TQ Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
TQ Ventures is an early-stage venture firm made up of independent thinkers who invest from first principles and commit deeply to founders. Founded in 2018 by Schuster Tanger, Andrew Marks, and Scooter Braun, TQ rejects thematic or sector-first investing in favor of backing exceptional founding teams with unique, compelling market visions. The firm believes that the best companies are built by founders who deeply understand their market and have the conviction to pursue unconventional paths.
The TQ thesis is founder-first: they invest in people before ideas, and prefer founders who are category creators rather than incremental improvers. They describe themselves as 'independent thinkers' who avoid consensus-driven investing, which allows them to back contrarian bets across sectors from consumer social to AI infrastructure.
Stage Focus
TQ Ventures is primarily a seed-stage investor. They have a specific filter requiring that companies have raised less than $1.5M before TQ's first check. This makes them genuinely pre-seed and seed investors who aim to be among the first institutional checks into a company. They have made 21 seed-stage investments, 14 Series A investments, and 9 Series B investments — the non-seed investments are predominantly follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies.
Check Size
While TQ does not publicly disclose check size ranges, their seed-stage focus (companies with <$1.5M raised) and $2B+ AUM suggests typical initial checks in the range of $500K–$3M at seed, with reserves for follow-on at Series A and B. They have participated in seed rounds averaging $7.3M and Series A rounds averaging $21.1M.
Lead Tendency
TQ Ventures primarily participates in rounds rather than leading them. They are relationship-driven and often co-invest with other early-stage funds.
Recent Activity (2024–2026)
TQ has remained active through 2025 and into 2026, continuing to deploy from their current fund:
- 2026: Railway (AI Dev/Infra), Linq (AI Dev/Infra), Handshake (enterprise talent)
- 2025: Augmodo (Vertical AI/AR), NomadicML, Operating Intelligence, Mindra, Lumera, Reactor, Luron, Ahoy, Architect, Turf, Mercura, Adam, AIVideo
- 2024: Plenful (Vertical AI, pharmacy operations), Lawhive (Vertical AI, legal), Pathway (AI Dev/Infra), Distribusion (Enterprise, travel distribution), Verax, RL Core, Zingage, Lumina
The firm made 2 new investments in the 12 months prior to November 2025, reflecting selective deployment pace. As of 2026, they have invested in 105+ companies total.
Portfolio Highlights
TQ has built an impressive portfolio with 9 unicorns, 2 IPOs, and 12 acquisitions:
Notable Companies:
- Modern Treasury (moderntreasury.com) — Enterprise payment operations platform, grew to major scale
- Ro (ro.co) — Telehealth and direct-to-consumer healthcare, raised $500M+
- BeReal — Consumer social app with viral growth; acquired by Voodoo in 2023 for €500M
- Clubhouse — Audio social network that defined a category
- Latch — Smart building access; went public via SPAC in 2021
- Noom — Health behavior change platform; raised $500M+ and profitable
- Whatnot — Live commerce and collectibles marketplace; valued at $3.7B+ (unicorn)
- Formation Bio — AI-accelerated pharma R&D
- MindsDB (mindsdb.com) — AI/ML database platform
- Pinwheel — Payroll connectivity API (acquired by Plaid 2024)
Recent Spotlighted Investments:
- Plenful (2024) — Vertical AI for pharmacy operations workflow
- Lawhive (2024) — Legal tech platform connecting lawyers to clients via AI
- Pathway (2024) — AI Dev/Infra for real-time data processing
- Augmodo (2025) — Spatial computing / AR for frontline workers
Team
Andrew Marks — Co-Founder & General Partner. Longtime friend of Schuster Tanger with a background in investment management. Co-leads all investment decisions at TQ.
Schuster Tanger — Co-Founder & General Partner. Co-leads the firm alongside Andrew Marks. Named in honor of the Tanger and Schuster families.
Scooter Braun — Co-Founder & Advisor. Celebrity talent manager and entrepreneur (managed Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande). Retired from artist management in 2024 but remains involved as co-founder and advisor. His network provides unique deal flow, especially in consumer, media, and entertainment.
Jana Iris — Investor. Focuses on market analysis and deal sourcing.
Elisabeth Rülke — Investor. Evaluates potential investments and supports portfolio growth.
Sal Spina — Investor. Works closely with founders on scaling.
Harshil Vejendla — Investor. Specializes in technology investments and emerging trends.
Sara Du — Venture Partner. Brings operational expertise to the platform.
Ethan Lin — Venture Partner.
Finbarr Timbers & Elliot Graebert — Operating Executives who support portfolio companies operationally.
Sector Focus
While TQ invests from first principles rather than by sector, their portfolio reveals consistent focus areas:
- AI & Machine Learning — Rapidly growing, spanning Vertical AI, AI Dev/Infra, and AI-native SaaS
- Consumer Apps & Social — BeReal, Clubhouse, Finesse, Reface, Current, Popshop Live
- Enterprise Software & Marketplaces — Modern Treasury, Whatnot, Braintrust, Distribusion
- Fintech & Payments — Modern Treasury, Pinwheel, Pomelo, Meow, Current, Euler
- Healthcare — Ro, Numen, Kindbody, Mixlab, Noho Med
- Food & CPG/D2C — Cometeer, Liquid IV, Supergoop, Right Rice, WTRMLN WTR, Noom
- Developer Tools & Infrastructure — Railway, MindsDB, Diagrid, Cleanlab, Aperture Data
Geographic Focus
Primarily US-focused with strong New York and San Francisco presence. They also invest selectively in Europe (Lawhive — UK, Distribusion — Germany, nsave — UK/Europe, Zenyum — Singapore/Asia). New headquarters signed at 96 Spring Street, SoHo, Manhattan in 2025.
Decision Process
TQ operates as a partnership led by Schuster Tanger and Andrew Marks. Their process is relationship-driven and founder-centric. They invest from first principles meaning they don't have rigid sector or theme filters — they evaluate each opportunity on team quality and market vision.
Anti-Thesis
TQ avoids thematic mandates — they won't chase a sector just because it's hot. They prefer companies earlier than most institutional investors (sub-$1.5M raised), suggesting they actively avoid late-stage or growth rounds outside of follow-ons. They are not lead investors.
Fund Status
With $2B+ AUM across multiple funds since 2018, TQ has deployed consistently. Their recent 2024-2026 activity suggests they are actively deploying from a current fund, though the selective pace (2 new investments per 12 months per some reports) indicates disciplined deployment.
