Chamaeleon Research
Investment Thesis
Chamaeleon is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, with offices in Europe. It describes itself as three partners who have long collaborated as investors, operators and entrepreneurs, focused on truly transformative companies. The firm positions itself as data-driven and objective: its sourcing and diligence run on MANTIS, a proprietary AI and quantitative engine that the firm says analyzes millions of companies across thousands of data points per company. The pitch to founders is speed (quick decisions from more efficient, fact-based diligence), depth (understanding of markets and trends), no bias (global deal sourcing extended by analytic engines) and a humanist, all-hands-on-deck posture at key moments.
What They Look For
The manifesto states a broad vertical focus with a few principles. They prefer product-led companies, not just core technology or IP. They want clear end-user flows that the partners could test as users, even in B2B. They prefer technology that is differentiated. On founders, the approach page lists four traits: aware, flexible, balanced (value aligned, IQ plus EQ) and obsessed with execution and delivery.
Stage Focus
Typically coming in at Seed or Series A. The portfolio shows a mix of seed-stage bets and later participation in very large AI rounds.
Check Size
First checks between 1 and 5 million USD, per the manifesto.
Lead Tendency
They prefer to lead or co-lead, but state they play nicely with others. Recent public rounds show participation as a non-lead (for example the Snag seed, led by Slow Ventures), so the firm behaves as both.
Geographic Focus
Primarily the US and Europe, but will invest globally. Portfolio companies span the US, the UK, Portugal, Australia, Europe and Asia.
Recent Activity
The portfolio page lists latest announced investments including Jelled, Claid, Alpha, WorkWhile, Dirty Labs, DNK, Maximus, Mysten Labs, SensAI, Snag, Talofa Games, TourHero, Soter Analytics, Truleo, Coop, Vivum, Woolf University, Eridu AI, Bonfire Studios, Deepinfra, Spekter Games, You.com, Blaze, Runway, Kopra Bio and Humans&. Snag announced a $4M seed in September 2026 with Chamaeleon participating. Eridu emerged from stealth in March 2026 with a $200M Series A, and a Chamaeleon SPV was formed for Eridu. Public data sources do not show a fund size or AUM for the firm, so none is recorded here.
Portfolio Highlights
The firm's website marks these exits: Draft Kings (IPO, NASDAQ: DKNG), Robinhood (IPO, NASDAQ: HOOD), Rubrik (IPO, NYSE: RBRK), Enish (IPO, Tokyo: 3667), App Annie / Data.ai (sold to Sensor Tower), OhmConnect (merger with Google), Zya (sold to Google), Ziva (sold to Unity), Fyde (sold to Barracuda), Spin (sold to Ford), Style Sage (sold to Dassault Systemes), Bepro (merger with Taikai), Jelled (sold to Inflection AI), plus Outsystems and beamy (sold). Other prior investments include Gusto, Keepsafe, Irius Risk, Aptoide, Didimo, Jscrambler and Virta Health. Sectors span consumer apps, gaming, fintech, security, enterprise software, AI infrastructure and health.
Team
- Nuno Goncalves Pedro, Managing Partner
- Alex Santos, General Partner
- Armindo Costa, General Partner
The leadership page cites 60+ investments led and executed, 40+ countries of network, 500+ people managed with budgets of $100M+ a year, and top 2 to 5 percentile returns as VC investors (firm claim).
Decision Process
A partnership of three, with a stated bias toward fast, fact-based decisions and an obligation to dissent, then dissent and commit. No formal committee is described.
Founder Preferences
Value alignment, low ego, intellectual honesty, high execution. They describe their network of founders and operators as KIN, a community that gets value-add support.
Gaps
No fund size, AUM or fund vintage on the site. Portfolio page gives no stage or date per company; only stage evidenced by a press source is recorded.