Ascii Ventures
Investment Thesis
Ascii Ventures is a New York venture firm led by Brian Wong, the Kiip co-founder, and it describes itself as a pre-seed fund focused on "boringtech." The site tagline is "The Boringtech fund that invests in early stage and secondaries together, as one." In a May 2026 interview with David Teten, Wong defines boringtech as infrastructure, industrial, workflow, compliance, stablecoin and AI-enabled businesses that become inevitable over time because they quietly improve how industries operate. The firm calls itself "a true anti-fund" and says it sits between a traditional pre-seed fund and an operator network that fights alongside founders in the earliest stages. Third-party profiles (PitchBook, PE Hub) list cybersecurity, stablecoin infrastructure and verticalized AI as focus areas. Wong's own site describes vertical-specific technologies built for specific industries, and says the firm invests in both early-stage and late-stage (secondary) boringtech companies.
Recent emphasis is the intersection of stablecoins, AI infrastructure and enterprise adoption, which Wong frames as the "picks and shovels" layer for the next decade of financial infrastructure. He also cites industrial AI, compliance tooling, workflow software and operational infrastructure as categories that look unsexy at first but become embedded in how industries run. He gives an example of how he looks for next-order opportunities: if agentic payments are hot, agentic payment fraud prevention may be next.
Stage Focus
Pre-seed, typically the first institutional round. The firm also says it does secondaries alongside early-stage investing. Wong's personal site calls it a "seed-stage" fund; the Teten interview and LinkedIn-sourced profiles say pre-seed.
Check Size
Not published. The SEC Form D for Ascii Ventures Fund I LP shows a $40M total offering amount, a $50,000 minimum for outside investors, a first sale on 2025-11-22 and $310,000 sold by the January 2026 filing, with six investors. At that fund size, checks are likely small pre-seed checks, but that is an inference and no check range is stored.
Lead Tendency
Unknown. The firm emphasizes helping founders land their first three enterprise customers and thinking through distribution, partnerships and acquisition paths. The one verifiable portfolio mention we found (Itoflow's pre-seed, led by Balderton) lists Wong among the angel and supporting investors, which suggests participation rather than leading, but one data point is not enough to call it.
Recent Activity and Fund Status
Ascii Ventures Fund I LP was formed in Delaware in 2025. It filed Form D in January 2026 (signed 2026-01-21) for a $40M target; Axios Pro Rata reported the same target. The firm was founded in 2024, and Wong's LinkedIn dates the role from August 2024. It is early in deployment. Wong is a frequent speaker, including Paris Blockchain Week 2025 and 2026, and a recent podcast guest (Startups Unedited, February 2026; The Rollup). The firm says it and Wong's earlier BW Growth Ventures vehicle have invested in 30+ companies valued from $10M to $2B, and the site claims $3B+ total market capitalization across the portfolio. No public portfolio list exists: the /portfolio page on ascii.vc returns a 404.
Portfolio Highlights
Only one company is named in a verifiable source: Itoflow (AI agents for professional investment teams; $2.5M pre-seed led by Balderton, with Wong of Ascii Ventures among the supporting investors). The Teten interview describes the portfolio as spanning heavy industry AI, fintech infrastructure, stablecoin tooling, enterprise software and marketplaces. Names were not added from memory. The 30+ company count combines the new fund and Wong's earlier angel and BW Growth investments.
Team
Brian Wong is Co-founder and General Partner (Managing Member of the General Partner on the Form D). He founded Kiip in 2010, a mobile rewards and advertising platform that raised over $35-40M from True Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Amex Ventures, IPG and others, and was acquired in 2019. He wrote The Cheat Code (Crown/Penguin Random House, 2016), is a keynote speaker, and has angel invested in 30+ companies. LinkedIn lists a second employee, Marc Casas Requena; the title is not given. A conference listing mentions a Chief of Staff at Ascii Ventures, unnamed.
Decision Process
Effectively a solo GP. Wong requires an in-person meeting with founders before investing, uses AI tools for market and technical diligence, and says judgment and taste matter more than information access. He is reachable by iMessage, WhatsApp and Slack and says responsiveness is part of the pitch.
Value-Add and Founder Preferences
The firm runs an "Action Board" of 100-150 Fortune 1000 executives and operators who help with customer introductions, enterprise validation and eventual strategic outcomes. Wong says distribution and credibility matter more than capital at the earliest stage. He likes founders who came directly from incumbent industries (logistics, manufacturing, banking, compliance, infrastructure) and understand the legacy pain points firsthand, and technical founders building foundational infrastructure. Sourcing is mostly LinkedIn plus AI agents (Yutori) that track boringtech companies raising pre-seed and seed rounds.
Geographic Focus
Not stated. The firm is based at 169 Madison Avenue, New York. Wong's network and event presence span the US, Europe (Paris Blockchain Week) and Canada. The one named portfolio company (Itoflow) is UK-linked.
Gaps
No portfolio page, no named check size, no confirmed lead history, no confirmed AUM (target $40M; $310K sold at last filing). Confidence is moderate on thesis and stage, low on check size and geography.