Cherubic Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Cherubic Ventures is a global seed-stage fund founded in 2014 by Matt Cheng. It describes itself as an "angel investor, long-term partner" backing the most ambitious founders from angel to pre-IPO, and says it invests in pre-product/market-fit startups. Its stated "first check" strategy is to be the first institutional investor in teams that have not yet raised, often before a product has launched. Hims & Hers is the showcase: Cherubic wrote the first check ten months before any other institutional investor joined the cap table.
Cheng says the criteria are whether a team has a unique solution to a customer problem and how much entrepreneurial and industry experience it has. The firm stresses founder-market fit and a "founders first" culture that includes mentoring and emotional support. Fund V was described as sector-agnostic. Fund VI leans toward AI-native companies, with a stated emphasis on "human-centered" technology.
Stage Focus
Pre-seed and seed, with a stated willingness to back companies before any outside capital. Fund V reserved 50% of assets for follow-ons through later rounds up to pre-IPO, so the firm supports companies well beyond the first check.
Check Size
Cherubic does not publish check sizes. A third-party article (Angel Investors Network) estimates average seed checks of $1.5M to $3M. NFX Signal lists a $4M seed in Inference.ai (Jan 2024), which suggests larger rounds with co-investors. Treat the range as low confidence.
Lead Tendency
Mixed in practice, but "first check" language and the solo GP model point to leading or anchoring early rounds. Recorded as leads, at moderate confidence.
Recent Activity
- Closed Fund VI at $68.88M in Aug/Sep 2026 (sources differ on the exact date), bringing AUM across six funds to over $500M.
- The Oct 2025 10th-anniversary release reports US$462M AUM, five IPOs and fifteen M&As, with a portfolio valued at over US$52B.
- Fund VI investments named by the firm: Hillbot AI (multi-task robots), Titan Dynamics (3D-printed drones) and Max AI (medical billing automation). Third-party coverage adds Sudo AI, Entire, Patlytics, Generation Lab and therapiAI.
- Entire, from former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke, reportedly raised a $60M seed in Feb 2026.
- Portfolio news in 2025: Pax AI $4.5M, Health2Sync Series C of over $20M, Molecule.one winning Standard Industries' $1M AI Challenge.
Portfolio Highlights
- Hims & Hers (NYSE IPO, Jan 2021)
- Paidy (acquired by PayPal for $2.7B)
- 91APP (Taiwan IPO)
- Flexport (logistics OS; SoftBank-led Series D at $3.2B)
- Calm (wellness app, $2B valuation in 2020)
- Astranis (satellite communications)
- Photomath (acquired by Google)
- Tezign, Bellabeat, Liulishuo, Hahow, Pinkoi, Chaldal, Wish, Ring (acquired by Amazon)
The portfolio page shows roughly 140 named companies, and the firm cites more than 200 across the US, Japan, Taiwan, China and emerging markets.
Team
- Matt Cheng: Founder and solo GP. Co-founded Tian-Ge (China) and 91APP (Taiwan), both of which listed at over $1B market cap. Advisor to Wish and Atomic VC.
- Danielle: Partner, oversees US investments and operations. Ex-Google, Berkeley Haas MBA.
- Pierre: Partner, technology entrepreneur. Co-founded Diamond (ML), ex-8VC, early engineer at Addepar.
- Tina: Partner, leads new investments and portfolio management globally. Led Calm, Hahow and Pinkoi.
- Snow: Partner, investor relations across Asia and China portfolio management. Ex-Sina.
The site gives first names only for the partners, so only Matt Cheng is submitted as a team member.
Decision Process
Solo GP. Cheng makes every investment decision without a committee. Cherubic calls itself one of the earliest firms to adopt the solo GP model and one of the largest solo GP funds globally. Decisions are fast and key-person risk is concentrated in Cheng.
Founder Preferences
Founders with a unique customer insight, entrepreneurial and domain experience, and strong founder-market fit. Quoted founders describe Cheng as a long-term confidant who is the "first call" in key moments (Flexport, Hims & Hers). He bridges US and Asian markets.
Geographic Focus
Taipei-based and active in Silicon Valley, with offices or presence in San Francisco, Tokyo, Taipei and Shanghai. It is one of few institutional seed investors active in both the US and Asia, with overseas bets in Croatia (Photomath), Bangladesh (Chaldal) and Japan (Paidy, Habitto).
Gaps
Check size is inferred from a secondary source. Partner surnames, emails and LinkedIn URLs are not on the site. The Fund VI close date differs between sources, so no announcement date is recorded.