Don't Quit Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Don't Quit Ventures (DQV) is a solo-GP seed and pre-seed fund founded by Noa Khamallah, an operator-turned-investor whose own biography (former convict, formerly homeless, later a scaled tech operator and Nasdaq-linked exit) is the explicit foundation of the fund's positioning. The firm's stated thesis is to back founders who get overlooked or mistreated by traditional venture capital — those facing bias tied to ethnicity, sexuality, geography, or past mistakes, and those who dislike the "warm intro" gatekeeping model. DQV pitches itself on decency as a differentiator: a reply to every founder within two weeks, feedback on every pass, and no ghosting. Khamallah says he turned down a GP seat at an unnamed billion-dollar fund because he could not get a straight answer on what exits would actually move the needle for LPs at that scale, and started DQV instead.
Stage Focus
Pre-seed and seed. The firm explicitly says "Early Stage is Da Thesis" and targets companies pitching their first institutional or near-first checks.
Check Size
DQV's own site states an initial check size of $50,000 to $150,000. A third-party founder-guide site (Superscout) cites a narrower $50,000–$100,000 range with a $10M valuation cap; the firm's own website is treated as authoritative here.
Lead Tendency
Follows. Given the small check size relative to typical round sizes, DQV appears to participate in rounds led by larger investors rather than set terms — for example, its stake in Huskeys came through a $27M Series A led by Blackstone Innovations Investments.
Recent Activity
DQV's Fund I ($10M) announced a second close in August 2026, reported exclusively by Fortune, with the fund marked at 2.5x MOIC and one position already partially realized at 1.5x cash-on-cash 14 months after first close. Of 17 total investments made to date, three are valued above $1 billion: stakes in Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab, Yann LeCun's AMI Labs, and Replit. In September 2026, portfolio company Huskeys (an Israeli cybersecurity startup building "Network Edge Security Management") raised a $27M Series A led by Blackstone at a valuation north of $100M, with DQV among the disclosed investors.
Portfolio Highlights
- Huskeys — Israeli cybersecurity startup (Network Edge Security Management category), founded by Unit 8200 alumni Itai Gafni and Roy Weisfeld; raised $27M Series A led by Blackstone Innovations Investments (Sept 2026) at a valuation over $100M, following an earlier $8M seed.
- Thinking Machines Lab — Mira Murati's AI research and product company (ex-OpenAI CTO); one of DQV's three disclosed unicorn-valued positions.
- AMI Labs (Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs) — Yann LeCun's "world model" AI startup, founded after he left Meta; also disclosed as valued above $1B.
- Replit — coding/AI development platform; the third disclosed unicorn-valued position.
- Hubble — creator/expertise-monetization platform founded by Kevin Jurovich; DQV invested after a roughly two-year relationship following an earlier deal that fell through when Jurovich's prior company pivoted.
Before launching the fund, Khamallah made 15+ angel investments, including Cure (health marketplace, €15M Series A), Tiko (proptech, $65M Series B), 10club (Indian Thrasio-model roll-up, $40M Series A), Nomadhomes, and Koban (Bolivian fintech, then LatAm's largest seed round at $2.8M) — reported track record of 1 IPO, 1 exit, and 6.68x MOIC on angel checks. These predate DQV Fund I and are not confirmed as fund-held positions.
Team
- Noa Khamallah — Founder & General Partner (Solo GP). Born in France to Algerian immigrant parents, grew up in Roubaix/Lille; dropped out of school at 16 and served prison time in his early 20s before rebuilding. Became Lime's first employee in Europe, scaling the micro-mobility business to 50+ cities in eight months. Co-founded GetCharged Inc. ("Charge"), which was acquired for $17.5M and became Nasdaq-listed Charge Enterprises. Started DQV as a solo-GP vehicle after declining a GP role at a larger fund. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noaventures
DQV has no other listed team members; LinkedIn lists the company as a 1-employee organization, consistent with the solo-GP structure.
Decision Process
Solo GP — Khamallah is the sole decision-maker, which the firm markets as enabling fast decisions. Anecdotal founder accounts describe deals closing within about a week once he commits, though relationship-building with a founder can precede the actual check by a year or more.
Founder Preferences
DQV explicitly targets founders who face bias (ethnicity, sexuality, past convictions) or who are otherwise overlooked by traditional VC gatekeeping (no warm intro required — direct deck submission via Typeform). Khamallah's public commentary emphasizes backing "relationship-driven, commercially sharp founders" reached through direct cold outreach rather than warm-intro networks, and favors founders who have shown resilience through a pivot or setback.
Geographic Focus
The firm's own site says it invests globally ("we love da whole world 🌍") and is sector-agnostic. Third-party sources give conflicting regional characterizations: a founder-guide site (Superscout) and an institutional-profile listing (Private Equity International) describe a primary focus on Latin America and the Middle East, while LinkedIn lists the company's headquarters as Stockholm. Khamallah's own bio describes him splitting time between South America, Europe, and the United States. Given the conflicting secondary sources, geography is best treated as global with an emerging-markets tilt rather than a fixed regional mandate.
Key LPs and Backers
Allocator One (led by Michael Ströck) anchored Fund I's first close after reviewing 800+ emerging-manager funds annually. Other named backers include former NFL player Penny Hart and rapper Fetty Wap, alongside a network of operators, athletes, and celebrities.