Las Olas Venture Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Las Olas Venture Capital (LOVC) is a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based early-stage venture firm founded in 2015/2016 by operators who describe themselves as "Founders-Turned Investors Backing the Next Generation of Enterprise Software." The firm backs founders building AI and software applications that modernize outdated, historically manual business workflows, with the explicit goal of driving measurable ROI and operating efficiency. LOVC pairs capital with hands-on operational support drawn from the founding team's own experience building and scaling B2B software companies. Its stated industry focus is "SaaS + Vertical AI."
Stage Focus
LOVC's own site lists Seed as its primary stage preference, and it is consistently the first institutional check into companies it backs (OneRail's 2020 seed, BusRight's 2023 seed, City Detect's 2024 seed, Davinci Micro Fulfillment's 2023 seed, Letterhead's 2023 seed, BiteData's and Annie's 2025 seeds, Cleatus's 2026 seed). The firm also follows on into later rounds of its winners, participating in City Detect's March 2026 Series A and BusRight's March 2026 Series B.
Check Size
The firm states an average investment of $1.5M-$3M and typically leads or co-leads rounds in that band; historical fund materials describe up to $5M for larger seed leads with reserve capital for follow-ons (e.g., the $5M Leverage.ai seed in 2022).
Lead Tendency
LOVC consistently leads or co-leads. It led BiteData's and Aircon's 2025 seed rounds, led Leverage.ai's 2022 seed, and co-led Cleatus's and Annie's 2025-2026 seed rounds alongside other institutional investors, continuing to participate in follow-on rounds of its existing portfolio.
Recent Activity
LOVC is actively deploying. In 2026 it co-led Cleatus's $4M seed (May 2026, government-contracting software) and announced follow-on investments in City Detect's $13M Series A and BusRight's $30M Series B (both March 2026), alongside a strategic-partnership post highlighting OneRail's FedEx Same-Day Local integration. In late 2025 it co-led Annie's $4M seed (AI dental front-office assistant) and led BiteData's ~$2.5-3M seed (AI trade-compliance platform), and in mid-2025 led Aircon's ~$5-8M seed (AI air-freight quoting). The firm previously closed a $28.5M Fund I (2018) and a $50M Fund II (2022, bringing AUM to roughly $100M).
Portfolio Highlights
LOVC's portfolio spans roughly 20+ active companies: BusRight (K-12 student transportation software), OneRail (AI-native last-mile logistics orchestration, partnered with FedEx), City Detect (computer-vision platform detecting urban blight for municipalities), AvoMD (AI clinical decision support embedded in EHRs), Leasecake (lease management/accounting for multi-unit operators), LendingFront (embedded SMB lending infrastructure for banks and software platforms), Protiv (performance-pay platform for trades workforces), Paccurate (cartonization/packing-optimization software), Drivepoint (AI strategic-finance/FP&A platform for consumer brands), Ecomap Technologies (ecosystem-intelligence platform for economic developers), Cleatus (AI government-contracting software), Annie (AI "digital coworker" for dental practices), Aircon (AI air-freight quoting and booking), BiteData (AI trade-compliance platform), Cofi (SaaS for co-management payment administration), Davinci Micro Fulfillment (distributed micro-fulfillment network), Letterhead (AI newsletter content automation), Leverage.ai (supply-chain and logistics technology), Map My Customers (field-sales enablement CRM), Mosaic (FP&A/strategic-finance software), and Tristar AI (computer-vision quality control for manufacturing). The firm's most notable exit is IOpipe, a serverless-monitoring startup acquired by New Relic in November 2019. Former portfolio companies also include CarePredict (senior-care wearables/AI), OpenReel, Preteckt, Medxoom, Configure-8, Cypress, Otto, and Plum.
Team
- Dean Hatton, Founding Partner — co-founded the firm; long-standing operating and investing partnership at LOVC.
- Mark Volchek, Founding Partner — co-founded the firm alongside Hatton; frequently cited in LOVC fund announcements.
- Nate Vasel, General Partner — leads sourcing and portfolio support.
- Scotty Lefkowitz, Principal — investment team member.
- Elvia Perez, Associate — investment team member.
- Andrew Sih, CFO — leads finance and fund operations.
Decision Process
LOVC describes its leadership as "a long-standing partnership" combining operating backgrounds and market experience across stages, consistent with a partnership-style decision process rather than a solo-GP or large investment-committee structure.
Founder Preferences
LOVC favors operator-led teams attacking large, workflow-heavy, historically underserved industries with AI and modern software — K-12 transportation, municipal government operations, last-mile and air-freight logistics, dental and healthcare front-office/clinical workflows, construction/trades workforce management, and government contracting. The firm emphasizes founders who can show tangible ROI and efficiency gains for end customers rather than pure feature velocity.
Geographic Focus
LOVC is headquartered at 200 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is a prominent fixture in the South Florida startup ecosystem, but its portfolio is deployed broadly across the United States (BusRight's customers span dozens of states; City Detect serves municipalities across the country; Aircon is Texas-based). There is no publicly stated geographic restriction limiting investments to Florida or the Southeast.