Stage 1 Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Stage 1 Ventures is a Coconut Grove, Florida-based venture and growth-equity firm founded in 2006 around a single premise: invest in disruptive deep tech and science companies that are transforming global industries. The firm frames itself as bridging the "Capital Gap" for early-stage entrepreneurs, using a capital-efficient fund model built for both founders and limited partners. Its house philosophy is "Innovation, Partnership, Positive Outcomes" — the firm positions itself as commercializing scientific and technical innovation rather than backing pure consumer or software plays, and repeatedly stresses that outcomes come down to "execution from great management teams."
Stage Focus
Stage 1 Ventures runs a distinctive barbell model across five stages it labels Scan, Selection, Validation, Scale, and Success:
- Scan — sources deal flow from an extensive operating-partner and advisor network.
- Selection (Seeding) — deploys small "option bet" checks into seed-stage companies via a dedicated Seed Fund and SPVs.
- Validation — provides hands-on business development support to de-risk the venture while monitoring operating metrics.
- Scale (Growth Equity) — once a portfolio company hits an inflection point, the firm preemptively leads or co-leads growth-equity rounds.
- Success — continues to monitor and support portfolio companies toward an exit.
This gives the firm a foot in both true seed investing and later growth-equity rounds, rather than a single-stage focus.
Check Size
The firm does not publish exact check sizes. Its "option bet" seed checks are small and diversified across a large number of companies (170+ investments made historically), while growth-equity rounds — where the firm leads or co-leads — carry meaningfully larger checks. Third-party aggregator data pegs typical deal size in the $5M-$10M range for growth-stage rounds with 3-4 co-investors.
Lead Tendency
Both. At seed, Stage 1 typically takes small, passive "option bet" positions. At the growth-equity stage, the firm explicitly says it will "preemptively lead (or co-lead)" rounds for breakout companies — so lead tendency shifts by stage.
Recent Activity
The firm remains active across both ends of its barbell. On the growth side, portfolio company Performance Drone Works secured a conditional loan commitment of up to $820M from the U.S. Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital (announced July 31, 2026) to build domestic drone-component manufacturing capacity — a major de-risking milestone for a Stage 1 growth holding. On the exit side, portfolio company Movable Ink signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by private equity firm STG (announced June 26, 2025), and Origin AI (Origin Wireless) was acquired by ADT Inc. for $170M in cash (announced February 24, 2026). Seed-side activity continues with recent investments reported in companies like Resolute Grid and AutoAlert.
Portfolio Highlights
Stage 1's growth-equity portfolio has produced three IPOs (Fisker, iLearning Engines, Unique Fabricating) and more than two dozen acquisitions, including notable outcomes: VIVOX (acquired by Unity Software), Paydiant (acquired by PayPal), Skyhook Wireless (acquired by TruePosition), TriLumina (acquired by Lumentum Holdings), JumpCloud, and Akumina. On the current seed roster, the firm backs a spread of deep-tech and applied-science companies: Cadence (workflow AI), CLIPr (AI video intelligence), Cloudtruth (secrets/config infrastructure), Psionic (photonics/sensing hardware), FourGrowers (agricultural robotics), FarmTrace and Thrive Agrifood (ag/food supply chain), Resolute Grid (grid technology), Wealthramp (fintech advisor marketplace), and Sworkit (consumer fitness). Growth-stage holdings span aerospace and defense (True Anomaly, Zeno Power, Performance Drone Works, Ondas Holdings), life sciences (Sail Biomedicines, Invaio), and enterprise software (Talkmap, Wyebot, ai.io, ChaosSearch).
Team
Stage 1 Ventures runs on a distributed partnership model rather than a single Bay Area office, with managing directors and operating partners spread across Miami, Tampa, Dallas, and Boston, plus a bench of advisors across the country:
- David Baum — Managing Director (Miami)
- Jonathan Gordon — Managing Director (Tampa)
- Joseph Pianelli — Operating Partner (Dallas)
- Les Yetton — Operating Partner (Boston)
- Scott Carmel — Operating Partner (Miami)
- Michael Frank — Operating Partner (Boston)
- Alfonso Carrillo — Operating Partner (Miami)
- Mike Courtney — Advisor (Dallas)
- John Sheehan — Advisor (Ft Worth)
- Rod Randall — Advisor (Boston)
- Michael Baum — Advisor (San Francisco)
- John Hartnett — Advisor (Los Gatos)
- Lawrence King — Advisor (Dallas)
- Mark Leidy — Advisor (St. Louis)
- Susan Major — Advisor (San Diego)
- David Mathews — Advisor (Dallas)
- Larry Paulson — Advisor (San Diego)
- Ralph Rodriguez — Advisor (Naples)
- Jim Walsh — Advisor (Palo Alto)
Decision Process
Partnership-style: decisions run through the managing directors (Baum and Gordon) supported by a large bench of operating partners who each own sourcing and diligence within their sector or geographic network, rather than a solo-GP or formal investment-committee structure described publicly.
Founder Preferences
The firm's language emphasizes technical and scientific founders who can execute — teams "commercializing science and technology innovation" across global industries, with less emphasis on early traction and more on the strength of the underlying deep-tech or IP moat.
Geographic Focus
Not explicitly restricted geographically; the firm's own language references "Global Industries," and its partner/advisor network spans the US from coast to coast (Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, California, Missouri). Portfolio companies identified are overwhelmingly US-based.