Canapi Ventures | Investment Thesis & Preferences

01Investment Thesis

We fuel the leaders of the new financial services economy. Canapi backs B2B software and fintech founders with capital plus direct access to the Canapi Alliance, a network of 70+ banks and financial institutions that act as customers, co-investors, and design partners.

Exclusion Criteria

Not a consumer-only or non-financial-services investor; focuses on B2B software and fintech infrastructure rather than pure consumer apps or hardware plays.

02Investment Team

GL

Gene Ludwig

Managing Partner

CM

Chip Mahan

Managing Partner

WF

Walker Forehand

President and General Partner

NU

Neil Underwood

General Partner

TD

Tom Davis

General Partner

LC

Lulu Chang

Principal

KH

Kristie Han

Principal

CQ

Connie Qian

Principal

HK

Harry Kioko

Principal

RM

Richard Miller

Principal

MB

Michael Burns

Investor

SS

Sara Shackelford

Chief Financial Officer

ES

Eric Schwartz

Operating Partner

JG

Jeffrey Goldstein

Senior Advisor

JH

Jim Hale

Senior Advisor

03F4 Research Brief

Canapi Ventures Research

Investment Thesis

Canapi Ventures fuels "the leaders of the new financial services economy." The firm is a stage-flexible B2B software and fintech fund built by operators, bankers, and regulators, including founders of the first internet bank and a former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency. Canapi's core differentiator is the Canapi Alliance, a network of 70+ financial institutions (community, regional, super-regional banks, and service providers) that serve as customers, co-investors, and design partners for portfolio companies. The firm was founded in 2018 and backed at inception by 33 of the 100 largest U.S. financial institutions.

Sector Focus

Canapi invests exclusively at the intersection of B2B software and financial services/fintech infrastructure:

Core banking and digital banking platforms (Candescent, ModernFi, Finxact)
Identity, compliance, and risk (Alloy, Middesk, Thoropass, Ethos, Elpha Secure)
Payments and money movement infrastructure (Moov, FISPAN, MX, Orum)
Digital assets/crypto infrastructure (Fireblocks)
AI-native infrastructure and enterprise tooling for financial institutions (Empirik, Geniez, DynamoFL, Liberate)
Wealth, lending, and vertical financial software (Conquest Planning, Capitalize, Casca, Built)

Stage Focus

Canapi is explicitly "stage-flexible," investing from seed through late growth stage. Portfolio evidence spans Seed (Onsetto, Empirik, Geniez, Synply, Cashmere, Crux Climate, MakersHub, OpenYield) through Series A/B/C and later rounds (SavvyMoney at Series G, Greenlight at Series C/D, Fireblocks at Series E). The firm frequently leads or co-leads rounds at seed and Series A/B.

Check Size

Historical round sizes led or co-led by Canapi range from small seed rounds up to $130M+ growth rounds (Notarize/Proof's $130M Series D, Greenlight's $215M Series C). Typical disclosed lead check sizes for earlier-stage deals fall in the low-to-mid single-digit millions for seed and $10M-$50M+ for Series A/B, scaling with later rounds.

Lead Tendency

Canapi frequently leads or co-leads: its own announcement titles repeatedly use "Why Canapi is Leading" or "Why We're Leading/Co-Leading" across Onsetto, Casca, FISPAN, Rally UXR, Ethos, SmartSuite, Synply, OpenYield, ModernFi, ModernFi, Nova Credit, Capitolis, Elpha Secure, Able, Posh, Neuro-ID, Peach, Orum, Blooma, Notarize/Proof, Capitalize, Built, Greenlight, Thoropass, Alloy, Blend, and Moov.

Recent Activity

Canapi closed a $750M Fund II in December 2023, bringing total AUM to over $1.4B. Since then the firm has continued deploying steadily: leading Onsetto's seed round (April 2026), investing in Empirik out of stealth (September 2026), and backing Coverbase, SavvyMoney, Liberate, Geniez, and Casca's Series A across the second half of 2025. The firm appears to be actively deploying, with roughly 6 new investments disclosed in the trailing 12 months per third-party trackers.

Portfolio Highlights

Canapi's ~45-company portfolio includes notable names such as Alloy, Blend (IPO), Fireblocks, Greenlight, MX, Middesk, Codat, Capitolis, Nova Credit, Moov, and Island. Disclosed exits include Finxact (acquired), Neuro-ID (acquired), Able (acquired), Orum (acquired), and Peach (acquired).

Team

Gene Ludwig, Managing Partner — former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency
Chip Mahan, Managing Partner — founder of Security First Network Bank, the first internet bank
Walker Forehand, President and General Partner
Neil Underwood, General Partner
Tom Davis, General Partner (joined November 2023)
Lulu Chang, Kristie Han, Connie Qian, Harry Kioko, Richard Miller — Principals
Michael Burns — Investor
Sara Shackelford — Chief Financial Officer
Eric Schwartz — Operating Partner
Jeffrey Goldstein, Jim Hale — Senior Advisors

Decision Process

Canapi operates as a multi-partner investment team (Managing Partners, GPs, and a Principal bench across four offices), consistent with a partnership decision process rather than a solo-GP model.

Founder Preferences

Canapi favors experienced, often repeat founders with deep domain expertise in financial services or enterprise software — e.g., Onsetto's Cale Johnston previously founded and scaled ClickSWITCH (acquired by Q2 Holdings), and Empirik's founding team came out of Sequoia's internal infrastructure org alongside senior operators from Rubrik and VMware.