K9 Ventures Research Document
Investment Thesis
K9 Ventures is a pre-seed focused venture capital firm that believes extraordinary things are possible when great teams come together around technology. Founded in 2009 by Dr. Manu Kumar, K9 Ventures operates with a distinctive philosophy: money is a commodity, but reputation and time are the only currencies that matter. The firm prioritizes building deep, hands-on relationships with founders rather than simply deploying capital, focusing on "getting from idea to first product"—the earliest, riskiest, and most rewarding stage of company formation.
Stage and Check Size Focus
K9 Ventures is a pure pre-seed investor with the following parameters:
Investment Stage: Pre-Seed exclusively (when founding team is established and starting to build product)
- Preferred: Companies with no outside capital raised at all
- Also considers: Only friends and family funding
- Avoids: Companies already in accelerators/incubators (viewed as "too late")
Check Size: $250K-$750K initial investments
- Sweet spot: ~$400K
- Willing to syndicate into $500K-$1M rounds where K9 leads
Investment Criteria: The Five Filters
K9 has explicitly articulated five core investment filters that guide all decision-making:
1. Technical Founders
- Require founders capable of building their own product and leading the business
- Seek exceptionally high levels of passion, integrity, ability, and learning orientation
- Strong preference for founder-led CEOs with desire and ability to build high-performing teams
- Reject: Non-technical founding teams, delegated product development
2. New Technology or Radically New Markets
- Fundamental technological change (e.g., Twilio's programmable communications), NOT incremental improvements
- Radically new markets where money hasn't changed hands at scale or latent needs weren't being served
- No sector strategy; instead, sector-agnostic technology assessment
- Notable examples: Twilio (new tech), Lyft (new market), eShares (unserved need)
3. Direct Revenue Models
- Direct customer payment for product/service value ("I deliver value to you, you pay me")
- Explicitly rejects three-way business models (ad-supported, platform plays)
- Does NOT invest in: Media, content, advertising-based models
- Preference for companies that MAKE stuff or enable MAKING stuff
- Explicit rejection: E-commerce
4. Frighteningly Early (Bet on Founders)
- Pre-traction companies—K9 does NOT look for traction because none exists at their stage
- Investing in founder vision and execution capability, not market validation
- Capital requirements commensurate with market size and exit opportunity (avoids over-capitalization risk)
5. Hyper-Local (Bay Area Preference)
- Strongly prefers founding teams physically located in Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area
- Reason: Believes something unique to Silicon Valley cannot be replicated elsewhere
- Evolution: Now willing to work with remote/distributed teams BUT refuses companies outsourcing core product development
- Geographic requirement reflects operational philosophy, not arbitrary location bias
Lead Tendency and Board Involvement
Lead Preference: K9 explicitly prefers to LEAD investment rounds
- Takes board seats when leading
- Views board participation as "training wheels for founders" for future growth
- Remains active on board through Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A
- Scales back involvement at Series B and beyond
Investment Pace: Conservative, concentrated approach
- Only 4-6 new investments per year
- Maintains 6-8 active portfolio companies to ensure quality attention
- "We're in no rush to invest"—prefers waiting for right team/idea over arbitrary deployment schedules
Deal Structure and Follow-On
Structure: Priced equity rounds only
- Uses Series Seed documents (or Cooley Go fork) with minor modifications
- Explicitly rejects: Convertible notes, SAFEs, any debt-based equity conversion
- Rationale: Active investor approach requires significant skin in the game
Follow-On: Reserves additional capital for follow-on financing
- Expects to earn right to participate in future rounds
- Actively makes introductions for Series A/B rounds
- Will follow into Seed, Series A, and Series B (if previously invested in Pre-Seed or Seed)
- Policy: Only participates in Series A/B if already invested earlier round
K9 Values and Operating Philosophy
K9 operates with four guiding principles that define firm culture:
- Respect for everyone (entrepreneurs, LPs, team members)
- Honesty with tactfulness (candid but kind feedback)
- Transparency of process (clear communication throughout)
- Humility because arrogance kills (avoid ego-driven decisions)
Operational Support: Beyond capital, K9 founders can leverage Manu's experience across:
- Product and design thinking
- Business model and pricing strategy
- Team recruiting and culture building
- Fundraising and M&A strategy
- Marketing, PR, and content strategy
- Operational guidance as sounding board
Recent Activity and Portfolio Status
As of 2025: K9 has made 111 total investments with active deployment continuing
- Latest investment: Agenda Hero (August 2025, Seed funding)
- Portfolio is approximately 54 companies tracked, with 1 new investment in 12-month period
- Fund III ($42M, closed 2017) is actively deploying with steady investment pace
Portfolio Composition and Sector Representation
Analysis of 54+ portfolio companies shows K9 maintains no formal sector strategy but demonstrates clear patterns:
Dominant Sectors:
- Enterprise Software & Developer Tools (Everlaw, Auth0, Carta, Baydin/Boomerang, Avoma, Forethought)
- Education Technology (Enuma, Gradescope, Ello, Project N)
- Robotics & Automation (Aurora Innovation, Compound Eye, Traptic, Teleo)
- Infrastructure & B2B SaaS (LucidChart, DNAnexus, Nexkey, Crave.io)
Emerging/Growing Areas:
- Financial/Fintech infrastructure (Meld.io)
- Healthcare adjacent (tbh - mental health)
- Supply chain/Logistics automation (Invisible AI)
- Construction tech (Teleo)
Founder Preferences
K9 specifically targets:
- Technical founders capable of building product and leading business
- Founder-led CEOs with ambition to scale teams
- Independent thinkers willing to go against crowd/conventional wisdom
- Experience diversity: K9 has backed ex-academic founders (Gradescope), ex-corporate engineers (Aurora, Auth0), and serial entrepreneurs
- Founder-first model: Does NOT require business co-founder; technical depth is prioritized
Key Personnel and Leadership
Dr. Manu Kumar - Chief Firestarter (Founder & Managing Partner)
- PhD Computer Science (Stanford), MS Software Engineering (Carnegie Mellon), BS Electrical & Computer Engineering (Carnegie Mellon)
- Entrepreneurial history: Founded SneakerLabs (acquired 2000, $100M+ valuation), co-founded iMeet (merged with Netspoke, sold to PGI/NYSE 2005)
- Research background: Doctoral research at Stanford on automobile interfaces and eye-tracking input
- Angel investor who co-founded Lytro (first investment March 2006)
- Founded K9 Ventures in April 2009 after observing pre-seed gap in venture capital market
Notable Exits and Success Stories
Significant Acquisitions/Exits:
- Twilio: IPO/Public company (developer communications)
- Lyft: IPO/Public company (ridesharing)
- Figure Eight (Appen acquisition): Data labeling/quality
- Carta: Unicorn (equity management, $575B+ in managed assets)
- Auth0: Acquired by Okta (identity/access management)
- CardMunch: Acquired by LinkedIn (business card scanning)
- BackType: Acquired by Twitter (social media analytics)
- Gradescope: Acquired by Turnitin (digital grading)
- Osmo: Acquired by Byju's (educational hardware/software)
- Lytro: Acquired by Google (computational photography)
Current Status (February 2026)
K9 Ventures remains an active early-stage investor with steady deployment from Fund III, continuous board engagement with 54+ portfolio companies, and a reputation as one of the most successful pre-seed investors in Silicon Valley history.