Coelius Capital — Investment Thesis & Preferences

Coelius Capital Research

Investment Thesis

Coelius Capital is a solo GP venture fund founded and managed by Zach Coelius, a five-time entrepreneur turned investor. The fund's investment philosophy is deceptively simple: "Ideas are meaningless. Validated ideas are priceless."

Zach invests in early-stage B2B and B2B2C software companies with a particular focus on founders with validated product-market fit and differentiated ideas. His philosophy emphasizes finding founders who can cold-call customers at 9 PM and get them excited about the product in one sentence—demonstrating real, qualitative product-market fit.

The fund explicitly seeks "weird ideas"—companies tackling novel problems that don't fit existing categories. Zach has built a reputation for identifying underestimated founders and ideas before they become obvious hits. His notable exits include Cruise Automation (acquired by General Motors for $1B+), Mercury (now a fintech unicorn), and Fireflies (unicorn status achieved in 2025).

Investment Philosophy & Values

Minimal Investor Involvement: Zach's operating philosophy is "I believe that most investors get in the way more than they help." Having been a founder multiple times and dealt with many investors, his goal is to "do no harm." He doesn't proactively mentor portfolio companies but offers help if founders request it.

Founder Preferences: Zach values:

Honesty - Founders who accurately assess their situation rather than get caught up in visionary narratives
Differentiation - Companies with a clear, unique value proposition (the "weird" factor)
Grit - Entrepreneurial toughness and persistence
Domain expertise - Particularly in areas where Zach has operational background: advertising, marketing, data, and software
Founder familiarity - Zach invests heavily in founders he's known for a long time, as familiarity builds trust

Anti-Pattern: Dishonesty and lack of differentiation are immediate red flags. Zach aims to identify and avoid exaggerating founders quickly.

Sector Focus

Coelius Capital invests primarily in:

Enterprise Software (Vertical SaaS, workflow automation, business tools)
Developer Tools & Infrastructure (DevOps, observability, APIs, data infrastructure)
FinTech & Payments (banking infrastructure, financial workflows, payment tools)
Marketing Technology & Data (customer intelligence, analytics, advertising tech)
B2B SaaS (production tools, business services)

Zach is open to exceptions for truly novel ideas, such as his investment in Booksy (beauty services marketplace) and Known Dating. However, there are explicit exclusions: crypto, web3, biotech, security, and chips are mentioned as areas he actively avoids.

Stage Focus

Coelius Capital invests predominantly at the Seed and Series A stage, with occasional pre-seed investments for exceptional founders:

Pre-Seed: $200K-$500K for highly differentiated founders with traction signals
Seed: $500K-$1M (occasionally up to $2M for very strong teams)
Series A: Selective participation, typically follow-on investments

The fund's average check size is $200K-$1M, with a target ownership position of 10-15% for seed investments.

Check Size

Typical range: $200,000 - $1,000,000

Pre-seed: $200K-$500K
Seed: $500K-$1M
Occasional Series A: $1M-$5M (follow-on investments)

Fund Details

Current Fund: Approximately $100M under management

Fund Deployment: Zach has deployed ~$100M over the last 10 years across ~80 companies (as of mid-2025), with an average of ~2 investments per year. The fund is actively deploying and in expansion mode.

Fund Structure: Solo GP model with Zach as sole decision-maker and operator. This allows for fast decision-making and simplified founder relationships.

Recent Activity (2023-2025)

Coelius Capital has remained consistently active in deploying capital:

2025 Investments:

June 2025: Meta View (Series B follow-on, $1.5M+)
October 2025: Known Dating (Seed, India-based dating platform)
June 2025: NiaHealth (Seed, healthcare services, $4M-$7M range)
October 2025: MetaView (Series B participation)

2024 Investments:

February 2024: MetaView (Series A, $8.4M+)

Notable Recent Exits:

Moesif (acquired by WSO2, May 2025) - API analytics platform
NotiSphere (acquired, January 2025)
mParticle (acquired, January 2025) - Customer data platform
Jobox (acquired, January 2024) - HR/employment platform
Blissfully (acquired, February 2022) - SaaS management platform

Fund Status: Actively deploying, with consistent deal flow and portfolio monitoring.

Portfolio Highlights

Unicorns (3 total):

Mercury - Online business banking & financial workflow platform, $346M raised, 658 employees, Series C stage
Fireflies - Meeting transcription & AI summarization platform, became unicorn in 2025
Branch - Deep linking & mobile marketing optimization, Series F stage, $667M raised

Notable Exits & Acquisitions (13 acquisitions total):

Cruise Automation (acquired by General Motors for $1B+)
Blissfully, mParticle, NotiSphere, Moesif, Jobox

Active Portfolio Companies (45 total): Coelius has invested in 45 companies across a range of sectors and stages. Portfolio includes: Booksy, Clubhouse.io, mParticle, OneSignal, Hudson MX, LYTE, Bounce (later Bouncex), Sintra (AI/ML), MetaView, and numerous B2B SaaS companies.

Sector Distribution:

Enterprise Applications: 16 investments
Consumer: 4 investments
FinTech: 4 investments
Vertical SaaS: 4 investments
Enterprise Infrastructure: 3 investments
Other sectors: 15 investments

Geographic Distribution:

United States: 18 first-time investments
Canada: 1
India: 1
United Kingdom: 1
Global: Selective investments across Europe, Asia, and Americas

Decision Process

Solo Decision-Making: As a solo GP, Zach makes investment decisions independently. This allows for:

Fast decision-making (often days rather than weeks)
Clear founder relationships (one key contact)
Decisive follow-on investments

Process Steps:

Founders email pitch decks or summaries to zach@coelius.vc
Zach personally reviews decks and company information
Quick initial assessment based on founder background, differentiation, and market fit signals
If interested: due diligence conversations with founders
Investment decision: typically 1-2 week timeline once serious

Founder Preferences: Zach explicitly accepts pitch decks and encourages founders to "send 100 decks a day, and I'd be happy." He also maintains an AngelList syndicate and rolling fund for broader investor participation.

Lead Tendency

Lead: Coelius Capital typically leads seed rounds and participates actively in follow-on Series A investments. Zach's track record shows he commits capital early and participates in downstream funding rounds with portfolio companies.

Co-Investment: Coelius frequently co-invests with top-tier investors including: Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, a16z, Founders Fund, Tribe Capital, and others.

Team

Zach Coelius - Founder & Managing Partner

Five-time entrepreneur (founded Triggit, an adtech company, and others)
Breakout investor on AngelList with one of the largest syndicates
15+ years of investment experience
Deep expertise in software, advertising, marketing, and data infrastructure
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/zachcoelius/
Twitter: @zachcoelius
Email: zach@coelius.vc

Fund Team: Typically solo operation; Zach personally evaluates all investments and manages portfolio relationships.

Investment Decision Timeline

Typical timeline: 1-2 weeks from initial serious interest to investment decision

Quick evaluation of founder credibility and differentiation
Due diligence calls with customers or trusted references
Term sheet and closing: typically 1-2 weeks for aligned deals

Warm Introductions

Not required - Zach actively reviews cold emails and pitch decks. While warm introductions from trusted network members may help, they are not necessary. Cold outreach directly to zach@coelius.vc is encouraged.

Typical Involvement

Minimal board seat/advisory: Zach does not typically take board seats due to his solo GP model and philosophy of "doing no harm." However, he remains an active advisor to portfolio companies if requested, leveraging his large network.

Notable Co-Investors

Top recurring co-investors in Coelius portfolio companies:

Y Combinator
Sequoia Capital
Founders Fund
a16z (Andreessen Horowitz)
Tribe Capital
SV Angel
Sapphire Ventures
Google Ventures
Natural Bridge Fund
Zeotap, Entrupy, SkySafe, and many angel investors

Profile & Culture

Firm Philosophy: Simple, easy, fast

Zach has built a reputation for being:

Accessible: Responds to cold emails, reads pitch decks personally
Founder-friendly: Minimal investor interference, focus on founder autonomy
Experienced: Decades of entrepreneurial and investment experience
Decisive: Solo GP model enables quick decisions
Network-rich: Large personal network to support portfolio companies
Idea-focused: Invests in weird, differentiated ideas before they become trends

As Zach says: "Being a startup founder is the hardest job in the world. But they are our hope for the future, the ones solving the world's problems. So, I love the work they do and I'm here to help."

Geographic Focus

Primary: United States (especially San Francisco Bay Area, given headquarters)

Secondary: Global opportunistic investing

Europe: Selective (invested in Lithuanian AI startup Sintra in 2024)
India: Known for dating platform investment
Canada: Limited but active
Other regions: Open to differentiated ideas regardless of geography

Anti-Thesis

Zach explicitly avoids:

Crypto and Web3 projects
Biotech and life sciences
Security/cybersecurity (crowded space)
Semiconductor/hardware plays
Founders who exaggerate or lack differentiation
Companies building "me-too" products

Recent Media & Thought Leadership

Zach is active in investor circles and has spoken on:

Solo GP fund-raising strategies (raised $33M in 3 weeks during pandemic)
Early-stage investing and spotting winners
Platform risk and business model sustainability
2026 funding outlook and AI's role in venture capital

He maintains strong presence on Twitter (@zachcoelius) and LinkedIn, sharing investment insights and founder perspectives.