Saga Ventures Research
Firm Overview
Saga Ventures is a $125M seed-stage venture capital fund launched in March 2024 by three Managing Partners: Max Altman, Ben Braverman, and Thomson Nguyen. The firm is headquartered in Austin, Texas (with roots in Cheyenne, Wyoming) and focuses on backing ambitious founders building technology solutions to the world's hardest problems. Their tagline is "Investing in what's next."
The fund was raised in approximately nine months—faster than the 12-24 month standard for emerging managers—with two closes: March 2024 (over half the total) and May 2024.
Investment Thesis
Saga describes their approach as "conviction-based seed investing" with a commitment to forming "genuine relationships with founders." The thesis centers on applying technology—particularly AI—to real-world problems that affect every American, not just the tech-savvy. As Max Altman has articulated: they seek to use "technology, which today is AI, and apply it to really hard problems that are going to affect every American."
The firm represents a self-described return to "traditional venture capital principles" rather than following Silicon Valley hype cycles. They evaluate investments based on process inputs (inspired by Bill Walsh's "The Score Takes Care of Itself") rather than near-term outcome metrics, emphasizing founder quality, resilience, and salesmanship above all.
Thomson Nguyen's technical perspective frames their AI thesis: they believe current AI models have significant untapped potential before regulatory frameworks solidify, positioning this as a foundational "innocent Wild West" period ideal for building transformative companies.
Stage Focus & Check Size
Saga invests at pre-seed and seed stages primarily, with reserves for follow-on at Seed+ and Series A. Their typical check size is $2M to $2.5M per investment, with a sweet spot around $2M. The fund is sized to make approximately 30 seed-stage investments from Fund I.
For Series A follow-ons in portfolio companies that are performing well, they have participated in rounds as large as $17-20M. Third-party data indicates average round sizes of $19.4M for Series A investments and $8.25M for Seed investments.
Portfolio Sectors
Saga takes a broad but thesis-driven view across sectors where AI creates transformative disruption:
- AI Infrastructure & Developer Tools: Dedalus Labs (MCP gateway for AI agents), Hydra Host (bare metal GPU platform), Ragie (RAG infrastructure)
- Enterprise Software & AI Applications: Profound (LLM search optimization), Gently (AI Enterprise OS), Exec (AI conversation platform for professional training)
- FinTech & Payments: Slope (B2B payments), Essos (global consumer healthcare infrastructure)
- Logistics & Transportation: FleetWorks (fleet performance management software)
- Manufacturing & Industrial: Atum Works (nanomanufacturing platform), Endeavor (manufacturing AI for supply chain), Ironsite (AI tools for construction workers), Axilon (industrial IT/OT management)
- Defense & Aerospace: Anduril (defense technology)
- Legal Tech: Crosby (AI-powered legal software)
- AI Voice: Vapi (AI voice agents)
Portfolio Highlights
Notable portfolio companies and investments:
- Profound (AI-powered LLM search optimization) — Seed $3.5M (Aug 2024), Series A $20M (Jun 2025), Series B $35M (Feb 2026). One of their most active portfolio companies.
- Vapi (AI voice agents) — Series A $20M (Dec 2024)
- Slope (B2B payments) — $65M round (Jul 2024)
- Dedalus Labs (MCP gateway for AI applications) — Seed $11M (Oct 2025, co-led with Kindred Ventures)
- FleetWorks (fleet management software) — Series A $17M (Oct 2025)
- Ragie (RAG infrastructure) — $5.5M (Aug 2024)
- Anduril (defense technology) — Notable for backing this controversial but significant defense tech company
Team
Max Altman, Managing Partner Max brings institutional capital and operational expertise. He was a Partner at Alt Capital (2021-2024), an early-stage fund he co-founded with his brothers Sam and Jack Altman. Prior to that, he was an investor at Hydrazine Capital (2016-2019) and held operational roles at Zenefits (product management) and Allston Trading. He studied Computer Science at Duke University. Max is well-connected in the SF venture ecosystem through the Altman family network.
Ben Braverman, Managing Partner Ben contributes deep go-to-market and sales expertise. He spent nine years at Flexport, where he served as Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Customer Officer and later led Flexport Ventures. Before Flexport, he was at URX (acquired by Pinterest) and Heyzap (acquired by RNTS Media). He studied at Vassar College. Ben focuses particularly on helping portfolio founders with their sales motion and go-to-market strategy.
Thomson Nguyen, Managing Partner Thomson brings deep technical and data science expertise. He founded Nearside (fintech, acquired by Plastiq for ~$130M in 2022) and Framed Data (acquired by Square), and served as Head of Capital Data Science at Square. He studied Applied Mathematics at Cambridge and Mathematics at UC Berkeley. Thomson brings a builder's perspective to evaluating technical founders and assessing AI company potential.
The three partners describe their personalities as "orthogonal"—complementary and non-overlapping—which they believe reduces partnership conflict and creates robust decision-making.
Decision Process
Saga operates as a partnership with consensus-based decisions. They explicitly aim to avoid "fear of missing out" driving investment timing and maintain patience in investment decisions. They are transparent and responsive with founders, emphasizing genuine long-term relationships over transactional interactions.
Value-Add & Founder Support
Saga differentiates itself through hands-on operator support:
- First engineer recruitment (a common early-stage bottleneck)
- Sales motion visualization and go-to-market strategy
- Introductions to tier-one Series A investors (Sequoia, a16z, etc.)
- Network leverage from three complementary partnership networks
- Strategic guidance through the Seed-to-Series A journey
They position themselves as helping founders "graduate from Seed to Series A in the best path possible."
Geographic Focus
Saga primarily invests in US-based companies, with presence in Wyoming (HQ), Austin TX, and the San Francisco Bay Area. They have made some investments in Canada, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, though the US remains their primary focus.