Unpopular Ventures Research Document
Investment Thesis
Unpopular Ventures, founded in 2019 by Peter Livingston and Thibault Reichelt, invests in "the best companies, off the beaten path." The core thesis is rooted in Peter Livingston's personal anti-portfolio of missed opportunities: Instagram (Burbn), Nubank (Brazilian credit card), and DoorDash (food delivery). Rather than focusing on ideas, UV bets on exceptional founders building non-consensus businesses in overlooked markets and geographies.
The philosophy is deceptively simple: "Invest in the smartest people, regardless of what they're building, especially if the idea sounds bad in the beginning." This contrarian approach has shaped the firm's identity and explains their name. Most of the best investments are unpopular when first presented, and UV's track record validates this thesis. Peter's personal angel fund (2012-2018) returned 15x net with a single investment returning 472x.
Geographic Focus
Unpopular Ventures deliberately invests in overlooked markets where founders are exceptional but capital is scarce:
- Francophone Africa (primary: Senegal, Ivory Coast, DRC) - Yassir, Chowdeck
- Venezuela - Yummy
- India - Zepto, Decentro
- Latin America - 99minutos, Felix Pago, Hapi
- US undervalued opportunities - Sniffspot, Magic Mind, 222
- Ukraine defense tech - Sky Fortress, Zvook
- Selective Europe and Asia - Terra One (Germany), secondary opportunities
Geographic rationale: These markets have sophisticated founders solving real problems but limited access to quality venture capital. This approach yields reasonable valuations, stronger founder signal, and outsized power law rewards.
Sector Focus
Ultra-broad with no sector restrictions. Power law investing is concentration-heavy; with 100+ annual investments, UV optimizes for founder quality over sector fit:
B2C/Consumer: Super apps (Yassir, Yummy), marketplace (Sniffspot), social networks (222), beverage (Magic Mind)
B2B SaaS/Developer Tools: Jeeves (global business bank), Decentro (fintech infrastructure), Helius (Solana dev platform), GitButler (developer tools), Undermind (AI research search)
E-commerce & Logistics: 99minutos, Chowdeck, Baton (small business marketplace)
Healthcare: Hint Health (direct primary care), CopilotIQ (senior remote monitoring), Stepful (healthcare job training)
Fintech/Payments: nSave (global banking), AltScore (lending infrastructure), Felix Pago (remittances)
Climate/Defense Tech: Terra One (battery systems), Sky Fortress (drone detection), Zvook
Education: Fluently (AI language coach), Stepful
Other: Taiv (customized TV commercials), Marathon Data (brand measurement), Revv (AI for automotive), Carry (wealth building)
Investment Stage and Check Size
Stage Preferences:
- Pre-Seed: $250K-$500K (frequent)
- Seed: $1M-$5M (most common)
- Series A: Selective follow-ons (especially strong performers)
- Series B+: Rare, usually portfolio follow-ons
Check Size:
- Fund investments: $25K-$1M typical (100+ companies annually)
- Syndicate median: $153.7K
- Total deployment: 20+ deals per 12 months
Fund Structure and Status
Multiple vehicles:
- Rolling Fund on AngelList - Quarterly closes, ~$960K/year deployment, lowest minimums
- Fund - $81M deployed over 6.5 years, portfolio value $199M, 24% IRR (net of 2 and 20), vintage returns 5.3x-6.8x
- Syndicate - 5,400+ LPs, shares carry with scouts and community
Fund Status: ACTIVELY DEPLOYING (as of Aug 2025)
- Bullish despite bear market; believes VC market hit bottom
- Q3 2025: Raised $920K rolling fund
- Actively making follow-on bets in proven winners
- Peter bought secondary shares in stealth company at 79x, expects 100x+ potential
Lead vs. Follow Tendency
Lead Tendency: STRONG LEAD (when conviction is high)
Evidence:
- "Led their seed rounds on $15M and $35M pre-money caps" (Yassir)
- "We were the biggest investor in their first two rounds" (Jeeves)
- "We led their pre-seed" (Marathon Data)
- Explicitly provides operational support beyond capital
Nuance: UV leads in core bets with founder conviction but can follow in syndicate format with meaningful check sizes. Their small fund size means they're typically NOT lead by capital but by commitment and diligence.
Decision Timeline and Warm Introductions
Decision Timeline: High-velocity investing (100+ annual deals) suggests:
- 1-2 weeks for strong founder relationships
- 2-4 weeks for sourced deals
- Quarterly rolling fund closes
Warm Introductions: Not explicitly required but strongly preferred. Scout program emphasizes relationship-based sourcing. Peter's network (Stanford GSB, early operators, fellow angels like Evan Moore, David Velez) is primary source.
Team and Decision Process
Founder/Managing Partner: Peter Livingston
- First employee at iRhythm (now $5B market cap)
- Solo angel 2012-2018: 15x personal fund, 472x best investment
- Stanford GSB (co-president VC Club with Evan Moore/DoorDash founder)
- 5th biggest LP in own fund ($1.25M to date), commits $100K/year personal cash
- Regular Medium writer and speaker
Partner: Thibault Reichelt
- Major deal sourcer (credited with Yassir, Zepto, Stepful, Decentro, Undermind, TomaAI, Chowdeck)
- Personal angel investor 2016-present: 5x realized returns
- Works with family office LP (8th biggest LP in UV)
- Geographic expertise: India, Africa, Ukraine, LATAM
Extended Team: Minimal core staff; leverages 100s of scouts sharing carry. This aligns incentives and scales sourcing without adding overhead.
Portfolio Highlights
Top Performers:
- Stealth (2019): 79x return on secondary, potential 100x+ growth, profitable with strong cash flow
- Yassir (2019-2020): Super app in Francophone Africa, 4,000+ employees, 45 cities, most revenue of any portfolio company
- Zepto (2021): Grocery delivery India, $5.8B valuation, ~¾ of all 2021 fund investment value
- Jeeves (2020-2021): Global business bank, $2.1B valuation, $75M credit facility, first Brazil bank license expected 2025
- 99minutos (2020): E-commerce delivery LATAM, $82M Series C, 1,069 employees
- Blaze (2019-2021): AI marketing automation, Tiger-backed Series A ($30M), rapid revenue growth
- Stepful (2021): Healthcare job training, $3M bookings/month, potential unicorn
- Sniffspot (2019): Dog park marketplace, profitable, growing, $7M original valuation
- Undermind (2024): AI research search, profitable immediately post-investment
Notable Exits: BuildKite (Atlassian), Hollow Games (Take-Two), LogStream (Datadog)
Portfolio Size: 536 total companies (past and present) as of Aug 2025
Founder and Market Preferences
Founder Preferences:
- Exceptional/smart founders above all else
- Non-consensus thinkers pursuing "unpopular" ideas
- Experience with shipped products or operating at scale
- Willingness to build capital-light, profitable businesses
- Founders from overlooked geographies (Francophone Africa, LATAM, Venezuela)
- Technical depth valued (GitButler, Undermind, Helius all have strong technical teams)
Anti-Thesis:
- Founders chosen for idea polish rather than personal capability
- Markets already crowded with VC capital
- "Sexy" consensus ideas that every VC wants
- Purely speculative crypto/gambling plays
- Non-technical founders in deep technical domains
Market Perspective (Aug 2025)
Peter believes VC market hit bottom and current timing is analogous to 2011/2012 (post-GFC) when sentiment was terrible but returns were exceptional. He's not a permabull (wrote about VC winter in Jan 2022) but believes fundamentals support investing now. Expects "outstanding" outcomes in next decade. Recent vintages have several promising companies that will deliver excellent returns once markups reflect underlying business performance.
Summary
Unpopular Ventures represents a rare VC model: high-conviction, founder-centric, geographically diversified, and explicitly contrarian. The firm is not optimizing for consensus; they're optimizing for power law outcomes by backing exceptional people in overlooked markets, especially when ideas sound bad at first. With 5,400+ LPs, 536 portfolio companies, and continued deployment in 2025, UV has scaled while maintaining conviction.