The 98

The 98 Research

Investment Thesis & Core Focus

The 98 is an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to funding technology businesses led by women. Founded in Q3 2022 by Lynda Clarizio and Joy Marcus—both seasoned executives with 20+ years in digital media, technology, and venture investing—the firm addresses a critical market inefficiency: women-led startups receive only 2% of venture capital dollars despite generating higher returns on invested capital and achieving faster exits than their male-led counterparts.

The firm's founding principle is rooted in rigorous data: female-led teams demonstrate 1.5-2x return improvement in VC fund performance (per Harvard research by Gompers & Kovvali), exit faster than the broader market (per Pitchbook analysis), and generate higher ROIC than all-male teams (per Kauffman Fellows research). Yet this asset class remains systematically underfunded due to persistent bias in venture capital allocation.

Fund Evolution & Current Status

The 98 evolved from "Brilliant Friends," an investment group Lynda and Joy co-founded in 2019 focused on women-led businesses. The transition to a formal venture capital firm in Q3 2022 formalized their investment approach and extended their reach beyond angel investing into institutional fund management.

Fund Status (2025): The 98 is actively deploying and recently announced multiple seed investments, signaling strong conviction and robust deal flow. Recent investments include Oply (August 2025, home management AI), Break Sports (August 2025, recreational sports marketplace), Humanitru (March 2025, nonprofit CRM), and AskPolly (December 2024, AI market research). This demonstrates consistent quarterly deployment velocity.

Investment Focus & Thesis

Core Thesis: "We invest in early-stage technology businesses led by women to change the funding ratio and reduce systemic underfunding. Women leaders in technology are an undervalued asset class with superior return profiles."

Sector Focus:

• Commerce & E-commerce – Marketplace platforms, supply chain optimization, retail tech
• Media & Entertainment – Sports media, content platforms, audience intelligence
• Healthcare & Wellness – Preventative health, wellness tech, health data platforms
• Fintech & Finance – Credit risk modeling, transparent AI for financial decisions, financial inclusion
• Enterprise Software – Nonprofits, workforce management, CRM and customer engagement platforms
• Research & Analytics – Market research tools, consumer intelligence, data-driven decision making
• Sustainability & Agriculture – Supply chain optimization, produce management, efficiency tech

Key Characteristic: All portfolio companies have founders who are women or female co-founders, distinguishing The 98 from generalist funds. This is not a secondary lens—it is the primary filter.

Stage Focus & Check Size

Stage Preferences:

• Primary: Seed stage (companies with working product, initial customer traction, and early revenue)
• Secondary: Late Seed / Series A transition stage
• Philosophy: Described by Joy Marcus as "late seed and early A stage" in a March 2025 interview with CTech

Check Size & Deployment:

• Target investment range: $500K–$2M+ for seed rounds
• Recent investments validate this: Oply seed (August 2025), Humanitru seed (March 2025), AskPolly seed (December 2024)
• The 98 appears to have sufficient dry powder and is actively deploying at a consistent quarterly pace
• Strong capacity for follow-on investments in successful portfolio companies

Lead Tendency & Conviction

The 98 frequently leads seed rounds, as evidenced by their recent investment announcements in Oply, Break Sports, Humanitru, and AskPolly. This demonstrates conviction-driven deal-making and founder-first positioning.

Board Involvement: Likely significant given the firm's emphasis on operating expertise. Lynda and Joy are both operating executives with deep experience scaling businesses (Lynda: AOL, Nielsen, AppNexus; Joy: AOL, Time Warner, Condé Nast, MTV Networks, Bloglovin'), and they emphasize providing "operating expertise" and "growth support" to portfolio companies.

Decision Speed: The firm's founding principle emphasizes conviction and operational support, suggesting rapid decision-making once alignment is achieved. No formal investment committee mentioned; partnership-driven model with Lynda and Joy as decision-makers.

Recent Activity & Fund Status

Portfolio Companies Announced (2025):

• August 2025: Oply (home management AI platform, proptech)
• August 2025: Break Sports (recreational sports marketplace)
• March 2025: Humanitru (nonprofit CRM platform)
• December 2024: AskPolly (AI market research tool)
• May 2024: Strella (produce ripening detection, agritech)
• December 2023: Cambri (product innovation platform)
• April 2023: Stratyfy (credit risk modeling and fairness in AI)

Fund Status: Actively deploying with consistent quarterly investment velocity. The 98 is in growth mode, demonstrating strong sourcing capability and conviction-driven decision making.

Notable Portfolio Metrics:

• Portfolio spans 9+ announced companies in high-growth sectors
• Exits include acquisitions and successful growth trajectories
• Operating advisors include 50+ experienced executives spanning media, finance, commerce, health, and technology sectors

Team & Decision-Making

Core Team:

• Lynda Clarizio, Co-Founder & General Partner: 20+ years in digital media, technology, and venture investing. Former President of Nielsen's US Media business, President of AOL's global advertising business. CEO/President roles at AppNexus, INVISION, Advertising.com. Deep M&A and investing experience (managed strategic investments in Google, Amazon, Kayak; acquisitions of Advertising.com, MapQuest, Gracenote, eXelate). Board member of CDW, Emerald, Simpli.fi, Cambri (portfolio company).

• Joy Marcus, Co-Founder & General Partner: 20+ years in digital media and venture leadership. Leadership roles at AOL, Time Warner, Condé Nast, MTV Networks. CEO of venture-backed Bloglovin'. Notable exits: BarnesandNoble.com (IPO), Dailymotion (acquired by France Telecom). Venture Partner at Jerusalem Venture Partners and Gotham Ventures (DFJ affiliate). Lecturer at Princeton's Keller Center of Entrepreneurship.

Operating Advisors: 50+ advisors spanning media, advertising, finance, healthcare, commerce, and technology sectors, including:

• Frost Prioleau (Co-Founder & Chair, Simpli.fi)
• Linda Yaccarino (CEO, eMed; former NBC Executive)
• Sarah-Marie Martin (Former Partner, Goldman Sachs)
• Marty Martinez (Managing Director, Data, Technology & Measurement, Google)
• Michael Henry (Former CEO, OpenSlate)

Decision Process: Partnership model between Lynda and Joy, likely with input from key operating advisors. No investment committee structure mentioned; emphasis on conviction-driven rapid decision-making.

Sourcing Approach: Strong sourcing from networks built through two decades of operating and investing experience in digital media and technology. Founder-focused approach with emphasis on identifying women leaders building great companies.

Founder Preferences

The 98 actively courts founders who:

• Are building technology businesses with consumer or enterprise appeal
• Are women or female co-founders (this is the primary filter, not secondary)
• Can articulate clear product-market fit and customer traction
• Have founder-product fit and deep understanding of their domain
• Appreciate rapid decision-making, operational support, and founder-friendly dynamics
• Value strategic guidance and network access from experienced operators

Anti-positions: The 98 does not explicitly state investment exclusions, but their focus on women-led technology businesses and stage focus suggests they avoid: infrastructure plays, deep tech without clear commercial path, and non-software businesses.

Investment Performance & Philosophy

Thesis Validation: The 98's investment philosophy is anchored in rigorous research showing:

• Women-led startups exit faster (Pitchbook 2022 analysis)
• Women-led teams generate higher ROIC than all-male teams (Kauffman Fellows 2016)
• VC firms with 10% increase in female partner hires see 1.5% improvement in annual fund returns and 10% increase in profitable exits (Harvard Business School research)
• 69.2% of top-quartile VC funds (2009-2018) had female investing partners (Pitchbook/All Raise 2019)

Rebuttal to Attribution Bias: In a March 2023 perspective piece, Lynda and Joy directly address research suggesting female founders funded solely by female VCs face bias in subsequent rounds. They argue this research is flawed and contradicted by VC performance data—female investor-backed companies should command premium valuations, not discount, given superior performance metrics.

Geographic Focus

Primary: United States (New York and broader North American focus evident from team and advisor network) Secondary: International exposure through advisors and portfolio (e.g., Cambri headquartered in Helsinki with operations in London and Stockholm)

Value-Add & Support Model

The 98 positions itself as an operating partner, not passive investor. Both Lynda and Joy bring 40+ combined years of scaling technology and media businesses.

Post-investment support:

1. Operating expertise – Leverage experience scaling businesses at AOL, Nielsen, Time Warner, MTV Networks
2. Network activation – 50+ operating advisors across media, finance, commerce, technology
3. Growth strategy – User acquisition, product-market fit refinement, commercial scaling
4. Board involvement – Likely board seats or observer rights given operating partnership philosophy

Founder testimonials are not explicitly featured on the website, but their perspective pieces highlight pride in founder relationships and detailed knowledge of portfolio companies' markets and competitive dynamics.

Notable Portfolio Companies (9+ Announced)

Commerce & Supply Chain:

• Oply – AI home management platform for homeowners and home services professionals (Seed, August 2025)
• Strella – Biochemical sensors for produce ripening detection and supply chain optimization (Seed, May 2024)

Sports & Recreation:

• Break Sports – Marketplace for recreational sports venues, brands, and players (Seed, August 2025)

Healthcare & Finance:

• Humanitru – CRM platform for nonprofits with donor engagement and predictive analytics (Seed, March 2025)
• Stratyfy – Machine learning solutions for transparent, fair credit and risk decisions with bias mitigation (Seed, April 2023)

Research & Analytics:

• AskPolly – AI market research tool delivering statistically valid research in self-service interface (Seed, December 2024)
• Cambri – Product innovation platform with AI-powered concept testing and launch scoring (Seed, December 2023)

Consumer Tech:

• Paladin – Justice tech platform (referenced in launch event)

Advisors as Founders:

• Simpli.fi – Digital advertising platform (Frost Prioleau, Co-Founder, is operating advisor)

Decision Timeline & Process

Speed: Conviction-driven, rapid decision-making model. Based on portfolio activity showing consistent quarterly deployment (Oply/Break Sports in August 2025, Humanitru in March 2025, AskPolly in December 2024), typical decision timeline is likely 2-4 weeks for well-sourced deals with strong founder fit.

Warm Introduction Preference: As a founder-focused, relationship-driven firm, warm introductions are strongly preferred and likely required. Cold outreach would face higher friction.

Key Insights & Positioning

1. Data-Driven Thesis: The 98's investment approach is anchored in rigorous academic research and performance data, not sentiment. They actively rebut attribution bias concerns with documented outperformance of female-led ventures and female investor-backed funds.

2. Operating Bias: Both founders are experienced operators who view venture investing as an extension of operating partnerships. They are not passive capital providers but active strategists and network connectors.

3. Founder-Centric: The firm emphasizes women leaders and women-led businesses as their primary investment filter. This is not a diversity add-on but the core investment thesis.

4. Market Thesis: The 98 is betting that removing systemic bias and funding constraints on women-led startups will unlock superior returns. This thesis has performed well historically and continues to drive deployment.

5. Credibility & Network: With board seats at NASDAQ-listed Perion and BBC Maestro, advisory positions at major corporations (Google, Goldman Sachs, NBC), and deep operating history, Lynda and Joy bring significant credibility and network activation capability.

6. Consistency in Deployment: Quarterly investment pace (August 2025, March 2025, December 2024, May 2024) suggests robust deal flow, strong conviction, and sufficient capital under management to maintain active deployment.