Adverb Ventures

Adverb Ventures Research

Investment Thesis

Adverb Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2023 by April Underwood and Jessica Verrilli, two veteran operators and investors from Twitter, Slack, and Google Ventures. The firm's name captures their core philosophy: how you build something matters as much as what you build — the adverbs matter just as much as the verbs. They believe exceptional people and their character are what transform ideas into industry-shaping companies.

The firm seeks to partner with extraordinary founders at the very earliest stages — pre-seed and seed — who have unique insight into their market or audience and the operational excellence to execute on that vision.

Stage Focus

Adverb invests primarily at pre-seed and seed stage, with selective follow-on at Series A. Their typical entry point is when companies are just beginning to show product-market fit or are still defining their core product. They emphasize being the first institutional check and building deep relationships with founders from day one.

• Pre-Seed: $500K–$1M for very early idea-stage companies
• Seed: $1M–$5M for companies with early traction
• Selective Series A follow-ons for top portfolio companies

Check Size

Typical investment range: $500K to $5M per company at the earliest stages. The firm does not publicly disclose ownership targets but is known to anchor early seed rounds.

Lead Tendency

Adverb frequently leads or co-leads seed rounds. The Le Walk seed (co-led with Lerer Hippeau) and evidence of early-stage concentrated investments suggest they take lead positions at pre-seed and seed.

Fund History

• Fund I: $75M, closed July 2023. First institutional fund, focused entirely on pre-seed and seed.
• Fund II: Targeting $125M. SEC filing from 2025 confirms fundraising is underway for the second fund, continuing the same early-stage focus.

Sector Focus

Adverb is thesis-agnostic at the sector level, but backs founders building across AI, enterprise software, healthcare/biotech, consumer apps, developer tools, and media. Their portfolio skews heavily toward AI-native companies and operator-led teams. Key verticals include:

• Enterprise Software & AI Tools: Accend (AI compliance), GoodDay (AI retail OS), Granola (AI meeting notepad), Outset (AI research platform), Workmate (AI executive assistant), Macroscope (codebase intelligence)
• Healthcare & Biotech: Alpaca Health (autism care OS), Oncko (cancer drug combinations), Gaia (consumer biotech/sustained-release), Piramidal (brain foundation model)
• Consumer & Social: Mozi (private social network), Untold (AI audio journal), Le Walk (audio tour guide), Casa (smart home OS)
• Developer Tools & Infrastructure: Valet (human-AI agent collaboration), SPIRL (workload identity), Macroscope (codebase intelligence)
• AI Video & Media: Hypernatural (AI video creation), Linum (text-to-video foundation model), Particle (AI news), Cove (visual AI workspace, acquired by Microsoft)
• Real Estate Tech: Cambio (CRE operations platform)

Portfolio Highlights

With 33 known portfolio companies, Adverb has built a diverse portfolio of AI-native startups. Notable highlights:

• Outset: AI-moderated research platform raised $30M Series B (Dec 2025), led by Radical Ventures with Microsoft M12 participating. 8x revenue growth in 2025. Total funding $51M.
• Cove: Visual AI workspace, acquired by Microsoft.
• Granola: AI notepad for meetings (also used by F4's team).
• Cambio: Commercial real estate AI platform raised $18M Series A led by Maverick Ventures (Jan 2026).
• Le Walk: Audio tour guide app raised $4.1M seed co-led by Adverb and Lerer Hippeau (Sept 2025).
• SPIRL: Workload identity security platform.

Team

April Underwood — Co-founder & Managing Director

A full-stack leader with experience across executive, board, and investor roles. Previously Chief Product Officer at Slack (2015–2019), Director of Product and Director of Business Development at Twitter (2010–2015), and roles at Google, Climate Corporation, and Travelocity. MBA from UC Berkeley Haas. Current board member at Zillow Group and Eventbrite. Co-founder of #ANGELS angel investment group. Angel investments include Vanta, Carta, Color, Fireflies.ai, and Equals.

Jessica Verrilli — Co-founder & Managing Director

Built her career partnering with founders on breakout companies. Joined Twitter as the 34th employee (2009) and rose to VP of Corporate Development & Strategy, executing 30+ acquisitions including Vine and Periscope over 8.5 years. Later served as General Partner at Google Ventures (GV), leading investments in Digits, Homebound, and Instawork. 30+ angel investments including Gusto, Vanta, Contentful, Anchorage, Coinbase, and Instacart. Stanford Human Biology, Mayfield Fellow.

Liza Gurtin — Investor

Bridges technology and human connection with a background in symbolic systems (human-computer interaction) from Stanford. Early Robinhood employee, then led product teams at Slack through its 2019 IPO (built Block Kit UI framework and notifications). Previously an investor at Matrix Partners with 25+ angel investments.

Gary Pesola — Investor

Evaluates businesses through trajectory and future potential. Previously at General Atlantic evaluating hundreds of businesses, then at Conviction (San Francisco-based early-stage AI-focused VC firm). NYC native. Strong interest in endurance sports and early-stage AI companies.

Decision Process

Adverb operates as a partnership with two co-founders/Managing Directors making decisions collaboratively. Given the small team (2 MDs, 2 investors), decisions likely move quickly through partnership discussion without formal committee.

Founder Preferences

Adverb backs founders who are exceptional operators — people who have built products, led teams, or scaled companies at top tech firms. They are particularly drawn to founders with unique insight into a specific market or audience, high character, and a track record of building things in the right way. The firm was founded by operators for operators.

Geographic Focus

Primarily US-focused with a strong San Francisco Bay Area presence. Portfolio includes some international companies (Le Walk launched in Paris, Cambio opened a London office), but no explicit international-first thesis.