A non-comprehensive look at the crowded DeFi landscape Despite the hype and massive deployment of capital, many of the commonly cited use cases for crypto — particularly those attached to the ‘web3’ moniker last fall — are fairly implausible to us. However, the prospect of non-custodial, permissionless finance and digital assets remains extremely interesting. With that in mind, we have begun digging into the DeFi landscape and investing through both our Susa and Humba vehicles. Here are some our […]

We have some bittersweet news to share: Natalie Arora, our Head of Operations, will be departing Susa Ventures after almost five years. During her tenure, we scaled from two to six funds, added 100 portfolio companies, and doubled our team size — all while keeping the train on the tracks. Internally, she scaled firm operations (finance, HR, legal, IR, marketing, office) & quarterbacked fundraising for 4 new funds. Externally, she worked to productize the Susa founder experience at […]

By Courtney Buie Lipkin, Partner at Susa Ventures Since we launched the Venture Fellows Program in August 2020, twenty five aspiring investors and technologists have joined the Susa Family. We’ve known all along that the fellows are extraordinary. Now that many of our fellows have successfully transitioned into venture by joining the teams at A16z, Afore Capital, Corazon Capital, OnDeck and Techstars (to name a few) we have the data to confirm this sentiment! Susa started […]

By Chad Byers (General Partner and Co-founder) and Derick En’Wezoh (Investor) at Susa Ventures Susa Ventures is excited to announce our investment in Journey, a remote-first startup building a digital storytelling product for salespeople and founders. We led their pre-seed round with participation from Y Combinator, Sahil Lavingia, Adam D’Angelo, the founders of AdRoll (Adam Berke & Aaron Bell) and Udemy (Eren Bali & Oktay Caglar), CapitalX, GTMFund, and others. Additionally, over 100 Journey users invested […]

By Hammad Aslam, Investor at Susa Ventures “You can drop a tilapia in the tank, and they all start to behave the same… which is actually pretty similar to VCs with new data technologies.” — The Data Stack Show As much as I hate to admit it, this statement is not too far from the truth. For all the talk of being contrarian, it usually pays to be part of the consensus. If you see something hot in the […]

By Courtney Buie Lipkin, Partner at Susa Ventures It’s that time of year again! The Susa team is excited to open applications for our third cohort of Venture Fellows. This unique program is designed to give aspiring venture investors an all-access experience sourcing and evaluating deals alongside our investment team as well as supporting Susa portfolio companies. When we first envisioned the Venture Fellows Program more than two years ago, we did so with the goal […]

By Chad Byers, General Partner and Co-founder at Susa Ventures Susa Ventures is excited to announce our Seed and Series A investment in Better Stack, a European-based startup building a powerful stack of observability tools, making it easier to ship better and more reliable software faster. We led the unannounced Seed in 2019, with participation from fellow Susa founder Ryan Peterson, CEO & Founder of Flexport, and we’re excited to continue our partnership in the Series […]

And the Future of the Venture Fellows Program By Courtney Buie Lipkin, Partner at Susa Ventures Last June, our team came together to brainstorm ways Susa could meaningfully advance efforts to increase diversity in venture capital. We urgently felt the need to act on, rather than just voice our support for, the social justice movements in our country. What emerged from these conversations was the Venture Fellows Program, a six-month immersive experience for aspiring venture investors, with […]

By Courtney Buie Lipkin, Partner at Susa Ventures Today we’re excited to open applications for the 2021 Venture Fellows program. Last year we were fortunate to get to work with thirteen incredible Fellows on sourcing, diligence, and post-investment support. We can’t wait to meet our next cohort of aspiring venture investors. Over the course of five months, fellows receive 1:1 mentorship from the Susa partnership and build a track record alongside us as we invest in […]

In January, we announced applications for the inaugural cohort of the Susa Summer Fellows Program, and today, we are thrilled to introduce you to the inaugural cohort of the program. The Summer Fellows Program is an immersive summer program that connects high-performing university students to software engineering internships at world-changing startups in the Susa portfolio and introduces them to a lifelong community of peers and mentors in the Susa Family. Today, we are thrilled to introduce you […]