York IE Research
Investment Thesis
York IE is an investment and operating firm headquartered in Manchester, NH. It combines a family of funds with a hands-on operating platform to build and back technology companies, describing itself as a value creation engine for the tech ecosystem. The stated thesis is that vertical software and AI companies are best backed by operators who have built, scaled and exited enterprise technology businesses, and who stay engaged after the check. Founders quoted on the site consistently cite operator credibility, sector depth and execution support beyond the term sheet. The firm was founded in 2019 by Kyle York, Joe Raczka and Adam Coughlin and launched its first cohort of startup investments in September 2020, with about $5M invested in 12 companies at launch.
Fund Structure and Stage Focus
The firm runs three dedicated capital strategies across the company lifecycle:
- Labs: genesis-stage partnership to validate concepts, build MVPs and structure go-to-market before institutional capital is required.
- Seed: vertical software and AI founding teams with deep market insight, early proof of customer willingness to pay and a clear wedge into a larger platform. Strong fundamentals matter more than specific revenue benchmarks.
- Early Growth: companies with product-market fit, meaningful revenue and a proven go-to-market motion that fall between venture and growth equity. The site calls this the early growth gap.
The firm invests from formation through early growth and says it invests about $20M a year in emerging tech businesses. It describes multi-stage capital in action with Hermetic AI, where it invested in the seed round and later the early growth round, which Hermetic's CEO calls York IE's first large early growth investment.
Check Size
No check size range is published. Terrantic's $3.5M seed round, in which York IE participated alongside lead Supply Change Capital, suggests seed checks are a fraction of a typical small round. The firm says it invests the right amount for the stage in right-sized rounds. Check size fields are left empty.
Lead Tendency
Unknown. The one documented round (Terrantic) was a participation behind another lead. Hermetic AI's CEO describes York IE as a board-level partner, which suggests meaningful involvement, but leading is not documented.
Recent Activity
- August 2024: participated in Terrantic's $3.5M Seed (led by Supply Change Capital, with Vitalize VC and Array Ventures). Terrantic was part of the firm's 10th investment cohort, and the firm had then announced 68 investments in more than 50 companies.
- Early growth investment in Hermetic AI following an earlier seed investment.
- January 2026: published on its family-of-funds model, citing recent wins at Catchpoint, SchoolBI and Vend Park.
- February 2026: Tom Holahan joined as General Partner.
- July 2026: published an essay on Vertical AI. The firm appears to be actively deploying. No fund size or AUM is published; the site cites $1.1B in capital impact, which is not AUM.
Portfolio Highlights
The site lists 100+ portfolio companies on the homepage and 60+ vertical software and AI companies on investment pages. The logo wall names roughly 100 companies, including Catchpoint, Fastly, Cyberhaven, Datanyze, Mautic, Kevel, Contactually, Cranium, Defendify, Detect, HappyCo, Hermetic AI, Lumafield, Pliant, Science on Call, SchoolBI, Stavvy, Terrantic, VETRO and Stockpress. Many are cohort companies where York IE operates alongside York Creative Collective as co-founder. The firm also lists operating platform clients, which include growth equity firms such as Five Elms Capital, so not every logo on the site is an equity investment.
Team
- Kyle York: Managing Partner and founder, operator with a record of building and scaling B2B technology companies.
- Joe Raczka: Managing Partner and co-founder, runs the investment process from sourcing to close.
- Marshall Everson: General Partner, portfolio execution and go-to-market scaling.
- Tom Holahan: General Partner, enterprise software and financial operations (joined 2026).
- Matt Shapiro: VP, Investments, leads sourcing, diligence and founder engagement.
- Watson Cheek: Senior Associate, Investments.
- Savannah Nimmo: Associate.
- Tommy Vailas: Director of Partnerships.
- Support: Mike Veilleux (Managing Director, Operating Platform, CTO and co-founder), Adam Coughlin (CMO and co-founder), Janelle Gorman (CFO).
Decision Process
Partnership style with two managing partners and two general partners, with a VP and associates running sourcing and diligence. The firm uses AI-assisted screening in deal flow. Founders submit a pitch through the website, so a warm intro does not appear to be required.
Founder Preferences
Technical or product-minded founders who understand their customers, with deep domain expertise and an operator mindset. Disciplined builders who prioritize execution. Seed founders need early signs of real demand; early growth founders need durable revenue growth and a proven go-to-market motion. Capital efficiency is emphasized. A TechWomen Invest program supports women-led tech companies.
Geographic Focus
The firm is based in Manchester, NH with offices in Boston, MA and Ahmedabad, India (operating team). Portfolio companies are mostly US-based, though the portfolio includes some international companies. The investment focus is not stated as geographic; B2B vertical software and AI is the filter.
Operating Platform
A 250+ person global operator bench delivers embedded work across R&D (AI transformation, software development, product, QA, DevOps, data), GTM (marketing, RevOps, CRM, content, paid media) and G&A (accounting, FP&A, fundraising prep, corporate strategy). It is sold both to portfolio companies and to outside clients and to growth equity and private equity firms as an execution engine.