f7 Ventures

High-Level Overview

f7 Ventures is a mission-driven pre-seed and seed venture capital firm that represents a deliberate shift toward democratizing access to venture capital.[1] Founded by seven female leaders with deep operational backgrounds from Meta, Google, Yahoo, and other top technology companies, the firm closed its first institutional fund at $50 million in May 2022.[1] The firm's core mission centers on supporting early-stage founders—particularly women and people of color—in building the next generation of defining companies while making venture capital more accessible to individuals from different networks and lived experiences.[2]

The firm operates as a generalist investor with particular strength in future of work, health and wellness, and HR technology sectors.[1] As of April 2025, f7 Ventures has deployed capital across 37 investments, supporting over 100 founders with a portfolio that includes companies like WorkWhile, Turntable Live, Checkmate, GPU.net, and Billables AI.[1] Rather than functioning as a traditional passive capital provider, f7 leverages its "operator lens" to deliver hands-on mentorship and guidance, helping founders navigate early-stage growth challenges through deep operational expertise and an extensive network of industry experts.[1]

Origin Story

f7 Ventures was established in 2018 by seven senior female operators who recognized a structural gap in the venture capital ecosystem.[1] The founding partners brought extensive experience from leading technology companies, positioning them to understand both the operational challenges early-stage founders face and the systemic barriers that underrepresented entrepreneurs encounter when seeking capital. This combination of operational credibility and mission-driven focus shaped the firm's DNA from inception.

The firm's evolution reflects a deliberate strategy to build institutional credibility while maintaining its founding principles. The May 2022 close of the $50 million first institutional fund marked a pivotal moment, validating the model with backing from prominent limited partners including Sheryl Sandberg & Tom Bernthal, Paris Hilton, Andrew Bosworth, Justin Kan, SoftBank, J.P. Morgan, Insight Partners, and others.[1] This diverse LP base itself reflects the firm's philosophy of broadening who participates in venture capital decision-making. Since that institutional close, f7 has systematically built operational infrastructure—including adopting relationship management tools like Affinity—to scale their sourcing, evaluation, and portfolio support capabilities without losing the personalized touch that defines their approach.[2]

Core Differentiators

Operator-First Investment Model

Unlike traditional venture firms staffed primarily by former investors or analysts, f7's founding partners are seasoned operators who have scaled companies at the executive level. This translates into practical, hands-on mentorship rather than theoretical guidance. The firm explicitly positions itself as a resource for navigating the specific operational challenges of early-stage growth—from hiring and fundraising to product-market fit and scaling.[1]

Intentional Diversity Focus

f7 Ventures operates with explicit commitment to backing founders from underrepresented backgrounds. This isn't peripheral to their strategy; it's central to their thesis that diverse founding teams and lived experiences produce better companies and better returns. The firm's founding structure—seven female leaders—signals this commitment authentically rather than performatively.[1]

Ticket Size Flexibility and Check Writing Accessibility

The firm deploys capital across a wide range of check sizes, from $100,000 to $10 million, allowing them to participate in diverse deal structures and co-investment opportunities.[5][6] This flexibility enables them to support founders at various stages of capital needs and to collaborate with other investors rather than compete for control.

Relationship Infrastructure at Scale

f7 has invested in systems and processes that allow a small team to manage complex stakeholder relationships—founders, LPs, portfolio companies, and potential co-investors—without losing track of critical information or relationship continuity.[2] This operational discipline distinguishes them from many early-stage funds that struggle with organizational scaling.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

f7 Ventures sits at the intersection of two powerful trends reshaping venture capital: the rise of operator-led investing and the structural push toward more inclusive capital allocation. The firm benefits from growing institutional recognition that venture capital's historical gatekeeping has created both an ethical problem and a market inefficiency—talented founders from underrepresented backgrounds have been systematically underfunded despite evidence suggesting they generate strong returns.

The timing of f7's emergence and growth is significant. The 2018 founding coincided with increasing scrutiny of venture capital's homogeneity and growing LP demand for diversity-focused strategies. By 2022, when they closed their institutional fund, the market had matured enough to validate this thesis with substantial capital commitments from mainstream institutions like SoftBank and J.P. Morgan. This represents a shift from fringe positioning to mainstream acceptance.

f7's focus on future of work, health, and community-reshaping companies also positions them well within broader economic trends. The pandemic accelerated remote work adoption, healthcare innovation, and social impact investing—all areas where f7 maintains active portfolios. Their generalist approach with sector specialization allows them to participate in multiple waves of innovation without being locked into a single thesis.

More broadly, f7 influences the ecosystem by demonstrating that founder-friendly, mission-driven venture capital can operate at institutional scale. Their success creates competitive pressure on traditional firms to improve founder support and diversify their own teams and portfolios. The firm's transparency about their model and philosophy—including public case studies about their operational approach—contributes to broader conversations about how venture capital should function.

Quick Take & Future Outlook

f7 Ventures has successfully navigated the transition from founder-led fund to institutional venture firm without sacrificing its core identity. The firm's next phase will likely involve raising a second fund, expanding their portfolio to demonstrate strong returns, and potentially increasing their check sizes as portfolio companies mature and require larger follow-on investments.

The broader trend working in f7's favor is the continued professionalization and institutionalization of diversity-focused investing. As more LPs demand exposure to diverse founder networks and as data accumulates showing strong performance from underrepresented founders, firms like f7 will move from being countercultural to being standard practice. This creates both opportunity and risk—opportunity to scale impact and capital deployment, but risk of commodification where the mission gets diluted.

The firm's competitive advantage ultimately rests on maintaining authentic operator credibility while building institutional scale. As long as f7's partners remain deeply engaged with portfolio companies and continue attracting founders who value operational mentorship over passive capital, they will retain their differentiation. The question for the next five years is whether they can raise larger subsequent funds while preserving the hands-on culture that defines their brand.

f7 Ventures represents a meaningful evolution in how venture capital can be structured—not as a radical departure from traditional models, but as a thoughtful recalibration that prioritizes founder support, intentional diversity, and operator expertise. Their trajectory will likely influence how the next generation of venture firms think about their own positioning and values.