Adjacent Research
Investment Thesis
Adjacent is a solo-GP early-stage venture fund founded by Nico Wittenborn in New York City, with its first close on November 1, 2019. The firm's name and thesis are drawn from the concept of the "adjacent possible," originated by evolutionary biologist Stuart Kauffman and popularized in Steven Johnson's How We Got to Now: innovation is rarely an overnight leap but rather an additive evolution from what already exists, unlocked by prior technological achievements. Wittenborn applies this lens to identify "the next logical step" for consumers rather than distant moonshots, favoring categories that look unfashionable or niche today but carry large optionality if the underlying behavior compounds.
Historically, Adjacent's core thesis has centered on mobile-first consumer subscription products, built on the belief that subscription apps are global in reach, capable of high (SaaS-like, 70%+) margins once they scale and diversify distribution beyond app stores, and capable of surprisingly sticky recurring revenue despite higher churn than traditional B2B SaaS. More recently the firm has broadened into hardware-enabled subscription businesses (smart devices paired with software/data moats) and, per its current portfolio, into deep tech and hard infrastructure categories including aerospace/defense, energy, and personal electric mobility — an extension Wittenborn has described publicly as consumer companies overcoming customer-acquisition ceilings by expanding into adjacent B2B or infrastructure opportunities.
Sector Focus
- Mobile-first consumer subscription apps (wellness, fitness, personal finance, screen-time/tech-life-balance)
- Consumer hardware with a software/data subscription layer (e.g., smart bird feeders)
- Developer tools and infrastructure for the mobile app economy (subscription/paywall infrastructure)
- More recently: aerospace/defense, energy, and personal electric mobility (deep tech extensions of the "adjacent possible" thesis)
Stage Focus
Adjacent invests primarily at Seed, with selective pre-seed bets on founders it has tracked for years, and follow-on participation into Series A/B/C as portfolio companies scale (e.g., continuing to back RevenueCat and Ostrom well past their initial rounds).
Check Size
Reported figures vary by source: some trackers cite an average check of $100K–$1M typical of solo-GP seed investing, while others describe initial checks in the $2M–$5M range as the fund has matured. Treat check size as directionally $250K–$5M with moderate confidence, skewed toward the smaller end for pre-seed and larger for lead Seed positions.
Lead Tendency
Mixed. Adjacent has led or co-led early rounds for some portfolio companies (consistent with taking "concentrated solo-GP positions"), but is also a frequent non-lead participant in later, larger rounds led by multi-stage funds (e.g., a16z led Infinite Machine's seed with Adjacent participating; Balderton led Photoroom's Series B with Adjacent having invested earlier at pre-seed; Eneco Ventures led Ostrom's Series B with Adjacent as a returning investor).
Recent Activity
Adjacent has remained an active participant in follow-on rounds for existing portfolio companies through 2025–2026:
- May 2025: Participated in RevenueCat's $50M Series C (mobile app monetization infrastructure), alongside Index Ventures, Y Combinator, Volo Ventures, and SaaStr Fund.
- June 2025: Returning investor in Ostrom's €20M ($23M) Series B, led by Eneco Ventures, bringing the German digital energy provider's total funding to over €40M.
- October 2024: Participated in Infinite Machine's $9.3M seed round for personal electric vehicles, led by Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism fund.
- June 2024: Portfolio company BeReal was acquired by mobile publisher Voodoo for €500M — one of the fund's clearest realized outcomes.
Portfolio Highlights
Adjacent's public portfolio page lists roughly 50-60 companies accumulated since 2019, split visually between current holdings and past/exited positions. Standout current and past investments include Calm (meditation/sleep, unicorn), Revolut, Oura, BeReal (acquired by Voodoo for €500M in 2024), Photoroom (AI photo editing, ~$500M valuation as of its 2024 Series B), RevenueCat and Superwall (mobile subscription/paywall infrastructure), Speechify (text-to-speech), Bird Buddy (AI-powered smart bird feeders), Copilot (personal finance/budgeting app), Sunnyside, Klima, and Tractive. The firm's more recent, higher-profile deep-tech bets include Inversion Space (autonomous orbital reentry vehicles for cargo delivery) and Infinite Machine (personal electric vehicles), alongside Ostrom (digital energy provider) and Starcloud (space-based AI data centers), reflecting Wittenborn's broadening thesis beyond pure mobile subscription apps.
Team
- Nico Wittenborn, Founder — Solo General Partner of Adjacent since its first close in November 2019. Previously Vice President at Insight Partners (2016-2019) and an investor at Point Nine Capital in Berlin. Writes publicly about his "adjacent possible" investing philosophy under the byline "ncsh" on Medium and has been a guest on podcasts including Invest Like the Best and Subclub. Known for concentrated, high-conviction solo-GP positions and for tracking founders for years — in one case partnering with a founder eight years after their first conversation.
Decision Process
Solo GP — Wittenborn is the sole named investment decision-maker at Adjacent; there is no publicly listed investment committee or additional partner.
Founder Preferences
Wittenborn favors founders with long-term conviction and persistence, often building relationships with them well before investing, and gravitates toward products that create defensible moats through user experience, proprietary data, or network effects (he has cited Bird Buddy as an example of this pattern). He has a specific, recurring interest in products that help people form healthier relationships with technology across age groups — from screen-time management tools for adults (Opal) to screen-free audio devices for children (Nodi) to digital toys for toddlers (Pok Pok).
Geographic Focus
Primarily the United States (with a concentration in New York City) and Europe (notably Germany, reflecting Wittenborn's own background and time at Point 9 Capital in Berlin, plus the wider Berlin/Paris/London startup corridor). The firm's public "adjacent gang" description notes roughly 50 companies spread across the US (NYC, SF, LA) and Europe.
Public Positioning
Adjacent deliberately avoids conventional VC PR: the firm has never done press outreach, its website (adjacent.com) is intentionally minimal — essentially a scrolling wall of portfolio company logos — and its social account only retweets portfolio companies and founders rather than promoting the fund itself. One portfolio founder, now an LP, has called this approach "lofi VC."