in their own lane as they add value in ways other top VCs simply can’t. They uniquely leverage their influence as The Chainsmokers to make things happen, and without fail, they’re always the quickest investor to respond to our asks. On countless occasions, Alex has recorded personalized videos to help us close top candidates, made C-suite customer and advisor intros, and even cold-DMed execs outside his network to get us connected. Their generosity with their time and network—and their genuine care—have blown us away. Mantis is in a league of its own and has my strongest possible recommendation for any founder.”
Dom Wong, co-founder and CEO at Pogo
