Pre-seed & seed VC, US

Boldstart Ventures

Venture capital firm · Miami · Founded 2010

Quick read

Boldstart Ventures is a pre-seed and seed VC firm founded in 2010, headquartered in Miami, with roots in New York. The firm writes first checks at the 'inception' stage — often before a product exists — targeting technical founders building AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, and developer tooling. In July 2025, it closed a $250M Fund VII, bringing AUM to $1.1B, and backs 10–12 new founding teams per year across three partners.

Key facts

Founded
2010
Founders
Ed Sim
Employees
21
Sectors
enterprise, devtools, ai, security, saas
Website
boldstart.vc

Investment thesis

Boldstart partners with technical founders at the inception stage — often pre-product and pre-revenue — leading first checks in AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, and developer tooling. The firm targets 10–12 new founding teams per year, writes $500K–$15M initial checks, and acts as a co-founder-like partner, running programs to accelerate enterprise go-to-market from day one.

Recent activity

  • Jun 2026investment
    Boldstart led the seed round for Baz, an AI-powered code review agent, co-led with Battery Ventures. The firm also co-invested in Generalist AI's Series B. caplight.com
  • Mar 2026investment
    Surf AI closed a Series A and launched an agentic security platform with $57M in funding. Boldstart participated as a co-investor alongside Accel and Cyberstarts. tracxn.com
  • Feb 2026investment
    Boldstart co-invested in Reco's Series B. Reco had previously grown ARR 5x and raised $25M to advance its dynamic SaaS security offering. caplight.com
  • Jan 2026investment
    Boldstart led a seed round in Topos Bio. Separately, portfolio company Tres Finance was acquired by Fireblocks for $130M. caplight.com
  • Jul 2025fundraise
    Boldstart closed Fund VII at $250M, its 10th overall fund. Initial checks range from $500K to $15M, with follow-on capital available via the existing $175M Opportunities III fund. Total AUM reached approximately $1.1B. The fund targets AI infrastructure, application-layer startups, cyber, and crypto. boldstart.vc
  • 2025press
    General Partner Eliot Durbin participated in CTech's 2026 International VC Survey, discussing Boldstart's history backing Israeli founders across 17 portfolio companies. linkedin.com
  • 2025investment
    Agentuity launched cloud infrastructure for autonomous AI agents and announced a $4M inception round led by Boldstart, with Bloomberg Beta participating. boldstart.vc
  • 2025investment
    Grepr came out of stealth and announced a $9M inception round backed by Boldstart and Andreessen Horowitz. Kustomer raised a $30M Series B led by Norwest Venture Partners. boldstart.vc
  • Jul 2025fundraise
    Boldstart closed Fund VII, a $250 million AI-focused fund — its 10th fund overall. Initial checks run $500K–$15M, with follow-on capacity via the existing $175M Opportunities Fund III. The raise brings total AUM to approximately $1.1 billion. Boldstart targeted institutional investors and plans to back 10–12 founding teams per year. boldstart.vc
  • 2025press
    Eliot Durbin, General Partner, participated in CTech by Calcalist's 2026 International VC Survey, discussing boldstart's history with Israeli founders — 17 portfolio companies — and the firm's view that the best Israeli founders combine speed with operational discipline. linkedin.com
  • 2025investment
    Kustomer raised a $30M Series B led by Norwest Venture Partners to pursue an AI-native customer experience strategy. Boldstart was the inception investor. boldstart.vc
  • 2025investment
    Reco raised $25M after growing ARR 5x, accelerating its dynamic SaaS security positioning. Boldstart backed the company at inception. boldstart.vc

Notable investments

Key people

Named individuals at the firm. We don't expose direct email or phone — use their LinkedIn for outreach.

  • Ed Sim · Founder & General Partner
  • Eliot Durbin · General Partner
  • Ellen Chisa · Partner
  • Jennifer Moy · Chief Operating Officer
  • Rahul Vohra · Works At (role unspecified)

Sources

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Frequently asked

What is Boldstart Ventures?+

Boldstart Ventures is a pre-seed and seed VC firm founded in 2010, headquartered in Miami, with roots in New York. The firm writes first checks at the 'inception' stage — often before a product exists — targeting technical founders building AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, and developer tooling.

Where is Boldstart Ventures headquartered?+

Boldstart Ventures is headquartered in Miami, United States.

When was Boldstart Ventures founded?+

Boldstart Ventures was founded in 2010 by Ed Sim.

What sectors does Boldstart Ventures invest in?+

Boldstart Ventures focuses on enterprise, devtools, ai, security, saas. They primarily invest in these sectors.

How do I prepare for a meeting with Boldstart Ventures?+

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Generated by briefthecall.com from public web sources. Last updated July 21, 2026. Each claim is linked to its source above.

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