In 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh via an iconic commercial and a simple idea:
A nimble startup can stand up to massive incumbents using great software, agility, and a laser focus on what customers need. And suddenly "Small Tech" was born
Thirty years later, nimble Apple is the biggest company in the world.
At 1984 we are looking to back founders who share the same belief: that a nimble startup can build amazing software to disrupt any industry and upend any incumbent.
PHILOSOPHY
WHY 1984
No buzzwords. No hype.
We invest in founders using AI to solve real 🌎 problems (and provide outsized support)
We invest in founders using AI to solve real 🌎 problems (and provide outsized support)
WHY 1984?
How we invest
- We only invest in seed 🌱. It's what we know and love and where we provide the most value
- We are drawn to founders with grit, industry insights and a strong engineering culture 👩💻
- We invest via SAFE or equity, and can lead or participate.
How we operate
- We don't take board seats. We prefer to be in your speed dial and get the late-night call 🤙
- We help with recruiting, 💰 raising, and founder therapy 😩
- We will work with you to ensure you're set up for an outstanding Series A 🏆 (Check out our Founders Handbook)
INVESTMENT TEAM
Ramy Adeeb
Managing Partner
An entrepreneur and investor, Ramy is founder and CEO of Snip.it (Acquired by Yahoo, where
he served as a product executive) and one of the earliest engineers at Tellme Networks
(Acquired by Microsoft). Ramy started his investing career at Khosla Venture where he worked
with investors Vinod Khosla and Pierre Lamond on many investments including Groupme
(acquired by Skype), Square (NASDAQ:SQ), and Storify (acquired by LiveFyre). He holds a BA
and MS in Computer Science from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford.
Samit Kalra
Partner
SaaS & Marketplaces
Samit was working as an investment banker in Australia when he first heard about the venture
capital industry. It resonated with him so much that in 2017, he packed up his bags and
moved to San Francisco. He began his investing career at AngelList, helping over 150
founders close early funding rounds. From there, he joined the investing team at Bain
Capital Ventures where he ran the firm's early-stage fund program which generated 15 seed
investments. Samit is a keen student of the industry and blogs about his learnings (see his
investment framework and blog posts here).
Mark Percival
Partner
Infrastructure + Dev
Mark's journey in software development began with writing an IRC bot and grew into a career
driven by a passion for open source. His early work in mobile-focused open source projects in
the pre-iPhone era led to an early role at Twitter, where he helped develop their first mobile products.
Later, as CTO at Snip.it, acquired by Yahoo, he focused on integrating Tumblr into the Yahoo platform
as a software architect. At 1984, Mark assesses potential investments and aids portfolio companies
in executing on their technical visions. He can be found on GitHub where he maintains several popular
open source libraries and has contributed to more than 200 others.
Farzad Soleimani
Partner
Healthcare
A VC by day and an ER physician by night, Farzad has over 20 years of experience at the
intersection of healthcare and entrepreneurship. He is the founder of eTherapi, a pioneering
telemedicine company, and the founding co-director of the Texas Medical Center Biodesign
Innovation Program. Farzad started his investing career at Mohr Davidow Ventures, completed
his residency training at Baylor and earned his MBA, MD, MS, and BS from Stanford
University. He is on faculty at Baylor Medical School, Rice Business School, and Rice
Bioengineering Department.
SENIOR ADVISORS
Andy Rachleff
Founder of Benchmark Capital
Michael Smith
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University
Jim Messina
Chief of staff for operations under President Obama
Sir Mohamed Mansour
Chairman of Mansour Group, a global conglomerate and GM's largest distributor globally
TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS
Kyle Oppenheim
VP of Engineering at Groupon, director of eng at Facebook
Karim Wahba
Head of Data Science at Fairmarkit, and previously at Stitch Fix, Uber and Ginger.io
VENTURE PARTNERS
Drew Uher
Founder and CEO at Homelight
Jennifer Pollock
Head of content Marketing at Square
Greg Pal
Founder and CBO at Automat.ai and VP at Nuance
Daniele Codega
Partner at Work & Co. Previously Head of Design at Reuters, Creative Director at HuffPost
PORTFOLIO
Since 2017, we have partnered with outstanding entrepreneurs shaking up many industries.
-
Modern robotics platform for industrialsAs an investor it's critical to know when to break your own rules. For us, that was investing in Cobot despite it being a hardware company. We did so because of the CEO, Brad Porter. Brad was an incredibly pedigreed robotics expert, having previously led Amazon's warehouse robotics business and then take the helm as CTO of Scale AI. His Amazonian ethos of quickly showing business value (rather than indulging a science project) and his unmatchable expertise gave us the confidence to invest. In just 18 months since, the company has shipped working robots for early customers and has raised over $100M from Sequoia and General Catalyst -
The open source Product OSWe met Posthog in February 2020 when Covid had begun to rage and VC investments had ground to a halt. Nevertheless, we were blown away by the founders James and Tim, who had built an open source product analytics tool that developers were clamoring for. The team were shipping code at warp speed. 1984 co-led the round with YC. Since then, Posthog has become the de facto leader in product analytics and have dramatically expanded their offering to incorporate the functionality of Amplitude, Segment, Launch Darkly and Fivetran combined. -
SMS Marketing for E-commerceFun fact: we met Postscript in Y Combinator 2019 and invested the same day. We had such conviction in SMS as a marketing channel having tinkered with a similar idea years prior. The product-centricity of the founders, the strong customer love and clear momentum blew us away in a way that doesn't often happen. Since then, Postscript has 100x'd growth and most recently raised a $65M Series C. -
Driving operational efficiency for service contractorsBuildOps provides a SaaS platform for commercial service contractors to manage their workflows, from scheduling and dispatching to invoicing. We were drawn to the combination of an unsexy industry and a sexy team: The founders had experience in running a real estate group, building products at Microsoft, and leading technology teams at ServiceTitan. Since our investment, the company has raised over $50M and established itself as a leader in this space. -
Predictive analytics for retailersWhen we met Syrup's founders, James and Ferdinand, we were surprised to learn that the biggest fashion retailer in the US is actually Chinese company Shein. Shein takes a data-driven approaching to launching clothing lines and forecasting demand. James and Ferdi built Syrup to provide retailers with similar inventory management and demand forecasting capabilities. We led Syrup’s pre-seed in 2021 and have been blown away by the team's execution ever since. -
Rental cars on demandWe were compelled to invest in Kyte after trying the product. Press a button on your phone and a rental car arrives at your doorstep. Think Uber for car rentals. Founders Ludwig, Nikolaus and Francesco have the rare combination of skills to build software and manage physical inventory: bits and atoms. Since first investing in 2019, the company has grown over 100x and operates in over 16 cities in the US. -
Labor marketplace for the agriculture industrySeso is a quintessential 1984 investment. The core product is a marketplace connecting farms with agricultural workers: an overlooked but surprisingly large market. The CEO Mike discovered the market opportunity after helping his cousin on her farm in California's central valley. At 1984, we helped Mike through the brainstorming phase and were the only institutional investor in his pre-seed round. Since then, the company has gone on to raise from NFX, Index Ventures and Founders Fund. -
Making specialty medication more accessible and affordableAfter Flatiron Health was acquired by Roche, CMO Ogi Kavazovic joined 1984 as a Venture Partner and we iterated on many ideas together. Ogi kept returning to a unique insight from his time at Flatiron: specialty pharmacy, which accounts for over 50% of the pharma industry's revenue, remains outdated and leads to poor adherence. This inspired an idea: to offer clinics the chance to provide their patients with the specialty pharmacy experience they deserve. Ogi teamed up with Tesh Kullar, former head of provider solutions at Flatiron Health, to build a company that is steadily becoming a category-defining player in the industry. -
Marketplace for consumers to connect with nutritionistsFay Nutrition is a marketplace connecting customers to nutritionists. With consumer interest in food and diet booming, Fay has seen tremendous growth and has become the market leader in an exciting new category. We first met the team through our healthcare partner, Farzad Soleimani, who had seen the rise of consumer demand for such products in his role as an MD. Since our investment in November 2022, the company has grown over 20x. -
Marketplace for healthcare employmentWe first met Matt and Lennie when they were going through the Texas Medical Center Innovation (TMCi) Accelerator Program. They had encountered the problem of nurse staffing first hand at Hired and decided to build a dedicated platform. We were drawn to their unique insights and their nurses-first mission. Since then, the business has raised over $150M and to become the de facto leader in healthcare staffing in the US.
1984 FOUNDERS HANDBOOK
- Coming Soon