We invest $500K–$3M in spiky technical founders at pre-seed and seed who are building AI-native tools for power users.
Premise is run by former founders and operators who have sat on both sides of the table. We know what it takes to build, and we back founders who challenge the premise of massive categories.
Founders first, always
We were founders before we were investors. That shapes everything: how we evaluate, support, and show up when things get hard. We give founders carry in our fund.
Spiky beats well-rounded
The best founders have an unfair edge: a technical depth, a distribution insight, or a domain obsession. They're just original. We build our memo collaboratively with founders, so you know we understand your story.
Power users pull the market
The most durable products are built by founders who obsess over product craft and ship fast. These products feel magical on first use and have a strong emotional pull. We use our founder's products.
Beyond capital, we work closely with founders on:
Product & metrics framing · Value prop & emotional pull · Roadmap & sequencing · ICP definition · Go-to-market sequencing · Hiring strategy · Fundraising narrative & connections
Fund 0
Janitor AI AI character platform
Sitch AI matchmaking for professionals
Arcade.dev Authorization layer for AI agents
SuperMe AI-powered professional network
Willow AI-powered voice dictation
Moonlake AI AI lab building world models
Gobi Agentic map
Ellis AI intelligence layer for private credit operations
Prior investments at LSVP + NEA
Robinhood · Stori · Mejuri · Greenlight · Kindred · Honeylove · Instabase · Granica · Aetherflux · Musa
Mercedes BentCo-founder
Mercedes was Partner at Lightspeed for 6 years leading investments in app layer companies. She was named one of 9 Rising Stars in Venture Capital by the Wall Street Journal. She's a former startup operator, founder, Goldman Sachs, Harvard and Stanford alum.
Lightspeed · General Assembly · Goldman Sachs · Harvard · Stanford GSB
Vanessa LarcoCo-founder
Prior to co-founding Premise, Vanessa was an Investment Committee Member at NEA where she led investments in consumer and enterprise technology. Before venture, she held product and engineering roles at Box, Twilio, Xbox, and Disney.
NEA · Box · Twilio · Xbox · Disney
Our partnership was forged over years in a VC leadership program modeled after Stanford's leadership course. Deep trust, shared values, always in each other's corner.
Surreal Monthly tech talks for technical founders.
Monthly · San Francisco · By invitation
SciFi Tech Club Reading SciFi & discussing science.
Monthly · San Francisco
Padel Club Founders who play together, build together.
Weekly · San Francisco
Building something agentic? We want to hear from you. [email protected]