Venture Guides, an investment firm focused on active guiding and team-based investing in early-stage infrastructure software companies, announced the closing of a second fund at $262.5 million. This milestone comes during turbulent economic times in venture capital fundraising, proving the firm’s strategy, strong portfolio, and the confidence investors place in its differentiated approach.
Venture Guides Fund II’s single closing was oversubscribed in an eight-week timeframe. And Fund II represents a 21% increase over its $216.5 million Fund I. This investor demand reflects support for the firm’s deep domain experience and distinctive guiding, including an in-house sales training academy. Venture Guides Fund II welcomed new institutions and large family offices in addition to participation from 100% of its past family offices.
Venture Guides’ General Partners (GP) made a notable investment, contributing 11% of the total fund’s commitment, up from their contribution of 10% in Fund I. Venture Guides also expects to begin investing in its second fund in Q3 of 2025.
Since its founding in 2023, Venture Guides has built a team of 21 professionals and a promising portfolio of eleven core positions within the infrastructure software market. And the firm’s commitment to providing capital as well as active guiding accelerates the early growth and resiliency of its portfolio companies. About 10 portfolio companies have elected to co-locate within Venture Guides’ offices at 100 Causeway Street to grow their U.S.-based teams, championing Boston as a destination for technology innovation, economic stability and venture capital funding.
Venture Guides’ differentiated approach is rooted in several key principles:
1.) The firm employs a collaborative investment strategy, leveraging decades of leadership experience and a data framework to make comprehensive decisions and provide informed support to founders.
2.) Venture Guides is committed to guiding founders through every stage of their journey, offering expertise in go-to-market execution, recruiting, business strategy, finance, and budgeting.
3.) Through decades of experience as operators and investors, the Venture Guides team is focused on the infrastructure software market, supporting portfolio companies in navigating the complexities of this domain.
KEY QUOTES:
“Boston is proud to be the home of Venture Guides, a venture capital firm focused on supporting emerging tech start-ups from around the world. By helping these innovators organize and launch their go-to-market operations, Venture Guides boosts our local economy, creates high-quality jobs, and makes our city a top destination for technological advancement.”
Segun Idowu, Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion for the City of Boston
“Venture Guides stood out to us because of its active GTM guiding and strong track record of 80+% success rate. At Elastio, our expert scanning engine builds resiliency into customers’ data layer to stop ransomware attacks. Venture Guides helps us to deliver our value to customers faster and more effectively.”
Naj Husain, 4x founder and Elastio CEO
“We’re deeply grateful for our investors’ confidence and partnership, enabling us to continue our mission of building the next generation of innovative technology companies. With this second fund, we remain firmly committed to serving our investors and portfolio founders – providing not only capital but also the guiding required to compete and win in the infrastructure software market.”
Benjamin Nye, Managing Partner at Venture Guides
