Mark Goldberg, Kristina Shen and Ethan Kurzweil launched Chemistry as an independent venture firm in October 2024, backed by a reported $350 million first fund. The firm targets mostly Seed and Series A software companies and says its three founding partners—not a separate platform-services department—will work directly with portfolio founders. Chemistry is now also reportedly raising a $500 million second fund, although the available August 2026 report does not confirm that the fund has closed.
What Chemistry is—and what it is not
Chemistry is a standalone venture-capital partnership, not a temporary syndicate or a fund operated by Index Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners or Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Its founders previously held senior roles at those firms, but the public launch announcement identifies Goldberg, Shen and Kurzweil as the owners and managing partners of the new firm.
Chemistry announced its launch on October 22–23, 2024, with a $350 million debut fund. TechCrunch reported that the fund was twice oversubscribed, attributing that figure to a source familiar with the fundraising; Chemistry’s own announcement confirms the fund size but does not disclose an oversubscription multiple.
The firm’s public company description says it can write checks from a company’s first financing through Series B and commit as much as $30 million. Its launch materials describe the core focus more narrowly as Seed and Series A, with the ability to support companies in later rounds.
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Who founded Chemistry?
| Founder | Previous role | Relevant focus |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Goldberg | Partner at Index Ventures; early business hire at Dropbox | Software and fintech |
| Kristina Shen | General partner at Andreessen Horowitz; previously a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners | Led a16z’s B2B software investing practice |
| Ethan Kurzweil | Managing partner at Bessemer Venture Partners | Developer platforms, data infrastructure, gaming and software for knowledge workers |
Their former employers provide recognizable résumés and networks, but they did not launch or publicly sponsor Chemistry. Chemistry’s wider team page now lists additional investing and operating staff, including Bohan Lou, Ivory Tang, Jamie Viggiano, Gianna DeLuna, Joey Kaplan and Nick Mehta.
How Chemistry invests
Seed and Series A first
Chemistry says it backs founders who combine technical expertise with commercial judgment. The original sector description covered fintech, infrastructure, developer tools and work software. The current public portfolio has a prominent artificial-intelligence presence, including AI infrastructure and applications, but there is no evidence that Chemistry has formally limited itself to AI.
Concentrated, high-conviction portfolios
The launch positioned Chemistry as selective rather than a high-volume deal machine. TechCrunch reported that each founding partner expected to make roughly two or three investments per year. That approach can give a partner more time per company, but it also makes the firm’s capacity dependent on three people maintaining meaningful involvement as the portfolio grows.
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Follow-on support
Chemistry says it can invest from a company’s first check through Series B and can commit up to $30 million. Those figures do not disclose the firm’s ownership targets, reserve ratio, average initial check or how much capital is available for follow-on rounds.
“We are the portfolio services team”
Chemistry’s most distinctive operating claim is that “we are the portfolio services team, working in the trenches with our founders.” In practical terms, that means the founding partners themselves are expected to provide help after the investment instead of handing most support to a large centralized platform group.
- Partners may be directly involved in recruiting, customer introductions, fundraising preparation, product decisions or board work.
- A lean structure can shorten internal decision paths and reduce the handoffs common at very large firms.
- The trade-off is scale: a small partnership may have less specialized infrastructure and less spare capacity when many companies need help simultaneously.
Testimonials on Chemistry’s website support the hands-on positioning, but they are promotional statements rather than independent measurements of service quality. Founders evaluating the firm should ask for specific examples and references, not rely only on the slogan.
The founders’ prior track record
Chemistry’s launch announcement says the three partners collectively led nearly 100 investments, served on more than 50 boards and led early investments in more than a dozen companies that reached unicorn status. The announcement names companies including PagerDuty, Intercom, Persona, Twitch and Pave; other public biographies and firm materials mention Plaid, ServiceTitan, Twilio, Decagon and Bridge.
These are descriptions of the partners’ careers across their previous firms as well as their work at Chemistry. “Led” does not necessarily mean a sole lead investor, and a company’s unicorn status can change with later valuations and market conditions. The record should therefore be treated as experience evidence, not as a disclosed Chemistry fund return.
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Chemistry’s public materials identify or feature companies including Granola, Decagon, Persona, Serval, Nova Intelligence, Yuzu Health, Noon, Didero, Datacurve, ComfyUI, Meticulous and Atoms. TechCrunch’s 2026 coverage separately cited Granola, Decagon, Persona, Serval and Nova Intelligence.
The firm’s website distinguishes “Current Investments” from “Pre-Chemistry Investments.” That distinction matters: a company listed in the founders’ historical portfolios is not automatically a Fund 1 investment made by Chemistry. Readers should use the categories on the firm’s current site rather than combining every named company into one Chemistry portfolio.
Why leave Index, Bessemer and a16z?
Chemistry’s founders say large venture organizations can become distracted by scale. They describe the new partnership as a clean slate with a more focused, collaborative and agile decision-making model, and as a structure intended to align the investors’ success closely with their founders’ outcomes.
Independence gives them control over fund size, portfolio concentration, investment decisions and the amount of direct partner time. It also removes some advantages of a legacy platform: an established institutional brand, a larger partner bench, broader operating resources and a long history of working with later-stage investors. Chemistry is betting that the founders’ personal reputations and networks can supply enough signal and access without those institutional assets.
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The reported second fund
On July 7, 2026, TechCrunch reported from an SEC filing that Chemistry was raising $500 million for a second fund. The report said the fund was already oversubscribed and expected to close soon, relaying that status from reporting by The Wall Street Journal. As of August 18, 2026, the available information does not independently confirm a completed close.
Accordingly, it is accurate to describe Chemistry as having a confirmed $350 million debut fund and a reported $500 million second-fund raise. It is not accurate to call the firm an $850 million platform with that amount of closed capital unless Chemistry or a filing confirms the second close.
Questions founders should ask before choosing Chemistry
- Who will be the actual day-to-day partner? Ask how often that partner attends meetings, joins recruiting efforts and participates in board work.
- What is the initial check and target ownership? The public $30 million maximum does not reveal the normal first-check range or desired stake.
- How are follow-on reserves allocated? Request the policy for Series B and later rounds, including how existing companies compete for reserves.
- What support has the firm delivered? Seek concrete examples of customer introductions, senior hires, regulatory guidance, product work and later-round fundraising.
- How are conflicts handled? Ask about investments in adjacent markets and the process for protecting confidential information.
- Which strategy applies to your company? AI is highly visible in the current portfolio, while the original mandate also covered fintech, infrastructure, developer tools and work software.
- Can you speak with comparable founders? References from companies at a similar stage provide a better test of the hands-on promise than general marketing language.
What Chemistry’s model means for investors and founders
| Potential advantage | Question or trade-off |
|---|---|
| Direct access to three experienced investors | Can the partners maintain that access as assets and portfolio companies increase? |
| Concentrated, high-conviction investing | Fewer deals may mean more attention, but the model has less institutional bench strength. |
| Experience across software, fintech, infrastructure and AI | Founders outside the current AI-heavy portfolio should test how active the broader mandate remains. |
| Ability to invest from Seed through later rounds | Check-size distribution, ownership targets and reserve policy are not publicly stated. |
| Independent brand and decision-making | A new firm lacks the immediate institutional signal of a16z, Bessemer or Index. |
Bottom line for the market
Chemistry is a genuine venture firm built by three senior investors from prominent platforms, launched with a substantial $350 million first fund and a deliberately concentrated early-stage strategy. Its differentiation is the promise that the partners themselves are the support platform. The reported $500 million second fund will test whether that boutique, high-touch model can expand without losing the selectivity and direct attention that define its pitch.
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