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Learn which startups Race Capital invests in, what size check sizes they write, and who their partners are (e.g. Phil Chen).
Race Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in foundational technology companies. The firm specializes in enterprise and infrastructure, with a clear emphasis on AI infrastructure, enterprise software, cybersecurity, developer tools, and AI-native applications. They partner with entrepreneurs building critical solutions that drive technological innovation and impact.
The firm was co-founded by Edith Yeung, Alfred Chuang, and Chris McCann. Their collective insight highlighted the need for a hands-on venture partner, offering more than just financial capital. Race Capital was established to provide deeply engaged support, leveraging extensive networks and practical expertise, guiding entrepreneurs to build category-defining businesses from their earliest stages.
Race Capital actively partners with exceptional entrepreneurs building market-transforming companies, embodying a "founder-first" philosophy. The firm’s vision centers on long-term relationships, optimizing for a decade-long horizon. They commit to fostering generational companies by offering strategic guidance and critical industry connections, enabling founders to scale ventures and achieve lasting industry impact.
Key people at Race Capital.
Race Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Palo Alto that specializes in backing infrastructure-focused founders during seed and pre-seed rounds.[1][3] Founded in 2019, the firm operates with a distinctive company-building philosophy, positioning itself not merely as a capital provider but as an active operational partner embedded in portfolio companies' growth trajectories.[1] The firm's investment thesis centers on enterprise infrastructure, with particular emphasis on the AI era's next-generation technology stack, including AI infrastructure, developer tools, data platforms, open-source systems, enterprise security, and AI-native vertical SaaS solutions.[1]
Race Capital's core mission is to identify technical, ambitious founders early—often as their first institutional investor—and support them through multiple funding rounds with the explicit goal of reaching $5M+ ARR with repeatable revenue and Series A readiness.[1] The firm manages two closed funds and has deployed capital across 34 investments, demonstrating a focused yet active approach to portfolio construction.[2] With a team that includes founders and operators who have previously sold to Fortune 500 companies, taken companies public, and built billion-dollar ARR startups, Race Capital brings substantial operational credibility to its investment decisions.[1]
Race Capital emerged in 2019 as Proof of Capital before rebranding to its current name, reflecting an evolution in focus and positioning.[2] The founding team includes Alfred Chuang (Founder and General Partner), Chris McCann (General Partner), and Edith Yeung (General Partner), alongside Kelly Cheng serving as Partner and Chief Financial Officer.[5] These partners brought deep operational experience from their previous ventures, having navigated the full lifecycle of company building—from early-stage scaling through public markets and beyond.
The firm's genesis reflects a deliberate response to a market gap: the recognition that early-stage infrastructure founders building technically ambitious solutions often struggle to find investors who understand both the technical complexity and the go-to-market challenges inherent in selling enterprise infrastructure. Rather than waiting passively for deal flow, the founding team chose to source founders directly from GitHub, customer referrals, and engineering circles—a sourcing strategy that signals their commitment to finding founders before they've even begun fundraising.[1]
Race Capital explicitly rejects the traditional venture capital model of passive capital deployment. Instead, the firm embeds directly in portfolio companies' sales processes, helping founders navigate enterprise customer acquisition without diluting cap tables with advisory board seats.[1] This operational integration distinguishes them from firms that maintain arm's-length relationships with founders.
The firm takes a high-conviction approach to founder selection, committing to follow portfolio companies through multiple rounds—from pre-seed through Series A and potentially beyond.[1] This multi-round commitment creates alignment and reduces founder anxiety about future fundraising, allowing teams to focus on product and revenue rather than constant capital raising.
Race Capital typically deploys $2M–$6M in seed rounds with a strong preference to lead, though the firm demonstrates flexibility ranging from $1M to $10M depending on opportunity and conviction.[1] This sizing allows the firm to maintain meaningful ownership while remaining accessible to founders at various stages of capital needs.
Rather than relying on inbound deal flow, the firm actively sources founders from technical communities, GitHub activity, and customer referrals.[1] This proactive sourcing, combined with the team's deep technical and operational background, enables Race Capital to identify founders and opportunities before they become obvious to the broader venture market.
The firm's concentrated focus on enterprise infrastructure—particularly AI infrastructure, developer tools, data platforms, and open-source systems—creates deep domain expertise and network effects within portfolio companies.[1] This specialization allows the firm to provide more targeted operational support than generalist investors.
Race Capital operates at the intersection of several powerful macro trends that are reshaping enterprise technology. The firm's emphasis on AI infrastructure reflects the industry's recognition that the next wave of enterprise value creation will accrue to companies building the foundational layers upon which AI applications run—inference engines, retrieval systems, orchestration platforms, and security infrastructure.[1]
The timing of Race Capital's focus is particularly strategic. As enterprises increasingly adopt AI, they require new infrastructure primitives designed from the ground up for AI workloads rather than retrofitted legacy systems. The firm's emphasis on "infra-first, engineering-led" solutions positions its portfolio to capture this transition. Additionally, the rise of open-source systems with genuine community adoption creates opportunities for venture-backed companies to build sustainable businesses around open-source projects—a model that traditional infrastructure investors sometimes underestimate.
Race Capital's operational approach also reflects a broader shift in venture capital toward value-add investing. As seed-stage capital has become more commoditized, differentiation increasingly comes from operational support, customer introductions, and go-to-market expertise rather than capital availability alone. By embedding in portfolio companies' sales processes and committing to multi-round follow-on investment, Race Capital positions itself as a partner through inflection points rather than a transactional capital provider.
The firm's influence on the broader ecosystem manifests through its portfolio companies' success in building the infrastructure layer of the AI era. Each successful exit or scale-up from Race Capital's portfolio validates the thesis that infrastructure-first, engineering-led approaches can generate substantial enterprise value—potentially inspiring other founders and investors to adopt similar strategies.
Race Capital is well-positioned to benefit from the ongoing infrastructure buildout required to support enterprise AI adoption. The firm's combination of operational expertise, conviction-driven follow-on strategy, and deep focus on infrastructure creates a durable competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded seed-stage market.
Looking forward, Race Capital's influence will likely expand as its portfolio companies mature and demonstrate the viability of infrastructure-first approaches to AI. The firm's track record of supporting founders through multiple rounds—with the explicit goal of reaching $5M+ ARR and Series A readiness—creates a natural pipeline for follow-on investment and positions the firm to capture value across multiple funding stages.
The broader trend of infrastructure consolidation and specialization suggests that Race Capital's focused thesis will remain relevant for years to come. As enterprises move beyond AI experimentation toward production deployments, the demand for robust, purpose-built infrastructure will only intensify. Founders building these solutions will increasingly seek partners who understand both the technical requirements and the enterprise sales dynamics—precisely the value proposition Race Capital offers.
The firm's evolution from Proof of Capital to Race Capital also signals a willingness to adapt and refine its positioning as market conditions change. This flexibility, combined with the team's operational track record and conviction-driven approach, suggests Race Capital will remain a consequential player in early-stage infrastructure investing for the foreseeable future.
Key people at Race Capital.
