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Boost VC is a pre-seed venture capital firm providing initial capital, typically $500k, to early-stage startups. The firm employs a generalist investment strategy, backing founders "reimagining the universe" across frontier technology sectors like aerospace, nuclear, biotech, and AI. They seek to support companies with global impact potential.
Founded by Adam Draper and Brayton Williams, Boost VC emerged from the insight that high-conviction, early-stage capital accelerates transformative ideas. Adam, a fourth-generation venture capitalist, and Brayton, an experienced operator, both worked at Xpert Financial, informing their strategic focus on innovative ventures.
Boost VC primarily serves founders building companies that aim to positively affect one billion lives. The firm champions audacious visions, taking calculated risks on startups addressing critical technological or societal shifts. Their mission is to empower entrepreneurs to pursue groundbreaking projects, investing in ventures other sources might deem too ambitious.
Key people at Boost VC.
Key people at Boost VC.
Boost VC is a pre-seed venture capital firm and startup accelerator founded in 2012 that positions itself as "the most active Deep Tech investor on the planet," averaging one deal per week[3]. The firm operates with $300 million in assets under management and maintains a deliberate focus on emerging and frontier technologies that operate on the edges of conventional markets[2][3]. Rather than pursuing broad-based technology investing, Boost VC has carved out a distinctive niche by concentrating on sectors including blockchain and cryptocurrency, virtual reality and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, biotech, climate technology, robotics, and decentralized science—categories that often face regulatory uncertainty or market skepticism[1][3].
The firm's investment philosophy centers on identifying transformative technologies before they reach mainstream adoption. Boost VC leads pre-seed rounds with $500,000 checks and also deploys $50,000 fellowship investments, providing not just capital but also operational support through its accelerator program[3]. This dual approach—combining venture capital with hands-on acceleration—reflects a belief that early-stage founders in frontier categories need more than funding; they need infrastructure, mentorship, and community to navigate uncharted territory.
Boost VC was founded in 2012 by Adam Draper and Brayton Williams, two partners with deep conviction about the future of emerging technologies[1][2]. Adam Draper represents the fourth generation of venture capitalists in his family, bringing institutional knowledge of startup investing alongside a willingness to take calculated risks on unconventional sectors[1]. Brayton Williams complemented this pedigree with complementary expertise and shared Draper's vision for backing founders tackling problems that traditional venture capital often overlooked.
The firm's evolution reflects a deliberate strategic narrowing. While it began with a strong emphasis on blockchain and cryptocurrency—backing early successes like Etherscan and Coinbase (valued at over $8 billion as of 2020)—Boost VC has progressively expanded its thesis to encompass a broader portfolio of deep tech categories[1]. This expansion was not random drift but rather a natural extension of the founders' core conviction: that the most transformative companies emerge from sectors where regulatory uncertainty, technical complexity, or market skepticism create barriers to traditional venture funding. Over twelve years of operation, the firm has backed more than 250 companies, establishing itself as a consistent source of capital for founders pursuing moonshot ideas[1][3].
Unlike traditional venture capital firms that deploy capital remotely, Boost VC operates a structured accelerator program that provides housing, office space, and investment in exchange for equity[1]. The program runs twice yearly with three-month cohorts, creating an intensive environment where founders can focus entirely on product development and fundraising without logistical distractions. This physical presence differentiates Boost VC from broader accelerators and sets it apart from venture firms that maintain purely financial relationships with portfolio companies.
Boost VC's deliberate focus on specific, often-overlooked sectors—cryptocurrency, VR/AR, biotech, climate, robotics, and decentralized science—creates a concentrated expertise advantage[1]. Rather than spreading attention across all of technology, the firm has built deep domain knowledge, networks, and conviction in categories where most venture capital remains hesitant. This specialization allows Boost VC to move faster and with greater conviction than generalist investors evaluating the same opportunities.
The firm's claim to average one deal per week represents exceptional deployment velocity in the venture capital industry[3]. This pace suggests a combination of strong sourcing capabilities, rapid decision-making processes, and a large pipeline of opportunities. For founders, this translates to faster feedback loops and a higher likelihood of securing capital without extended fundraising cycles.
Boost VC's early bets on Coinbase and Etherscan—both of which became category-defining companies—demonstrate the firm's ability to identify transformative opportunities before they achieve mainstream recognition[1]. These successes have become proof points that attract both deal flow and limited partner capital, creating a virtuous cycle of opportunity and resources.
Boost VC operates at the intersection of several powerful macro trends. The firm is riding the wave of institutional acceptance for blockchain and cryptocurrency, the growing recognition of artificial intelligence as a foundational technology, and increasing venture capital interest in climate and biotech solutions. More fundamentally, Boost VC represents a broader shift in venture capital toward category creation rather than category optimization—investing in founders who are defining entirely new markets rather than competing within established ones.
The timing has proven fortuitous. Regulatory frameworks around cryptocurrency have evolved from complete uncertainty to structured oversight, creating windows of opportunity for well-capitalized teams. Similarly, the AI boom has validated the venture capital thesis that transformative technologies often emerge from academic research and specialized communities before reaching consumer markets. Climate technology and biotech have attracted increasing institutional capital as environmental and health concerns have moved up the priority list for both governments and corporations.
Boost VC's influence on the broader ecosystem extends beyond its direct portfolio. By consistently backing founders in frontier categories, the firm has helped legitimize sectors that traditional venture capital initially dismissed. This has a cascading effect: as Boost VC-backed companies achieve exits or reach significant milestones, they attract follow-on capital from larger venture firms, institutional investors, and strategic acquirers. The firm essentially serves as a category validator, signaling to the broader investment community that certain emerging technologies warrant serious attention.
Boost VC has positioned itself as the venture capital firm for founders pursuing ideas that are too early, too uncertain, or too unconventional for traditional investors. This positioning is both a strength and a constraint. The strength lies in the firm's ability to move decisively in categories where others hesitate, creating outsized returns when those bets pay off. The constraint is that the firm's returns are inherently volatile—frontier technologies fail at higher rates than incremental innovations, and regulatory changes can rapidly shift the landscape.
Looking forward, Boost VC's trajectory will likely be shaped by three forces. First, the maturation of blockchain and cryptocurrency as asset classes may reduce the firm's edge in those sectors, requiring continued expansion into new frontier categories. Second, the acceleration of AI adoption across industries will create opportunities for Boost VC to back companies building AI infrastructure, agents, and applications—areas where the firm is already active. Third, climate and biotech will likely remain growth areas as capital flows toward solutions addressing existential challenges.
The firm's future influence will depend on its ability to maintain conviction in emerging categories while avoiding the trap of chasing hype. Boost VC's twelve-year track record suggests the founders have developed strong pattern recognition for distinguishing genuine paradigm shifts from temporary bubbles. If the firm can sustain this discernment while scaling capital deployment, it will continue to serve as a critical bridge between frontier technologies and mainstream adoption—a role that becomes increasingly valuable as the pace of technological change accelerates.
