Safar Partners Research
Overview
Safar Partners is a Cambridge, Massachusetts venture firm (One Broadway, 14th floor) founded in 2018 by Nader Motamedy. It describes itself as a seed- to growth-stage fund that commercializes technology coming out of leading research universities, primarily MIT, Harvard and the University of Rochester. The firm says it has invested in 75+ portfolio companies and has more than $1B under management or committed capital. Note: the firm's own website sits behind a bot challenge, so this profile is built from search snippets of the site plus third-party profiles (Venture Codex, findfunding.vc, Silicon Valley Investclub, PEI, press releases). Treat finer details as medium confidence.
Investment Thesis
Safar invests in three areas: cleantech and advanced materials, AI/IT and robotics, and life sciences. The thesis is university-rooted deep tech: technology with a research origin that needs capital and operating help to reach commercial scale. The firm states a target return multiple above 4x on invested capital. Its brand centers on backing what it calls tomorrow's world-changers, and it leans on direct relationships with university technology transfer offices and faculty.
Stage Focus
Seed through growth. Third-party databases list Seed, Series A and Series B as the core stages, with selective participation in later rounds (for example Commonwealth Fusion Systems' Series B and later raises). findfunding.vc lists a 7 to 10% ownership target and says the firm can lead.
Check Size
No check size is published. Round sizes in third-party data cluster at $10M to $25M, with the firm usually a participant in those rounds. Early checks (seed) are likely in the low single-digit millions; the $100M commitment to Commonwealth Fusion Systems in 2021 shows it will write very large checks into breakout companies. Check size range here is an estimate.
Lead Tendency
Both. Venture Codex records the firm leading roughly 27% of its recorded rounds and participating in about 73%. Recent leads include GelMEDIX (2026 seed, $13M round) and Pirouette Pharma (2024, $5M+ round). It co-invests frequently with The Engine, Lowercarbon Capital, Hostplus, Prelude Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Khosla Ventures.
Recent Activity
- Fund III: filed Form D in December 2024 (Safar Partners Fund III, L.P.); the Boston Business Journal reported in December 2023 a plan to raise about $300M.
- Fund II: collected about $191M toward a $325M target by May 2021.
- Portfolio news through mid 2026: Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised another $1B (total about $4B), Syntis Bio reported positive Phase 1/1b data for SYNT-101 in obesity, Viken Detection received growth investment from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, and Liquid AI partnered with MacPaw.
- Deal pace of roughly 10 recorded deals per year, majority participations.
Portfolio Highlights
- Commonwealth Fusion Systems: MIT fusion spinout; Safar invested $100M in 2021, with Hostplus.
- Agility Robotics: humanoid logistics robots.
- Liquid AI: MIT-origin foundation model company.
- QuEra Computing: neutral-atom quantum computing.
- Gradiant: water treatment cleantech.
- Cogito, Turing, Formic, Kebotix, Pirouette Pharma, EMBR Labs, Clerio Vision, Health Care Originals, Venti Technologies, Syntis Bio, Viken Detection, GelMEDIX, 5x5, Aven.
Team
- Nader Motamedy: Founder and Managing Partner; career in alternative assets with over $3B under management.
- Arunas Chesonis: Managing Partner.
- Sahba Vaziri: Partner and CFO.
- Parinaz Motamedy: Partner.
- Greg S. Feldman: Partner (per findfunding.vc).
- Vera Schroeder: Partner (per findfunding.vc).
- Bob Millard: Senior Advisor (PEI); the firm also runs a business advisory board.
Decision Process
Partnership with an Investment Committee (PEI lists Motamedy as Managing Partner and IC member). No published timeline.
Founder Preferences
Researcher-founders and teams commercializing university IP, especially from MIT, Harvard and Rochester, in hard science and engineering domains. The firm gives portfolio companies access to its university ties and a business advisory board.
Geographic Focus
United States, concentrated in the Boston/Cambridge corridor and upstate New York (Rochester), tied to the three anchor universities. About 53 of 56 recorded deals are US-based, with a small number in Europe and China.