Amity Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Amity Ventures is a San Francisco-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2016 by CJ Reim and Patrick Yang, both former Vice Presidents at Highland Capital Partners. The firm's name reflects its core philosophy — the literal meaning of "amity" is quality relationships — and they describe their mission as providing "concentrated capital for founders building what comes next."
Amity takes a highly selective approach, investing in only 3–5 new companies per year. They lead rounds at the earliest stages and focus on deep, long-term partnerships with founders. Their tagline reflects a forward-looking stance: they are explicitly open to backing "both humans and agents," signaling strong conviction in AI-native businesses and agent-driven products.
Since founding in 2016 through the end of 2025, Amity has achieved a remarkable 20% unicorn hit rate: 7 of 35 early-stage investments have reached $1B+ valuations, including MaintainX, Socure, Talkdesk, and CaptivateIQ.
Sector Focus
Amity Ventures is sector-agnostic but concentrates primarily in:
Enterprise Software & AI:
- AI-native SaaS platforms (Writer, ControlRooms.ai, Sully.ai, OurFirm.ai)
- Workflow automation and productivity tools
- Commission and incentive management (CaptivateIQ)
- Maintenance and asset management (MaintainX)
Security & Identity:
- Cybersecurity and developer security (Snyk)
- Digital identity verification (Socure)
- Fraud prevention (Sift)
Fintech & Payments:
- Commission and revenue operations (CaptivateIQ, Carta)
- Subscription commerce (Prive, acquired by Recurly 2025)
- Stablecoin and crypto infrastructure (Eco, via Andy Bromberg)
Healthcare & Life Sciences:
- AI-powered health tools (Sully.ai, Prompt Health, Tilly Therapy)
- Medical devices and life sciences (Nectero Medical)
Developer Tools & Infrastructure:
- Observability and stream processing (Edge Delta)
- AI meeting intelligence (Recall.ai)
- Data management (Qumulo, Lucenia)
Stage Focus
Amity primarily invests at Pre-seed, Seed, and Series A:
- Pre-seed: Earliest conviction bets, often before product
- Seed: Core strategy — first institutional money, lead rounds, $1–5M checks
- Series A: Follow-on and selected new investments
- They also participate in follow-on rounds at later stages (B, C, D) for strong performers
Check Size
Amity's stated initial check size is $1M–$5M, with larger follow-on reserves for portfolio companies. They tend to take meaningful ownership positions and prefer to lead or co-lead early rounds.
Lead Tendency
Amity leads rounds at the earliest stages. Their firm identity is built around being the first institutional partner — they actively compete for the best seed deals and aim to set terms. At Series A and beyond, they may also lead or co-lead.
Recent Activity
Amity Ventures is actively deploying from Fund III ($1.8B AUM as of March 2026):
- March 2026: Isara Laboratories (AI multi-agent coordination) — latest new investment
- September 2025: Recall.ai (Series B, $38M — AI meeting intelligence)
- September 2025: Spara (Seed, $15M — revenue operations)
- July 2025: MaintainX (Series D, $150M — portfolio follow-on, unicorn at $2.5B valuation)
- November 2024: Writer (Series C, $200M — enterprise AI writing platform)
- September 2024: UJET (Series D, $76M — cloud contact center AI)
- April 2024: Nectero Medical (Series D, $96M — medical devices)
Notable exit: Evisort acquired by Workday in September 2024. Prive acquired by Recurly in May 2025.
Portfolio Highlights
Amity has backed 35 early-stage companies since founding, with 7 reaching unicorn status:
Unicorns / Notable Companies:
- MaintainX — AI-powered maintenance management, $2.5B valuation (Series D, Jul 2025)
- Socure — Digital identity verification, unicorn
- Talkdesk — AI contact center platform
- CaptivateIQ — AI-powered commission management, unicorn
- Snyk — Developer security platform (Nasdaq-listed)
Notable Exits:
- Evisort — Contract intelligence, acquired by Workday (Sep 2024)
- Prive — Subscription commerce, acquired by Recurly (May 2025)
- Airbnb — NASDAQ: ABNB (early investment)
Other Portfolio Companies: Recall.ai, Writer, UJET, Nectero Medical, Edge Delta, ControlRooms.ai, Paperclip, Usage.AI, Spara, OurFirm.ai, Arketa, Sully.ai, Element, Mayfair, Tilly Therapy, Factored Quality, EquipmentShare, MoQuality, Ouster, Qumulo, Lucenia, HackerRank, Carta, Sift, Prompt Health, Isara Laboratories
Team
CJ Reim — Co-Founder & Managing Partner CJ co-founded Amity in 2016 after serving as VP at Highland Capital Partners in Palo Alto, where he focused on technology investments across all stages. He sourced or was actively involved in deals that raised over $300M during his tenure at Highland. He also led the Summer@Highland entrepreneurship program which mentored 50+ student-led startups over nine years. CJ holds a B.S. in Management (Finance and Information Systems concentrations) from Boston College. He has deep expertise in the digital asset ecosystem and is an Initial Contributor to Core DAO.
Patrick Yang — Co-Founder & General Partner Patrick co-founded Amity with CJ Reim in 2016 after working together at Highland Capital Partners. He began his career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley's Menlo Park technology group. His primary investment focus areas include AI, consumer, logistics, mobility, and software. Current board seats include Arketa, ControlRooms.ai, Element, Mayfair, Sully.ai, and Usage.AI. He manages the firm's investments in CaptivateIQ and Tilly Therapy. Patrick holds a B.S. in Business Administration (Entrepreneurship and Technology) from UC Berkeley.
Andy Ravreby — Partner Andy joined Amity in 2018 as the first member of the investment team, helping raise, deploy, and support Amity Ventures I. He has partnered with founders for 15 years as both investor and operator across AI, SaaS, and developer tools. Most recently, he led Finance at EvenUp (AI-native legal tech), guiding it from Series A to Series E and $400M+ raised. Earlier career included Citadel Global Equities (covering public tech companies) and Square (through IPO). He holds a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley and an MBA from The Wharton School.
Andy Bromberg — Venture Partner Andy is a serial entrepreneur turned venture partner, focusing on seed and Series A investments in "asymmetric founders." He co-founded and served as CEO of Eco (cross-chain stablecoin interoperability, $95M+ raised) and Sidewire. He is Chairman of Eco and co-founder of Lightwork Home Health. He was a Research Associate at GGV Capital and Founding Research Scientist at Stanford Bitcoin Group.
Peter Bell — Senior Advisor Peter Bell serves as a Senior Advisor to the firm, bringing deep experience from the technology and venture ecosystem.
Kieran Dennis — Investor Kieran is a junior investment professional at Amity, supporting sourcing and portfolio support.
Decision Process
Amity operates as a partnership model with multiple general partners. Given their highly selective investment pace (3–5 investments/year), decisions are deliberate and relationship-driven. They prefer warm introductions and spend significant time building relationships with founders before investing.
Geographic Focus
Primarily headquartered in San Francisco (Presidio), Amity invests predominantly in US-based companies, with a concentration in the SF Bay Area, though they have backed companies across the US. They do not appear to have a hard geographic restriction.
Anti-Thesis
Amity explicitly avoids areas where the team lacks conviction or domain expertise. Given their concentrated strategy and 3–5 deals/year pace, they pass on deals where they cannot add significant value beyond capital. Consumer-only plays and pure hardware are less common in their portfolio.
Notable Co-Investors
Bessemer Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, D.E. Shaw Ventures, August Capital, Founders Circle Capital, First Round Capital