Pelion Venture Partners Research
Investment Thesis
Pelion Venture Partners is an early-stage venture firm based in the Salt Lake City area (Draper, Utah) that has backed software entrepreneurs since 1986, which makes it one of the firms that started Utah's venture ecosystem. The firm describes its mission as bringing the visions of entrepreneurs and innovators to life. It focuses on B2B software and software-enabled businesses, with a strong tilt toward fintech, AI and security, and it works closely with founders as an active board-level partner.
Stage Focus
Pelion's core focus is Series A and Series B in software companies, and its own writing says it has always made seed investments as well. In August 2024 it formalized a seed investment program. Recent deals span seed (Apollo Atomics, Honey Health at a $7.8M round) through Series A (Remi, Subscript) and later rounds where it participates as an existing investor (Redo Series B, CodeRabbit Series C).
Check Size
Pelion does not publish a check size. Fund VIII is $500M, and typical initial checks for a fund of that size and mix are low single-digit millions at seed and larger at Series A and B, with reserves for follow-ons. The range in the payload (500K to 15M) is an inference from fund size and stage mix and is low confidence.
Lead Tendency
The firm leads many of its rounds. It led Remi's $21M Series A, Subscript's Series A, Honey Health's $7.8M round and Denim's Series B. It also follows into later rounds of its existing companies, such as Redo's Series B and Rivet's Series B, so it does both.
Recent Activity
- January 2025: announced Fund VIII at $500M, following Fund VII ($365M, closed 2021).
- February 2025: led Subscript's Series A.
- October 2025: led Honey Health's $7.8M round, its first investment focused on AI agents for the healthcare back office.
- June 2026: participated in Redo's $81M Series B at a $1.25B valuation.
- August 2026: co-invested in CodeRabbit's Series C and Apollo Atomics' seed round.
- November 2026: PitchBook lists Larridin as its latest investment.
- 2026: recognized by TIME as one of America's Top Venture Capital Firms.
The firm is actively deploying from Fund VIII.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists about 75 active companies, including Agree.com, Axal.ai, Brandlight, Britive, Coco Robotics, CodeRabbit, Commenda, Eloquent AI, Formant, Harmonic, Honey, Jump, Kapital, LVT, MX, Redo, Remi, Strider and UpGuard. Notable exits and long-term holdings featured on the home page include Cloudflare (IPO), Divvy (acquired by Bill), Weave (IPO), and BigPanda. Pelion has also made more than 300 investments over its history, with other exits including Domo and Venafi. In 2021 it absorbed Medici Ventures, a blockchain-focused fund backed by Overstock.
Team
- Ben Lambert, Partner
- Blake Modersitzki, Partner
- Chad Packard, Partner
- Chris Cooper, Partner
- Jeff Kearl, Partner
- Matt Mosman, Partner
- Tyler Hogge, Partner (joined as Venture Partner January 2023, promoted July 2024; former Divvy SVP of Product)
- Sterling Snow, Venture Partner
- Susannah Duke, Principal
- Daylor Youngblood, Kristy Muir and Skyler Seymour, Senior Associates
- Ally Hunter and Jack Cutler, Associates
- Rory Doucette, Investment Fellow
- Senior advisors: Brian Murphy, Carl Ledbetter (Partner Emeritus), Jim Dreyfous (Founding Partner Emeritus)
Decision Process
Pelion decides as a partnership. Partners lead individual deals and typically take a board seat, as Tyler Hogge did at Remi and Honey Health. Warm intros are common but the firm runs open programs, including the Exceptional Startups List and the I/O Podcast, to meet founders.
Founder Preferences
The firm backs operators and technical founders building B2B software with fast revenue growth. Its Remi announcement cites 650% growth with strong profitability, and the Redo story cites rapid revenue growth and more than 1,500 customers. It likes founders who can use a hands-on board partner, including Utah and Mountain West entrepreneurs.
Geographic Focus
Utah and the Mountain West are home territory, and the firm launched a Build Utah initiative in 2023. It invests across the United States, with companies in Los Angeles (Coco), New York and the Bay Area, and a few international names such as Nala and Kapital (Mexico).
Gaps
The portfolio page does not give stages, investment dates or check sizes, so none are stored per company. Sector tags and check size are inferred from the portfolio and fund size.