Initialized Capital
{{Short description|American venture capital fund}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Initialized Capital
| logo = Initialized Capital Logo.svg
| industry = Venture Capital
| founded = 2011
| founder = {{Plainlist|
- Harjeet Taggar
- Garry Tan
- Alexis Ohanian
}}
| key_people = {{Plainlist|
- Brett Gibson {{small|(Managing Partner)}}
}}
| hq_location_city = San Francisco, California
| hq_location_country = United States
| website = {{URL|https://initialized.com/}}
}}
Initialized Capital is a venture capital fund founded in 2011 and headquartered in San Francisco. It was founded by Alexis Ohanian, Harjeet Taggar, and Garry Tan.{{cite web |title=SEC FORM D/A |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1577804/000157780413000002/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml |access-date=March 6, 2016 |website=Sec.gov}}
As of 2021, it has raised more than $3.2 billion in assets.{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/initialized-capital-raises-225-million-for-fourth-fund-1538515800 |title=Initialized Capital Raises $225 Million for Fourth Fund |last=Geron |first=Tomio |date=October 2, 2018 |website=WSJ |access-date=August 15, 2019}}{{cite web |last=McBride |first=Sarah |date=December 14, 2021 |title=Initialized Capital Raises $700 Million, Launches 2 New Funds |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-14/initialized-capital-raises-700-million-launches-2-new-funds |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=Bloomberg}} Initialized Capital has 23 portfolio companies it invested in at seed that have since become unicorns, including Coinbase, Ro, Cruise Automation, Instacart, Flexport, Opendoor, Algolia, Goat Group, HackerNoon, Rippling, Truepill, and CoinTracker.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/02/tech/alexis-ohanian-initialized-capital-new-fund/index.html|title=Alexis Ohanian's VC firm raises new $225M fund | CNN Business|first=Sara Ashley|last=O'Brien|date=October 2, 2018|website=CNN}}{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-14/vc-firm-initialized-raises-230-million-for-early-stage-deals | title=VC Firm Initialized Raises $230 Million for Early-Stage Deals | newspaper=Bloomberg.com | date=14 August 2020 }}{{cite web|url=https://flipboard.com/@tech/follow-the-money-22l0nnnpz/under-the-hood-how-seed-investor-initialized-spots-future-unicorns/a---5OXhavTzGWx3_LrHVNDg%3Aa%3A142275117-0c3d6a7126%2Fcrunchbase.com|title=Under The Hood: How Early-Stage Investor Initialized Spots Future Unicorns|website=Crunchbase News|date=February 23, 2022|last=Gené Teare
|access-date=July 17, 2022}}{{cite web |last=Russell |first=Jon |date=April 10, 2018 |title=CoinTracker Raises $1.5M to make tracking crypto investments easy for anyone |url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/10/cointracker-raises-1-5m/ |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=TechCrunch}}{{Cite web |title=List of companies in Initialized Capital's investment portfolio {{!}} 121 results |url=https://golden.com/query/list-of-companies-in-initialized-capitals-investment-portfolio-WD5W |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=Golden |language=en}}
History
Initialized raised $7 million in its first fund. In February 2012, it filed its Form D notice of exempt offering of securities.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} It raised $39 million in its second fund in August 2013.{{cite web |title=Initialized Capital Closes Second Seed Fund at $39.2M |url=http://pevc.dowjones.com/Article?an=DJFVW00020130802e982r8dfg&ReturnUrl=http%3a%2f%2fpevc.dowjones.com%2fArticle%3fan%3dDJFVW00020130802e982r8dfg |access-date=March 13, 2016 |website=Pevc.dowjones.com}}
In 2013, Initialized Capital became an early investor in Coinbase, wiring the cryptocurrency app's founder Brian Armstrong $200,000.{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2018/07/09/at-initialized-capital-odd-couple-alexis-ohanian-and-garry-tan-look-to-do-vc-differently/#245b750a3efe |title=At Initialized Capital, Odd Couple Alexis Ohanian And Garry Tan Look To Do VC Differently |last=Konrad |first=Alex |date=July 9, 2018 |work=Forbes |access-date=August 15, 2019}} Garry Tan left Y Combinator in 2015 to focus on Initialized full time.
On June 7, 2016, the firm announced a $100M target for its third fund and then closed $125 million.{{cite web |url=https://venturebeat.com/2016/10/24/initialized-capital-raises-115-million-for-its-third-fund/ |title=Initialized Capital raises $115 million for its third fund |last=Yeung |first=Ken |date=October 24, 2016 |website=Venture Beat |access-date=August 15, 2019}}
In late 2018, it raised a $225 million fund, the company's fourth.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/initialized-capital-raises-225-million-for-fourth-fund-1538515800|title=Initialized Capital Raises $225 Million for Fourth Fund|last=Geron|first=Tomio|date=2018-10-02|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2019-03-04|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}
In June 2020, Ohanian ended his role as Managing Partner at Initialized.{{Cite news |last=Tan |first=Gillian |last2=Roof |first2=Katie |date=2020-08-14 |title=VC Firm Initialized Raises $230 Million for Early-Stage Deals |language=en |work=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-14/vc-firm-initialized-raises-230-million-for-early-stage-deals |access-date=2023-08-22}}
In August 2020, the firm raised $230 million, the company's fifth round.
In December 2021, Initialized Capital completed its sixth funding round, raising $700 million to invest in startups.
In August 2022, it was announced that Garry Tan would be stepping back to re-join Y Combinator as CEO.{{Cite web |last=Mathews |first=Jessica |date=2022-08-31 |title=Early-stage VC firm Initialized Capital loses last co-founder as Y Combinator gets a new CEO |url=https://fortune.com/2022/08/31/early-stage-vc-firm-initialized-capital-loses-last-co-founder-as-y-combinator-gets-a-new-ceo/ |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=Fortune |language=en}} Jen Wolf and Brett Gibson have taken over leadership of the firm in Tan's absence.{{Cite web |last=Mathews |first=Jessica |date=2022-12-09 |title=Inside Initialized Capital's next moves as co-founder and star investor Garry Tan steps back |url=https://fortune.com/2022/12/09/inside-initialized-capitals-next-moves-as-cofounder-and-star-investor-garry-tan-steps-back/ |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=Fortune |language=en}}
Recognition
Garry Tan has been listed on the Forbes Midas List from 2018-2022.{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/truebridge/2019/04/02/newcomers-to-the-2019-midas-list-who-cracked-the-ranks-of-best-vcs-in-the-world/#1ee055df7d60 |title=Newcomers To The 2019 Midas List: Who Cracked The Ranks Of Best VCs In The World |date=April 2, 2019 |work=Forbes |access-date=August 14, 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/test/crea/midas/?aaa=bbb|title=The Midas List|website=Forbes|access-date=July 17, 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/midas/|title=The Midas List|website=Forbes|access-date=July 17, 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/truebridge/2018/04/03/the-2018-midas-brink-list/?sh=72acd21852d8|title=The 2018 Midas Brink List: Meet Venture Capital's Up-And-Comers|website=Forbes|date=April 3, 2018|access-date=July 17, 2022}}