K9 Ventures — Investment Thesis & Preferences

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.