Zelda Ventures Launches With $33 Million Fund

By Amit Chowdhry • Dec 19, 2023

Zelda Ventures – a new investment firm founded and led by General Partner Suzanne Fletcher – recently announced it has closed its first fundraiser with an oversubscribed $33 million debut fund. The pre-seed fund – which closed after less than a year – invests in the next companies of founders whom Fletcher has backed before.

As a generalist fund, Zelda Ventures has already backed nearly a dozen startups, including Andromeda Surgical, Pointable, and Redcoat AI, with plans to triple the number of investments by 2026. And among its portfolio, Zelda Ventures has written the first checks for the majority of companies, kicking off pre-seed rounds that have quickly become oversubscribed.

Fletcher brings more than two decades of investment experience, investing alongside top VCs including Lightspeed, Andreessen Horowitz, DCVC, Founders Fund, and 8VC. And she has backed 350+ startups founded by 900+ entrepreneurs. Among these entrepreneurs, Fletcher estimates that 10% will launch new companies each year. Zelda Ventures is now becoming the ‘first choice for first checks’ among a group of entrepreneurs who have robust investor networks themselves.

Fletcher’s investments prior to Zelda represent over $50 billion in company value and include 12 unicorns, including Sourcegraph, Hive, Alation, Turing, Dexterity, Orca Bio, and more, with an additional 30 successful exits like Nearpod (acquired by Renaissance Learning), Osmo (acquired by Tangible Play), Cleargraph (acquired by Tableau), Eero (acquired by Amazon), and Sweep (acquired by Affirm).

Before founding Zelda Ventures, Fletcher was a general partner at Prime Movers Lab, playing a pivotal role in scaling the firm and leading seed rounds. Before that, Fletcher managed the co-investment vehicle at StartX, one of the most prestigious startup accelerators in the world serving the Stanford University community, for five years. Fletcher has a Bachelor Science in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, magna cum laude, and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

KEY QUOTES:

“Zelda Ventures is the culmination of decades spent nurturing entrepreneurial talent and building authentic relationships. With an extensive network and a strong understanding of the startup ecosystem, I’m excited to collaborate with entrepreneurs, many of whom I’ve known for nearly 10 years, as they begin building their next companies. The fund’s name pays homage to the iconic video game character, the beloved badass associated with hunting for and finding treasure, and that’s precisely the spirit I aim to embody.”

  • Suzanne Fletcher, general partner at Zelda Ventures

“Suzanne has been a tremendous partner and advocate for Andromeda Surgical, just as she was for my previous companies, Zenflow and Avail Medsystems. Her deep understanding of the startup landscape and her consistent support have been instrumental in our success. There’s immense value in working with someone you already know and trust, and the StartX community was delighted to see her launch her own fund.”

  • Nick Damiano, CEO and co-founder of Andromeda Surgical

“I’m thrilled to witness Suzanne’s launch of Zelda Ventures. Her tenacity, organizational prowess, and warmth have earned her deep respect within the local entrepreneurial community.”

  • Randy Livingston, CFO of Stanford University

“We are delighted to be significant investors in Zelda Ventures’ fund and confident that Suzanne’s unique background, experiences, and relationships will allow her to identify, evaluate, and invest in the most promising new companies ahead of others. Her focus on the Stanford University ecosystem, especially on serial entrepreneurs with successful track records, taps into one of the most attractive sources of high-quality investment opportunities. Her history of responsibly managing third-party capital, coupled with her history of supporting high-performing startups, are key factors that enabled her to become one of the few emerging managers to successfully raise an oversubscribed fund in today’s market”

  • Randy Eisenman, co-founder and managing partner of Satori Capital