Nonfiction Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Nonfiction Capital describes itself as a venture capital firm investing in startups built on fundamentals, not fiction. Its stated focus is startups that use technology to attack existing incumbent markets. Founder Mujtaba Wani's personal site puts it slightly differently: next-gen software startups tackling legacy industries. The firm publishes no longer thesis essays, sector memos or anti-thesis list, so the thesis below is taken from those two short statements and from the background of the partners.
Stage Focus
The site does not name a stage. The only disclosed deal, HiringCafe, was a pre-seed round announced on 2026-09-28, and the stated check range of $250K to $5M is consistent with pre-seed through early growth rounds. Stage preferences are therefore recorded as Pre-Seed and Seed with low confidence.
Check Size
The firm writes checks between $250K and $5M. That is a wide band for a small fund and suggests a flexible, opportunistic approach rather than a fixed initial-check model.
Lead Tendency
The firm says it is flexible to lead or follow. In the one public deal found (HiringCafe, $6.8M pre-seed) Spark Capital led and Nonfiction Capital participated, so the only observed behavior is following. Lead tendency is recorded as both.
Recent Activity
The single public investment found is HiringCafe, a San Francisco agentic job discovery platform that raised $6.8M in pre-seed funding on 2026-09-28. Spark Capital led, with participation from Nonfiction Capital, Silicon Gardens, Sarah Smith Fund, Night Capital and angels from ZipRecruiter and Indeed. One aggregator lists Nonfiction's share at about $2.27M, which has not been confirmed by a primary source. Mujtaba Wani also co-hosted a gathering of roughly 25 fund managers, advisors and founders in October 2026 about early-stage round sizes, according to a LinkedIn post by a co-host. No fund size, fund vintage or close announcement was found, so fund status is unknown.
Portfolio Highlights
The firm site lists no portfolio. External trackers (Recent Funding) list one company, HiringCafe. Mujtaba Wani's earlier angel and GSV Ventures investments (Abwaab, Classplus, Toddle, Fathom, Hadrius, Kredete) were made before or outside Nonfiction Capital and are not recorded as firm portfolio. Venture partner Idris Mokhtarzada made a seed investment in Coinbase as an angel, and Subhan Jahromi invested in Etched as an angel; these are personal investments, not firm ones.
Team
- Mujtaba Wani, General Partner and founder. Career private equity and venture investor. Started at BlackRock Private Equity Partners, where he worked on deals including Rivian, Morphe, Cotiviti and Asurion. Then joined GSV Ventures, where he is also a Partner and led the firm's first investments in India, MENA and LatAm. Yale B.A. Raised in Northern Virginia, born in Srinagar, Kashmir.
- Idris Mokhtarzada, Venture Partner. Co-founded Truebill (acquired by Rocket for $1.3B) and Webs (acquired by Vistaprint for $118M). 30+ angel investments since 2012. His family established the Mokhtarzada Hatchery at the University of Maryland.
- Subhan Jahromi, Venture Partner. Co-CEO of Edgevana (edge and AI infrastructure deployment) and co-founder of Char'd Smash Burgers. 20+ angel investments. Specializes in helping founders land first customers, investors and distribution partners.
Decision Process
No process is described. Mujtaba Wani is the only general partner, so decisions most likely rest with him, with the venture partners acting as advisors and founder-help resources. Recorded as solo GP with low confidence.
Founder Preferences
Nothing is stated directly. The venture partner roster (two operators with exits and one infrastructure operator) and Subhan Jahromi's stated focus on first customers and distribution suggest value-add for early founders who need go-to-market help, particularly founders attacking entrenched incumbents.
Geographic Focus
Based in the DC area (Northern Virginia roots for all three partners). The firm invests in the US and abroad, consistent with Wani's emerging-market experience at GSV in India, MENA and LatAm. The one known deal is a San Francisco company.
Gaps
No portfolio page, fund size, AUM, thesis essays, podcasts or fund announcements were found. The site is a single page with about, team and a contact email ([email protected]). A refresh in a few months is likely to find more deals as press coverage accumulates.