Monta Vista Capital – a leading seed-stage venture capital firm in Silicon Valley for transformative B2B startups – recently announced the launch of its third and largest fund. Like its predecessors, the firm’s new $48 million fund aims to provide the most promising new B2B company founders with access to the experience, agility, and capital needed to deliver on their visions far ahead of the market. Monta Vista Capital’s track record of successful investments, typically at the riskiest pre-revenue stage, reinforces its reputation as the go-to seed fund for visionary founders.
Monta Vista Capital was founded by Venktesh Shukla – well-known as the former President of TiE Silicon Valley and Chair of TiE Global, a nonprofit that fosters entrepreneurship. And over the course of his career, Shukla has also leveraged his deep commitment and connections to the Indian American investor and startup communities to advantage both.
Unlike other venture capital firms, Monta Vista Capital does not raise money from institutional investors. Instead, it taps a large network of individual investors who are highly successful professionals in Silicon Valley. This network serves as a valuable resource for deal sourcing, diligence, and support of the portfolio companies.
Unlike other seed funds of similar size that tend to be a one-person show, Monta Vista is taking a team approach to investing. With deep domain experts in AI, cloud, security, data, and other enterprise technologies and seasoned investors, the Monta Vista team provides entrepreneurs with the resources of a big fund while maintaining the agility of a small one. This approach has driven remarkable success for the firm’s first two rounds of B2B startups, including Aviatrix (secure cloud networking), Cequence Security (API security), and Tekion (first end-to-end cloud-native automotive platform).
Sherry Wei is the founder of Aviatrix (a leading provider of secure cloud networking), and Monta Vista Capital was Aviatrix’s first investor. Since then, the company has raised nearly $400 million in its journey and now serves over 500 enterprise customers.
KEY QUOTES:
“I was impressed with the reach of Monta Vista Capital among influential leaders of Silicon Valley. One phone call from Venk was enough to get me a meeting with the CIO of a prospective customer.”
— Abe Ankumah, co-founder, and CEO of Nyansa, a portfolio company that was acquired by VMware
“We believe in the saying that the investors who have not experienced the startup journey firsthand have not earned the right to advise the founders. Knowing when to step in and when to hold back is a fine balance, and we do not offer help just to check the ‘I am helpful box.’ Having treaded the entrepreneurial path ourselves, we instinctively understand the loneliness, the stress, the highs and lows founders go through, and our job is to bring perspective and balance to guide their journey.”
— Venktesh Shukla, founder and general partner of Monta Vista Capital
“Monta Vista Capital may have been our smallest institutional investor, but they were the most influential, and I sought their counsel and advice throughout our journey and it significantly contributed to our current market position.”
— Sherry Wei, founder of Aviatrix
“Indifferent to the fluctuations of economic tides, we have consistently adhered to our distinctive investment philosophy. We are not swayed by what is fashionable today. We look for companies with unique insights about solving a big problem. Anchored by a locally concentrated, high-caliber team, we deliver unparalleled support that transcends financial contribution.”
— Roger Krakoff, general partner at Monta Vista Capital
