True Wealth Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
True Wealth Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2015 with a mission-driven approach to investing. The fund's core thesis is grounded in data showing that women-led companies significantly outperform their male counterparts financially while utilizing less capital for greater returns. However, the fund goes beyond just gender—it combines gender-lens investing with impact focus, exclusively investing in women-led companies whose core value proposition is improving environmental and/or human health. This creates a competitive advantage: discovering exceptional female founders operating in high-growth markets where women make the majority of purchase decisions.
The fund's belief is that the future of savvy investing is gender-diverse, and they are capitalizing on a "big blind spot" in the venture market. Their investment thesis explicitly rejects pure venture returns in favor of companies that deliver superior ROI while creating measurable social and environmental impact.
Stage Focus and Check Size
True Wealth Ventures is a seed-stage investor with a clear investment strategy:
Stage Preference: Pre-Seed and Seed (Series A occasionally for follow-ons) Typical Check Size: $250,000 - $1,000,000 first check, typically around $1M Target Acquisition Exit: $100M+ in 3-5 years Reserve Strategy: Generally reserves over 50% of capital for follow-on investments
The fund positions itself as a "first institutional investor" at Series Seed stage, often taking a board seat in portfolio companies. This hands-on approach demonstrates their commitment to supporting portfolio companies through early scaling challenges.
Geographic Focus
Primary Markets: Austin, Texas (headquarters); US-wide Limited International: While primarily US-focused, the firm has shown selective openness to companies in other markets
The firm is based in Austin, Texas, and many team members emphasize their deep connection to the local startup ecosystem. However, their portfolio spans major startup hubs including San Francisco, New York, Boston, and beyond.
Sector and Model Preferences
Investment Domains
True Wealth Ventures explicitly invests only in two core domains:
Environmental Health:
- Sustainably-produced building materials and energy systems
- Sustainably produced home goods (furniture, fashion, care, food)
- Green packaging and sustainable packaging solutions
- Clean manufacturing and supply chain technology
- Sustainable agriculture technology
- Renewable energy solutions
Human Health:
- Health technology (digital health, medical devices)
- Food-as-medicine and nutritional solutions
- Wellness products and solutions
- Femtech (reproductive health, women's specific health)
- Silver tech (aging population solutions)
- Mental health and behavioral health
- Clinical decision support tools
- Public and community health solutions
- Pediatric health
- Chronic disease prevention and management
Portfolio Analysis
True Wealth Ventures has built a diverse portfolio of 40+ companies across both human and environmental health domains. Recent notable investments (2024-2025) include:
Environmental Health Companies:
- Kloopify (procurement intelligence for supply chain sustainability) - Most recent investment September 2025
- Refiberd (textile waste recycling with AI sorting) - Founders Sarika Bajaj, Tushita Gupta named Forbes 30 Under 30 2026
- Aeromutable (aerodynamic trucking efficiency systems) - $9.76B annual fuel savings potential
- Atlantic Sea Farms (seaweed/kelp farming) - Founder Briana Warner, Portland ME
- Solstice (community shared solar energy)
Human Health Companies:
- Partum Health (pregnancy and women's family health)
- Fort Health (virtual pediatric mental health)
- RubyWell (aging care and home health aide training)
- BrainCheck (cognitive assessment tools, FDA Class II)
- Flowly (chronic pain and anxiety management)
- Rosy (sexual wellness platform, recommended by 3,500+ healthcare providers)
- Flourish (behavioral health coaching for women)
- Dermala (microbiome-based dermatology treatments)
- UnaliWear (aging population smartwatch with fall detection)
- Jiminy's (sustainable insect-based dog food)
Team and Decision Making
Leadership
Sara Brand (Founding General Partner) co-founded (512) Brewing, the largest draught-only, self-distributing microbrewery in the US before COVID. She previously worked in venture capital and management consulting in the Bay Area with strategic/operational roles at large tech companies. She holds a PhD and MS in green design and manufacturing from UC Berkeley and BS in mechanical engineering from UT Austin.
Kerry Rupp (General Partner) was previously CEO at DreamIt, a top-ten US startup accelerator and VC fund. She founded Holiday Golightly and held VP positions at AllRecipes, Jobster, Classmates, and LexisNexis. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and BA from Duke University, and teaches for NSF's I-Corps program.
Investment Criteria
Hard Requirements (Non-Negotiable)
- Gender Requirement: At least one woman founder or C-suite executive with significant decision-making authority and equity ownership
- Impact Requirement: Core value proposition must explicitly improve environmental and/or human health
- Exit Potential: Clear path to $100M+ acquisition within 3-5 years
Fund Details
Fund History:
- Fund I: $19.1M closed January 2018 (largest VC fund with exclusive gender-lens strategy at that time)
- Fund II: $35M closed June 2022
- Total AUM: Approximately $60 million
LP Composition: 80% of capital raised backed by female Limited Partners, including single women, women-led investment decisions for couples/family offices/foundations
Recent Activity and Fund Status
Current Status: Actively deploying Fund II (latest confirmed investment September 2025)
Recent Notable Investments: Kloopify (September 2025), Refiberd founders recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 2026, ongoing board participation and portfolio support
Active Engagement: Fund maintains active involvement through twice-yearly portfolio company meetings, board seats, advisory roles, co-investment opportunities, and regular thought leadership
Operational Philosophy
The fund operates with a "hands-on" partnership model emphasizing early-stage support, problem-solving alongside founders, woman's perspective on challenges, enthusiasm, encouragement, and treating portfolio success as shared mission.